Title/Author:
“The Baltimore
Stallions: The Brief, Brilliant History of the CFL Champion Franchise” by Ron
Snyder
Tags:
Football (Canadian),
history, championship
Publish date:
April 9, 2020
Length:
204 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (excellent)
Review:
Baltimore is a football town, as
they have proved with their support of the Colts before that team left for
Indianapolis in 1984 and the Ravens since 1996.
However, in between those two NFL franchises, there was a Canadian
Football League (CFL) franchise that called Baltimore home for two seasons,
1994 and 1995, and they were also welcomed by the fans and the city. That team,
the Baltimore Stallions, also became the first and only team based in the
United States to win the Grey Cup, the CFL’s championship trophy. The short but
interesting life of the Stallions is the subject of this excellent book by Ron
Snyder.
The book starts off with a brief
history of Baltimore football before the arrival of the CFL team, with much of
that section devoted to the Baltimore Colts. Here, Snyder gives the reader a
good description of the pain felt by many in the city when that team left in
the middle of the night with their items packed in Mayflower moving trucks.
Quotes from many people attached to Baltimore football, whether fans, former
players or media personnel are quoted or mentioned when Snyder shows how the
city was painfully feeling the void of no football.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Football
League, facing a difficult financial situation, wanted to try to expand its
market into American cities. Businessman
Jim Speros decided to bring one of these teams to Baltimore and after
persuading first city officials, then league officials, that Baltimore was the
right place for a CFL team, he was awarded a franchise to begin play in
1994. Not everything went smoothly for
the franchise at the start, as Snyder tells the reader about the poor condition
of the old home of the Colts, Memorial Stadium, as well as the legal challenge
by the NFL when Speros wanted to name the new team the Colts. The NFL was
successful in obtaining an injunction just before the 1994 CFL season started,
so for that season the team was known as the Baltimore CFL team, or CFLers. For
the 1995 season, they were officially known as the Baltimore Stallions.
However, once the games actually
took place, the team was a success both on the field and in the stands. This
topic is where Snyder does his best work as he not only recaps the games from
both seasons but has these passages liberally filled with quotes from players
and coaches, most notably Tracy Ham, the popular quarterback for the team, and
general manager Jim Popp. These stories and quotes from so many of the people
associated with the team gives the reader a better feel for how popular the
team was in the city and in return, how much the players and coaches
appreciated the support they received.
The ending of the team was sudden
and the book reflects this as well. No sooner
had the Stallions defeated the Calgary Stampeders to win the 1995 Grey Cup was
it known that the end of the franchise was near as while the CFL playoffs were
taking place, the Cleveland Browns had announced their intention to move to
Baltimore for the 1996 NFL season. Knowing that there couldn’t be room for both
teams and also knowing that the CFL was going to end its experiment with U.S.
teams, the Stallions had filed for a move to Montreal and became the latest
version of the Montreal Alouettes. This was so sudden that there wasn’t even a
victory parade or ceremony for the team in Baltimore. The shock for this was illustrated by Snyder
in the same manner that he wrote about the team’s success on the field, and
even includes a reunion ceremony many years later in which several of the
players and coaches were able to finally celebrate properly.
While some of the topics raised
about the team are covered in more pages than would normally be the case for a
book about a history of a team, Snyder manages to pull it off in a way that is
entertaining and informative. It is a quick read and also an impressive work to
be able to get a 200 page book out about a team that lasted only two seasons. This
is highly recommended for readers who are interested in the CFL or Baltimore
football history.
I wish to thank McFarland Books for
providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (PDF)
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