published by McFarland Press, 2021

To put it mildly, the Cleveland Barons had a lot of problems. Their brain trust was delusional. Their draft picks were disappointments. Their middle-of-nowhere arena was three quarters empty more often than not. That the Barons survived even one season, let alone two, is a miracle in itself. In his new book, The NHL’s Mistake by the Lake: a History of the Cleveland Barons, Gary Webster goes into great detail about why the Barons never really became a part of the fabric of Cleveland sports. The Barons brass could never quite understand why the team failed to catch on, but it becomes pretty obvious very early on as to why Cleveland was a huge mistake. The Barons always promoted the NHL, but rarely emphasized themselves. The former Seals’ management barely lifted a finger to scout out their new location and mull over what the future could hold in Ohio.

The Barons’ first season was a disaster as fans stayed away in droves, and the players could never quite get untracked despite a few bright moments here and there. No one wanted to go to games because the state-of-the-art Richfield Coliseum was located in the middle of nowhere, linked to Cleveland by nothing more than a two-lane highway that became more and more treacherous as winter storms walloped the area for two years in a row. Attendance was so bad that the NHL and the Players’ Association had to step in around the all-star break and hand the Barons a few bucks just to keep them afloat. Somehow, the Barons made it to the finish line, regrouped under new ownership, and threw themselves right back down the ground where the remained until the end of season two.

The book has a nice narrative style that flows well from event to event so you can follow the team’s progress easily from their final days in Oakland to the painful final days in Ohio. As a bonus, there are lots of details of how the Cleveland Crusaders fell apart, opening the way for the Seals to move into Richfield Coliseum. Webster has chosen some nice newspaper quotes to illustrate the feelings of players, coaches, and owners during these two tumultuous years. Webster also goes far more behind the scenes than I ever did for my own book on the Seals. I learned more about Mel Swig, George Gund, and Sandy Greenberg than I ever wanted to know. There are lots of great, previously unearthed stories about what went on behind the scenes. In fact, I learned many interesting facts about the Barons, such as how minuscule their promotion budget was their first year ($17,000, compared to $250,000 for the equally inept Colorado Rockies!). The Barons had the opportunity to scoop up not only stalwart defenseman, and former Golden Seal Paul Shmyr once the Cleveland Crusaders of the WHA folded, but they also could have acquired Jim Harrison, who had been a point-per-game player in the rebel league. Derek Sanderson was also rumoured to be in negotiations with the Barons, but the club didn’t have enough money to sign him. Just as well, I suppose, since Sanderson’s career was all but done by this point.

If I have one criticism of the book, it is that Webster sometimes gets a few Seals facts wrong. For instance, Charlie Finley sold the Seals in 1974, not in 1972. The Barons did in fact set a new franchise record for longest winless streak (15 games) in 1978, but the previous record was set by the 1972-73 Seals (14 games), not the 1975-76 team. And who is Harold Baldwin? Not really sure, but the guy who once owned the Toronto Maple Leafs with an iron fist was Harold Ballard, so I’m guessing that’s him. I also feel I didn’t really get to know any of the players, but I did learn a lot about the management team, which is understandable since the book mostly focuses on activities that took place off the ice. The book is really about the team rather than the players. That’s not to say Webster doesn’t talk about the games themselves, because he does, but the reasons for Cleveland’s failure as an NHL city mostly (completely?) had to do with how poorly the organization was run from day one, and that’s the focus of the book.

All in all, The NHL’s Mistake by the Lake is a great read and it will satisfy anyone who is interested in the history of the California Golden Seals or the comings and goings of a really bad sports franchise. Yes, the Seals were hoping for a brighter, more lucrative future when they left the empty confines of the Oakland Coliseum, and as they had already done time and time again, they failed. Sometimes it is true that the more things change, the more they stay the same.