1995 Baltimore Stallions season

The 1995 Baltimore Stallions season was the second and final season in the history of the Baltimore CFL franchise. The team became the first (and to date, only) American-based football team to win the Grey Cup. Despite the Stallions success, attendance dropped. The club only sold 9,000 season tickets.[1] The 1994 and 1995 Stallions radio flagship station was WJFK, 1300AM in Baltimore. Owned by Infinity Broadcasting, Bruce Cunningham of Fox45 TV served as play-by-play announcer, with former NFL Baltimore Colts stars Joe Washington, Bruce Laird, and Tom Matte providing analysis, and Mark Thoner of WLIF-FM as Producer.

1995 Baltimore Stallions season
OwnerJim Speros
General managerJim Popp
Head coachDon Matthews
Home fieldMemorial Stadium
Local radioWCBM
Results
Record15–3
Division place1st, South
Playoff finishWon Grey Cup
Team MVPMike Pringle
Team ROYChris Wright
Uniform

As it turned out, the 83rd Grey Cup would be the last game the Stallions would ever play. A week before the Grey Cup, the Cleveland Browns announced they were moving to Baltimore. Owner Jim Speros balked at the prospect of competing with an NFL team and opted to move elsewhere. When it became apparent that the CFL was giving up its attempt to gain a foothold in the United States, he opted to move his team to Montreal as the Montreal Alouettes. In doing so, Speros canceled his franchise in Baltimore and revived the 1946–86 Alouettes franchise. As a result, the 1995 season is officially the last season of Stallions history, and the Stallions are officially one of only two Grey Cup champions in the modern era to fold.

Preseason
Game Date Opponent Results Venue Attendance
Score Record
1 Sat, June 17 Ottawa Rough Riders W 45–11 1–0 Memorial Stadium 20,642
2 Sat, June 24 Birmingham Barracudas W 37–0 2–0 Miami Orange Bowl 20,216

[2]

Regular season
  • After the 1994 season, a name-the-team fan poll was held to decide a new team name. After the team's first week of the season being known as the Baltimore Football Club, the fan poll ended and Jim Speros announced to the Baltimore faithful that their team would be known as the Baltimore Stallions.
  • Mike Pringle's rushing totals were 1,791 yards. Compared to his stats in the 1994 season, his yards-per-carry fell by .6 from 6.4 to 5.8. Despite the reduction, his statistics were still the best any back posted in the CFL that year.

Season standings
South Division
Team GP W L T Pts PF PA Div Stk
Baltimore Stallions181530305413696–1W10Details
San Antonio Texans181260246304575–3W3Details
Birmingham Barracudas181080205485183–4L2Details
Memphis Mad Dogs18990183463644–3L1Details
Shreveport Pirates185130104655140–8L2Details

[3]

Season schedule
Week Game Date Opponent Results Venue Attendance
Score Record
1 1 Fri, June 30 at BC Lions L 34–37[4] 0–1 BC Place 23,999
2 2 Sat, July 8 San Antonio Texans W 50–24 1–1 Memorial Stadium 31,016
3 3 Sat, July 15 at San Antonio Texans W 28–23 2–1 Alamodome 18,112
4 4 Sat, July 22 Winnipeg Blue Bombers W 43–7 3–1 Memorial Stadium 30,641
5 5 Sat, July 29 at Birmingham Barracudas W 36–8 4–1 Legion Field 30,729
6 6 Wed, Aug 2 at Edmonton Eskimos W 19–12 5–1 Commonwealth Stadium 30,698
6 7 Sun, Aug 6 at Calgary Stampeders L 15–29 5–2 McMahon Stadium 24,463
7 8 Sat, Aug 12 Memphis Mad Dogs L 15–25 5–3 Memorial Stadium 31,221
8 9 Sat, Aug 19 at Memphis Mad Dogs W 16–13 6–3 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium 18,249
9 10 Sat, Aug 26 Toronto Argonauts W 41–14 7–3 Memorial Stadium 27,853
10 11 Sat, Sept 2 at Hamilton Tiger-Cats W 41–14 8–3 Ivor Wynne Stadium 23,120
11 12 Sat, Sept 9 Birmingham Barracudas W 28–20 9–3 Memorial Stadium 29,013
12 13 Fri, Sept 15 at Shreveport Pirates W 24–17 10–3 Independence Stadium 12,445
13 14 Sat, Sept 23 Shreveport Pirates W 42–32 11–3 Memorial Stadium 27,321
14 15 Sun, Oct 1 at Saskatchewan Roughriders W 28–24 12–3 Taylor Field 30,738
15 16 Sat, Oct 7 Saskatchewan Roughriders W 29–27 13–3 Memorial Stadium 31,421
16 Bye
17 17 Sat, Oct 21 BC Lions W 28–26[4] 14–3 Memorial Stadium 33,208
18 18 Sun, Oct 29 Hamilton Tiger-Cats W 24–17 15–3 Memorial Stadium 29,310

