Miscellaneous Media: California Golden Seals Hockey Magazine (1972)

May 28, 2010 in Misc., Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

Let's play quickly--the sun is melting the ice.

I don’t really care for hockey, but I’ll always have a look when I come across some publication from 40 years ago for a sports franchise that no longer exists. Leagues were a lot less organized in those days and TV money hadn’t become the raison d’être. You never know what interesting factoids you might find. So I recently took advantage of an opportunity to gaze upon California ’72, a periodical that was published by Maple Leaf Gardens Sports magazines.  

The Managing Editor, Ross Brewitt, wrote a bunch of hockey books, including one about Eddie Shack, a journeyman player who battled illiteracy. There are advertisements for Belvedere cigarettes, Corby Gin and Grissol Breads. And there’s lots of great color and b&w images of the Seals in action. 

The California Golden Seals were an embattled NHL franchise in the Bay area from 1967-1976, part of the first wave of the league trying to spread its market beyond cold-weather environs in Canada and the Northeast and Midwest of the America. The NHL also wanted to head off progress by a competeing outfit called the Western Hockey League.  

A demonstration of superior netminding skills.

The Seals never drew and went though a succession of owners, including Charlie Finley, who changed team colors to match those of his baseball franchise, the Oakland A’s. The Seals eventually moved to Cleveland and then merged with another franchise. An excerpt about the beleaguered franchise from the magazine:

“From the start of expanision, unrest has been the word most commonly associated with the California Golden Seals, a team which has been afflicted with trouble in the front office for four turbulent years. General managers have been changed. Coaches have been changed. There have been changes in ownership, and the results of these changes have been completely predictable. The Seals have finished out of the playoffs for two of the four years they have been in operation and when all-time standings of the National Hockey League are considered, the Seals stand alone at the bottom of the heap.”

More Miscellaneous Media: 

  • Ugandan currency with Idi Amin’s picture. (1973)
  • Tom Van Arsdale basketball card. (1970)
  • “Okie from Muskogee” Sheet Music. (1969)
  • Beatles Film Festival Magazine (1978)
  • ABA Pictorial (1968-69)
  • Tom Seaver’s Baseball Is My Life. (1973)
  • Hockey Digest (1973)
  • World’s Fair Guide (1964)
  • World’s Fair Guide (1939)
  • Buffalo Braves Yearbook (1972-73)
  • New York Nets Yearbook (1976-77)
  • “Tom Dooley” sheet music.