The Baltimore Bays were a professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team based in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

founded in 1967 as one of the ten charter members of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). When the NPSL and the rival United Soccer Association (USA) merged in 1968 to form the North American Soccer League (NASL), the team moved to the new league. The Bays played its home matches at Memorial Stadium during its first two seasons and moved to Kirk Field, a high school football stadium, in 1969. The team folded at the conclusion of the 1969 NASL season.

History

Origins

In 1966 several groups of entrepreneurs were exploring the idea of forming a professional soccer league in United States and Canada. Two of these groups merged to form the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and franchise rights were awarded to ten ownership groups. Two of these ownership groups, one led by

Earl Foreman Earl Marin Foreman (March 29, 1924 – January 23, 2017) was an American lawyer and sports executive. Foreman practiced law in the District of Columbia. He was the owner of the short-lived Washington Whips professional soccer club of the NASL a ...

and another by Murdaugh Stuart Madden, sought to locate a team in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and placed bids for a lease at the District of Columbia Stadium. After the lease was awarded to Foreman's group, whose team would become the

Washington Whips The Washington Whips were a soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the United Soccer Association (United Soccer Association, USA). The league was made up of teams imported from foreign leagues. The Washington Whips were the Aberde ...

, Madden looked for another location for his team, eventually selling his franchise rights for $60,000 to the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

in a deal announced on November 28, 1966. A month later, the team hired

Clive Toye Clive Roy Toye (born 23 November 1932) was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in the United States in 2003. Toye was born in Plymouth, United Kingdom, to Thomas Roy Toye (1906–65) and Irene Turner. He was a sports writer for the '' ...

to act as the team's Vice President and General Manager. On January 10, 1967, the team name of Bays was revealed. Baltimore Orioles owner

Jerold Hoffberger Jerold Charles Hoffberger (April 7, 1919 – April 9, 1999) was an American businessman. He was president of the National Brewing Company from 1946 to 1973. He was also part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles of the American League from 1954 t ...

, who was also the owner of National Brewing Company chose the team's kit colors red and gold to match the brewing company's color scheme. Former Ipswich Town forward Doug Millward was brought in to be the club's head coach.

National Professional Soccer League, 1967

The Bays opened their first season at home on April 24, 1967, in a nationally televised game against the

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (1967), National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League ...

, winning the game 1–0 and receiving a standing ovation from the 8,434 fan in attendance. The game was the first professional soccer match to be televised in the United States. The team finished the season first in the Eastern Division with a record of fourteen wins, nine loses and nine draws, scoring 53 goals with an average attendance of 5,838. The Bays faced the

Oakland Clippers The Oakland Clippers (active 1967–1968, also named the California Clippers) were an American association football, soccer team based in Oakland, California. They played in the non-FIFA sanctioned National Professional Soccer League (1967), N ...

for the 1967 postseason championship final in two-game aggregate match. Baltimore won the first leg 1–0 but lost the second game 4–1, giving the Clippers a 4–2 aggregate victory for the championship. Between the two matches, it was reported by that a decision to fire Millward was made sometime in August when the coach had inquired about his future with the club.

Gordon Jago Gordon Harold Jago (born 22 October 1932) is an English former football player and manager, and the former director of the Dr. Pepper Dallas Cup international youth tournament. Playing career Born in Poplar, London, Jago began his professiona ...

was named his replacement on October 24, 1967. For the season, the Bays recorded a loss of $400,000.

North American Soccer League, 1968–1969

With the merger of the NPSL with the

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association (USA) was a professional association football, soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League ( ...

it was announced that Baltimore would be one of the 20 teams in play in the North American Soccer League (NASL). Playing its home games again at Memorial Stadium for the 1968 season, the team had an average attendance of 4,628 winning thirteen games, drawing three and losing sixteen ending the season in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and reported loses of $500,000. In June 1968, player Shimon Cohen sued both the Bays and the San Diego Toros accusing the teams of slander, breach of contract and other charges when his contract was sold by the Bays to San Diego. Baltimore was one of only five teams remaining in the NASL for the 1969 season. Having played home matches at Memorial Stadium for the previous two seasons, the team moved to Kirk field, a high school football field, for the 1969 season. The 1969 season was split into two parts. The first, called the International Cup was a double round-robin tournament with teams imported from England and Scotland representing the remaining five cites. Baltimore was represented by the

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is a professional football club based in Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their ...

which finished the tournament in second place. The second half of the season the teams competed with their normal rosters. The Bays finished this second half of the season with only two wins and averaging 1,601 fans a game. On September 24, 1969, citing loses of over $1,000,000, executive vice president Joe Hamper announced the team was ceasing operations.

Year-by-year

Honors

NPSL championships *

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

''-runners up'' Division titles *

Eastern Division US Soccer Hall of Fame * 1996 Gordon Bradley * 2003

Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame * 2013

Rookie of the Year * 1969 Siegfried Stritzl All-Star first team selections * 1967 Juan Santisteban, Badu DaCruz & Art Welch * 1969 John Borodiak & Art Welch All-Star second team selections * 1968

Dennis Viollet Dennis Sydney Viollet (20 September 1933 – 6 March 1999) was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and Stoke City as well as the England national team. He was famous as one of the Busby Babes and survived the Munich air disa ...

Coaches

* Doug Millward (1967) *

(1968–69)

Notes

References

{{North American Soccer League (1968–84) Soccer clubs in Baltimore Defunct soccer clubs in Maryland National Professional Soccer League (1967) franchises North American Soccer League (1968–1984) teams West Ham United F.C. 1967 establishments in Maryland 1969 disestablishments in Maryland Soccer clubs in Maryland Association football clubs established in 1967 Association football clubs disestablished in 1969