Slim and None: My Wild Ride from the WHA to the NHL and All the Way to Hollywood

by Howard Baldwin, Steve Milton (Primary Contributor)

From his start as an owner in the World Hockey Association at the age of 28 (“slim and none” was a Boston sportswriter’s assessment of Howard’s chances when he was first awarded the New England Whalers franchise), to winning the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins and then on to Hollywood success, sports entrepreneur and film producer Howard Baldwin recounts his spirited and hugely entertaining life story. Howard Baldwin has lived his life according to his belief that the life best-lived is one in which we pursue our heart’s desire. He never met a challenge he couldn’t beat. Beginning with his move at the age of twenty-eight from an entry-level position in the ticket office of the Philadelphia Flyers to acquiring and building his own WHA franchise in New England, Howard has built an impressive reputation as a pioneer ― and a maverick ― in the world of professional hockey. As President of the WHA, Baldwin led the merger with the NHL, and then later became a key figure in the expansion of North American hockey into Russia. Topping his journey in hockey off with a stint as chairman of the Pittsburgh Penguins, he then moved successfully into the film industry, producing a number of outstanding films including the Academy-Award winning Ray. Slim and None is a story of perseverance, persistence, and ultimately, personal fulfilment. Baldwin and Milton have crafted an intimate portrait of a life within hockey spanning from the rebellious 1970s to the tumultuous 1990s and beyond into the exciting world of the movies.

Genres: Sports, Hockey, Nonfiction

312 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2014

Reviews

[Matt Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slim and None is an Autobiography about the life of Howard Baldwin, the original Whaler's owner and successful business man. It begins with his family life, but then moves to his true love: hockey. He first started with the Jersey Devils, the farm team of the new hockey club, the Philadelphia Flyers. He later moves up the ranks and gets into the professional league with Philadelphia. He later leaves and joins in the new rival league to the NHL, the WHA. He acquires a team along with some business partners. As a Boston Columnist claimed, his chances were "slim and none." He makes the Whaler's a successful team and let's them get into the NHL in the expansion of 1979. He lead the team to a great group, and leaves later to go with his wife and start a film company.
This book talks about him and his partners along the way through the WHA, the NHL, and to Hollywood. This is a great book for anyone interested about hockey, or the business of sports.

10/27/14

[Boni · Rating 2 out of 5]

This hockey book is really about the business side of hockey, told by a schmoozing owner who found even more of a niche making movies. His world of connections has been the match to fuel his success. Even the look of wealth and power was enough to convince investors. Not a bad thing if you can do it. But certainly a world of entitlement and privilege rather than grinding work known to the game of hockey. So it is a look at the other side of the coin. Howard Baldwin rubbed elbows with the power players in the WHA, the NHL, and in Hollywood. This book is less about the game I love, but was insightful in how the numbers are tallied. My problem is that it lacked passion. Despite attempts at human feeling, it still came across as philistine. It had a lot of essence of humblebrag wafting through it. A lot of ‘LOOK AT ME’, I’m so off track, how did I become so successful.’ A lot of so-and-so important person“… was also a good friend”… “… and still is to this day.”

The one good story was about starting the Russian Penguins after the fall of the Iron Curtain was amazing. Russian generals succumbing to capitalism that included Michael J Fox as an investor. And then reluctantly being shaken down and chased away by the Mafia.

Lots of skim-through boring business talk sections too… reads like a listing of events. So meh… not recommended. (Bought it at the Last Bookstore in LA, cuz I had to buy something there 🤷🏻‍♂️😐)

[Kamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard Baldwin writes an honest, clear, important, and compelling memoir of his time influencing US hockey history. Unlike many memoirs, this one is humble, kind, and full of juicy details. I so admire Howard's dynamic entrepreneurial spirit and his ability to get traction out of his opportunities. He is not the MBA type. He is the American bootstrapper whose passion, character, and hard work fueled his steady rise to the heights of hockey and the film industry. Of course I enjoyed the insider history of the Whalers and Penguins and his many film projects. This history features little known tales of his time with hockey's legends (Gretzky, Hull, Howe, Orr, Francis, Lemieux, the list goes on) and Hollywood's A-listers (this self-made hockey exec produced the Academy Award-winning film Ray, for goodness sake). However, I perhaps more appreciated learning how he thinks, how he works with colleagues, how he talks about his family, how he leverages small opportunities for bigger ones. I finished the book thinking that Howard Baldwin had an amazing life in hockey and film, and that he would have been successful at whatever he attempted because of his wonderful character. A must read for hockey fans and for people who enjoy being inspired by great Americans.

[Joe Seliske · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up mainly for the information about the founding of the World Hockey Association. It turns out that Howard Baldwin has had an interesting career to say the least. An easy read, written in the first person.

[Howie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read thru the Hockey & Movie career of Mr. Baldwin.

