Hi everyone! I learned something this week. I think. I may have learned something this week. I’m not sure. I may be more confused now than ever. I am now openly questioning a part of the Seals history that may or may not have slid under my radar. I’m talking about the fabled “Bay Area Seals” era, that I briefly mentioned in my book. I really thought it was all a figment of Charlie Finley’s imagination, but I’m starting to think it actually was a reality. Sort of. I don’t know anymore…

A little back story… I was listening to the latest episode 185 of Tim Hanlon’s Good Seats Still Available featuring Chris Creamer and Todd Radom, who were promoting their interesting new book, Fabric of the Game: The Stories Behind the NHL’s Names, Logos and Uniforms , which I am giddily waiting to be released November 3. They were talking about the bizarre transition from Oakland Seals to California Golden Seals and how Finley actually changed the team’s name to Bay Area Seals. I had heard about this, but never thought it was an official name change, but apparently it was. In fact, many newspaper articles talk about the Bay Area Seals, and Finley had stationery and pennants made with Bay Area Seals written across them. They even explained that Finley planned on calling the team the San Francisco Golden Seals, but he backtracked on that and settled on California Golden Seals.

What confuses me is when the Bay Area Seals went the way of the dodo. Creamer and Radom claim the team actually played the first two games under that name, and some newspapers claim this too, but other newspapers still called the team “Oakland”. I don’t know what to believe anymore. I guess this will forever remain a mystery much like the weird Overexposed cards I put up on this site week after week.

Anyway, I encourage you to read the trio of articles I’ve selected to represent the bizarre Bay Area Seals era, and you can find them right here.

Until next time, stay gold!