The NHL’s Mistake by the Lake

The Cleveland Barons should never have existed. Born when the National Hockey League’s California Golden Seals—another team that should never have existed—were transplanted to Cleveland in 1976 and greeted with apathy by the dwindling number of hockey fans in northeastern Ohio, the Barons were an embarrassment to the city and to the NHL. The only thing the team had going for them was the state-of-the-art arena they played in, which was all but empty for nearly every game they played. This book chronicles the Barons’ two regrettable seasons—a case study in what happens when an ill-conceived professional sports team created in an expansion splurge is moved, in an effort to save it, to a city that doesn’t really want it.

Gary Webster has spent many years in commercial radio in northeastern Ohio and is the author of five books for McFarland.

Gary Webster
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 223
Bibliographic Info: 9 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8584-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4400-4
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction 1
1. This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us 3
2. Go East, Young Golden Seals 12
3. Becoming the Barons 31
4. Where’s the Red Carpet? 41
5. Hockey for the Holidays 56
6. Buddy, Can You Spare a Payroll? 74
7. Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch 111
8. Who Wants to Buy a Slightly Used Hockey Team? 121
9. A Second Chance 137
10. New Faces, New Season, Same Script 142
11. One Shining Moment 153
12. Just Teasing 163
13. Look Out Below! 178
14. The Survey Says… 189
Epilogue 198
Chapter Notes 203
Bibliography 211
Index 213

“No puck left unturned…a must for any hockey fan”Old School Shirts