Connecticut Yankees

American Soccer League (1975-1978)

Tombstone

Born: January 1975 – ASL expansion franchise
Folded: 1978

First Game: April 26, 1975 (L 3-1 @ Cleveland Cobras)
Last Game: August 26, 1978 (L 6-0 @ New York Apollo)

ASL Championships: None

Stadia

1975-1977: Dillon Stadium (14,000)¹

1976: East Haven Athletic Complex

1978: Boyle Stadium (10,000)²

Marketing

Team Colors: Red, White & Blue³

Ownership

Owner: Bob Kratzer

Trophy Case

ASL Rookie of the Year

1975: Roberto Taylor

Our Favorite Stuff

American Soccer League
T-Shirt

For most of its existence, the American Soccer League was a collection of ethnically-based semi-pro clubs clustered in the northeast. But in the 1970’s, the ASL expanded nationwide and became American’s de facto 2nd Division, underneath the bigger-budgeted NASL. This logo was used by the league from the 1970’s until its demise in 1983.

Our favorite distressed ASL logo tee is made by American Retro Apparel and available today in sizes small through XXXL!

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Background

The Connecticut Yankees were a 2nd Division pro soccer team that roamed across the state in search of fans during the mid-to-late 1970’s.

The Yanks started out in Hartford in 1975 as a replacement for the American Soccer League’s previous Hartford club, the Connecticut Wildcats (1973-1974), who folded up shop several months earlier. The 1st Division North American Soccer League also placed a new franchise into Hartford in 1975, the Hartford Bicentennials. This put both clubs in a tough spot as they shared a decrepit facility, Dillon Stadium, while competing for the region’s small audience of soccer loyalists.

Early in the 1976 season, Yanks owner Bob Kratzer ceded Hartford and Dillon Stadium to the Bicentennnials and moved the rest of his games to the East Haven Athletic Complex. When the Bicentennials themselves left Hartford in 1977 in favor on New Haven’s Yale Bowl, Kratzer moved the Yankees back to Dillon Stadium for the 1977 campaign. It remained an unhappy fit:

“It was a lost cause [in Hartford],” Kratzer told The Hartford Courant in February 1978⁴. “One guy came to the last game of the season and his car was stolen. People were afraid to come to Dillon Stadium.”

The Yankees played a final season in Stamford in 1978 before going out of business. The American Soccer League folded following the 1983 season.

On The Field

Club owner Bob Kratzer also served as the Yankees’ head coach and general manager.

Italian forward Victor Calabrese played all four season for the Yankees and was the club’s top scorer in 1976 and 1977. His career-high 12 goals in 1976 ranked third in the American Soccer League that season.