MARYLAND AT A GLANCE

Baltimore Clippers. Baltimore’s second foray into professional basketball coincided with the opening of a new 6,200-seat indoor arena—the Baltimore Coliseum—at 2201 North Monroe Street. Following the 1938-1939 season, the American Basketball League (ABL) transferred yet another New York franchise, the Brooklyn Visitations, to Baltimore, where the team assumed its new identity as the Baltimore Clippers. Though one player on the Clippers—Robert F. (Bobby) McDermott, ABL scoring champion in 1939-1940—attained individual success, the team as a whole did not. After two seasons in the Baltimore Coliseum, the Clippers folded shortly before the 1941-1942 season.

Baltimore Bullets. From 1944 to 1973, several teams were called the Baltimore Bullets. The first Bullets team played from 1944 to 1947 in the American Basketball League. After joining the Basketball Association of America in 1947, the Bullets won the League Championship in 1948. When the Basketball Association of America became part of the National Basketball Association in 1949, the Bullets remained in that league until the team disbanded in 1954. The next Baltimore Bullets team played in the Eastern Professional Basketball League from 1958 to 1961, winning the Championship in their final year. The last Baltimore Bullets team, formerly the Chicago Zephyrs, played from 1963 until 1973.

Capital Bullets. In 1973, the Baltimore Bullets moved to Landover, Maryland, and changed their name to the Capital Bullets.

Baltimore BayRunners. In the Baltimore Arena, the Baltimore BayRunners played during the 1999-2000 season. This team was a charter member of the locally-based International Basketball League (IBL), a professional eight-team league headquartered on the eighth floor of the Baltimore World Trade Center. In its brief two-year existence, the League had a nationwide presence. During its first year, outside of Maryland, the League fielded teams in California (San Diego Stingrays), Missouri (St. Louis Swarm), Nevada (Las Vegas Silver Bandits), New Jersey (Trenton Shooting Stars), New Mexico (New Mexico Slam), Ohio (Cincinnati Stuff), and Virginia (Richmond Rhythm).

The BayRunners played in the IBL East Conference, along with Cincinnati, Richmond, and Trenton. The IBL West Conference included Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego, and St. Louis. Six out of the eight teams were owned by individual owners, with the remaining two—Baltimore and Las Vegas—being owned by the League itself. Before the League’s inaugural season, Cal Ripken, Jr., star baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles, became a minority owner, when he purchased 10% of the BayRunners. He agreed to purchase the remaining 90% from the League when, and if, additional investors were secured. Yet, after one year, no additional investors stepped forward. Without a viable long-term owner, the Baltimore BayRunners suspended operations in November 2000, shortly before the start of its second season.

Despite Baltimore no longer having a team, the League remained in operation, headquartered in Baltimore, for the 2000-2001 season. In February 2001, the League expanded when it absorbed teams from the defunct Continental Basketball Association (CBA) in five states: Connecticut (Connecticut Pride), Illinois (Rockford Lightning), Indiana (Gary Steelheads), Michigan (Grand Rapids Hoops), and South Dakota (Sioux Falls Skyforce). The League folded that summer of 2001.