Barons Wasteland
Cleveland flopped as an NHL host, but cards from the city’s short-lived team make for a great collecting challenge
It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. With attendance lagging and the books bleeding red ink a er the 1975-76 season, the Golden Seals pulled up stakes in California for sunnier opportunities … in Cleveland, Ohio. e largest city in the state at the time, and 10th most populous in the country, Cleveland had long been viewed as a likely NHL destination. It almost became home to the Montreal Canadiens in 1935 when the Habs were in dire financial straits, and on three occasions it was in the mix for an expansion franchise.
While waiting for its shot at the big leagues, it was home to the AHL Barons for more than 30 years. e area boasted a passionate fan base that routinely filled the arena and the club returned the love, winning a (then) record nine Calder Cup championships. ose teams were so talented that owner Al Sutphin once challenged the NHL for the right to play for the Stanley Cup.
If any city was ready for e Show, this was the one. And yet, just two years a er arriving in Cleveland, the Barons had hung up their top hats and watched as their players dispersed to Minnesota as part of a merger with the similarly struggling North Stars. What went wrong? e last-minute decision to relocate meant there was little time to promote the team’s arrival, hampering their ability to create aware
ness and sell season tickets. ere were struggles on the ice. Lacking both stars and depth, the team went just 47-87-26 and failed to make the playoffs either season. But the key issue was location. Richfield Coliseum was about 25 miles from downtown Cleveland. at’s a haul in good weather and an absolute beating when the snow squalls whip in off Lake Erie. ese factors conspired to keep the fans away in droves, and even with loans from both competing owners and the NHLPA, the Barons ultimately couldn’t stay afloat.
While their short run is a black mark on NHL history, it also makes collecting the Barons an achievable challenge. And the easiest place to start that collection is with O-Pee-Chee.
e legendary Canadian manufacturer was in a tough spot ahead of the 1976-77 release. e late decision to transfer the club meant they were unable to acquire updated photos showing the players in their new sweaters ahead of the season. Instead, O-Pee-Chee settled for the Barons logo in the upper le corner next to the team nickname, then took one of two approaches to the 18 player cards. e first was using a Seals image along with a blurb stating, “Team transferred to Cleveland”
superimposed over the photo.
e second saw the use of head shots with the jerseys airbrushed to appear completely white. ese did not include the transfer blurb. In hindsight, both decisions look pretty awkward.
e grouping featured seven RCs, including the first card of Dennis Maruk. e diminutive winger – who went on to have 50 and 60-goal seasons with the Washington Capitals just a few years later – was the team’s top scorer in both seasons, tallying 64 goals and 149 points and, alongside goaltender Gilles Meloche, was arguably the most popular Baron.
e set also included two errors and one corrected card of goaltender Gary Simmons (#176). e first error featured a blurb that reads “Team transferred to Colorado.”
e second, and scarcest of the trio, crudely airbrushed that erroneous text. e third, and arguably corrected, version has no text at all next to the photo of Simmons in his Seals gear.
All that said, these cards make for an inauspicious start to a Barons collection, simply because none of the players are pictured as Barons. Regardless, the issue was cleared up the following season. O-Pee-Chee
had its act mostly in order, issuing 16 Barons singles plus a Team Photo/Checklist and a popular Team Records card (#326) that featured the Barons logo on the front. I say “mostly” because the card of Jim Neilsen (#317) featured a two-yearold image of the veteran defenseman in his Seals gear, with a highly unstable blurb stating “Dra ed from Rangers 6-10-74.” Neilson played 47 games in Cleveland the previous season, offering plenty of time for an updated photo. e same is true for second-year Baron Fred Ahern (#280), who is shown with Seals gear and text stating “Now with Barons.”
Completists will also want to pick up the Topps error version of card #149. Although it purports to show star defender Al MacAdam, it actually pictures Bernie Wolfe. e mistake was caught quickly and corrected within the set. No error version appears in the the OPC release. You may also want OPC #384, which features Len Frig in Cleveland gear a er being traded to the Blues.
Although the team effectively merged with the North Stars the following summer, that wasn’t the last we’d see of the Barons on cardboard. Several players are pictured wearing their Cleveland gear in the 1978-79 OPC series, including Dave Gardner (#278), Greg Smith (#303), John Baby (#366) and MacAdam (#381).
e 1976-77 Popsicle series has a Barons logo card that can be found in both English and bilingual versions. e 1977-78 Coca-Cola series also features an NNO “card” of Bob Stewart. e low-scoring defenseman was one of several curious checklist choices in the 30-card set, especially as the sole Baron. Many of the players pictured, including Stewart, served as team reps with the NHLPA, earning them a spot in this series.
Even though the Barons were relegated to history, they weren’t forgotten by the hobby. Modernday manufacturers have released several Cleveland cards over the past few seasons. 2001-02 Upper
Deck Legends (#71) shows Maruk as a Baron. 2004-05 In e Game Franchises U.S. West series included five Barons base cards picturing Maruk, Meloche, MacAdam, Greg Smith and Dave Gardner, with hardsigned autographs for each as well. In 2010-11, Panini included a Maruk card in its rowback reads insert series, along with a hard-signed autographed parallel serial numbered out of 100. e following year, Charlie Simmer appeared in the same insert/autograph series, marking one of just two cardboard appearances he made as a Baron (the legendary Kings winger played 24 games with Cleveland in 1976-77). He later was featured in the 2011-12 Panini Limited base set (#20).
Meloche – and one of the greatest goalies masks of all time – was included in the 2012-13 In e Game Between e Pipes series as a base card (#151) and autograph (#AGM). And O-Pee-Chee included a manufactured logo patch as part of its 2013-14 release (#165).
Altogether these cards serve as a reminder of a brief but memorable chapter in NHL history.