[5]

Playoffs

Mike Pringle ran for 484 playoff yards and four touchdowns in three games. The result was that the Baltimore Stallions made their second straight appearance in the Grey Cup.

Round Date Opponent Results Venue Attendance
Score Record
South Semi-Final Sat, Nov 4 Winnipeg Blue Bombers W 36–21 1–0 Memorial Stadium 21,040
South Final Sun, Nov 12 San Antonio Texans W 21–11 2–0 Memorial Stadium 30,217
83rd Grey Cup Sun, Nov 19 Calgary Stampeders W 37–20 3–0 Taylor Field 52,564

Grey Cup

The 83rd Grey Cup was played between the Baltimore Stallions and the Calgary Stampeders at Taylor Field in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Stallions won the game by a score of 37–20.[6] It marked the only time that an American-based team won the Grey Cup. Not one television station from Baltimore sent a crew to Regina to cover the Grey Cup game.[7] Only 200 fans showed up for the Stallions Grey Cup celebration.[7] As for the Grey Cup game itself, Chris Wright scored a then CFL record 82 yard punt return touchdown.[8] The aforementioned record stood until the 2018 Grey Cup, with Terry Williams returning a punt for 97 yards to conclude the first half. [8]

Awards and honors

After the season, other Baltimore Stallions' received awards and accomplishments in the CFL, which are:

Relocation to Montreal

In late 1995, Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announced his intention to relocate his NFL club to Baltimore, where they would be rechristened the Baltimore Ravens. This would have made the Stallions the only CFL club ever to directly compete with the NFL, whose season overlaps with the last three months of the CFL season.

In late November, Jim Speros had a Save our Stallions campaign, with January 5 as the deadline to sell 20,000 season tickets.[7] It was revealed that the team was $800,000 in debt.[7]

Stallions owner Jim Speros realized that despite the Stallions' popularity, they could not possibly compete with the NFL. After deals with Norfolk, Virginia and Houston fell through, Speros moved the Stallions to Montreal and revived the old Alouettes name for the 1996 season.

References
  1. Weird Facts about Canadian Football, p.199, Overtime Books, First Printing 2009, ISBN 978-1-897277-26-3
  2. "1995 Baltimore Stallions (CFL) - Pro Football Archives".
  3. "CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League 2". Archived from the original on 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  4. "British Columbia Lions historical Canadian Football League (CFL) scores, schedules, and analytics". Archived from the original on 2009-03-11. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  5. "Baltimore Stallions". Archived from the original on 2008-12-08. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  6. "Canadian Football League (CFL)". The Canadian Encyclopedia
  7. Weird Facts about Canadian Football, p.200, Overtime Books, First Printing 2009, ISBN 978-1-897277-26-3
  8. "Williams sets Grey Cup record with 97-yard punt return TD - CFL.ca". CFL.ca. 2018-11-25. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  9. "CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2011-04-22. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
  10. "CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2011-04-22. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
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