[Jack Caldwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I liked this book. Howard Baldwin is a legend in Hartford, as he is the man who started the old New England Whalers, brought them to Hartford, and revitalized a city, state, and sport that was in need of a renaissance. Since I heard about this book last April, I've been looking forward to picking it up as soon as possible. For me, I enjoyed the book overall. Baldwin gave inside insights and funny old stories about the sports business and it's evolution since he started with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1967. Me, knowing a lot of background information about the Whalers and sports business, found this to be fascinating. However, I realized Baldwin kind of assumed that readers had this background information in their knowledge. I wanted to learn more about the Whalers, thoughts behind trades, what Hartford was like in 1986, etc. Baldwin loosely over lined this time period for about a page, and used vocabulary that made it seem like everybody knew about it already and didn't need to know more. He focused more on his personal life, which was still interesting, but as the book progressed we got less and less regarding the Whalers and more and more regarding his life. When the book began, it entirely revolved around his start in the ticket booth with the Flyers in their inaugural season, and how he started the NHL-rival league WHA, then how he built the New England Whalers and eventually merged the two leagues and brought "The Whale" into the NHL. I was very excited to learn more about the rebrand, from the classic New England Whalers into the beloved NHL Hartford Whalers, but Baldwin, once again, loosely over lined the rebrand and focused more on parts I had little interest of. This is all the information we get regarding the famous rebrand, "We had a name change. We were no longer the New England Whalers - we were the Hartford Whalers." This was a major disappointment, I was looking forward to learning a lot about the Whalers' days behind the scenes, how the city reacted and their joy, etc, it was essentially the only reason I read the book. He just told readers vague outlines of what happened and assumed they knew the rest. I also believe he lacked an editor, as there were many typeos and odd spelling errors. Throughout the book, he spelled percent as "per cent", two words, and as Baldwin talked about how different groups owned different "per cents" of the team and how much "per cent" each bought, how much "per cent" of the team he was left with, it grew very irritating. Some sentences had no spaces in between periods, and no spaces between commas in various points. Many words, such as boom being "boon", lay being "lat", etc were misspelled as well. This book had so much potential to go down as one of the great books about sports business of all time, and could also make a major impact on why Hartford deserves a major NHL team again, something he has been trying to prove and accomplish for 4 years now, however he comes up majorly short. For me, being a Whalers fan, I thought this was a good read, and I believe all Whalers fans must read it, but to any regular sports fan I feel the need to pick up this book is, "Slim and None". To get the most out of it, you must know and understand Connecticut hockey culture, and even me being a part of that community I still had a hard time understanding some of it. Although it was still good, it definitely came up short to it's expectations.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though he was a good athlete through high school and college, Howard Baldwin never thought to have a sports career as a player – instead he wanted to own a team. He achieved that dream at the young age of 28 as one of the partners of the New England Whalers of the fledgling World Hockey Association. How he got there and what he did with the team, as well as his future endeavors are captured in this wonder memoir that is entertaining, informative and full of great memories for hockey fans.

Baldwin doesn’t spend too much time talking about his childhood or his college days. After his time in the Marines, he dives immediately into his sports career, becoming a ticket manager for the expansion Philadelphia Flyers in 1967. When Gary Davidson had an idea to create a rival hockey league in 1972, Baldwin convinced two other men to become the owners of the brand new New England Whalers franchise. The team was one of four WHA teams to join the NHL in 1979 as the Hartford Whalers – a merger (although for business reasons it was called an “expansion”) between the two leagues in which Baldwin played a key role.

How Baldwin and the Whalers got there and their years in the NHL makes for great reading. How the team and the entire WHA league was able to make deals with players, negotiate rent for arena time and yet still provide excellent hockey is covered throughout the book. It is clear that Baldwin is very passionate about the Whalers and the city of Hartford even after he sold his shares in 1989 and the subsequent move of the franchise to Raleigh in 1996.

Life after the Whalers is discussed in depth as well in the same entertaining manner – Baldwin later moved to the West Coast after marrying his second wife Karen and was instrumental in making San Jose a viable NHL market. However, that lead to a very brief tenure as an owner of the Minnesota North Stars. He went from Minnesota to Pittsburgh and was able to celebrate the Penguins’ 1992 Stanley Cup championship with them. He also went on to become a successful movie producer with his wife, the most notable of his films being the hockey movie “Mystery, Alaska.”

Hockey fans will love the stories of the WHA and some of the wisecracks Baldwin makes. One of my favorites came during the discussion of the final season of the WHA, when it finished with six teams, only four of which would join the NHL. Baldwin stated that “the NHL had its Original Six and the WHA would have its Final Six.” His relationships with people like Jack Kelley, whom he hired from Boston University to become the first Whalers coach and GM, are told with reverence. It is clear that he feels that he should do right to people who help him or work for him and it is really no surprise he became such a successful team owner.

This was one of the few memoirs that I read in one sitting because I was riveted to the book’s hockey stories and Baldwin’s writing that was easy to read. It was entertaining, insightful and a book that is highly recommended for hockey fans. People who have fond memories of the Hartford Whalers will especially love this book.

http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...

[Evan Scussel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Missed Opportunity

As a native of the greater Hartford region, I feel that Howard missed a great opportunity with this book. Frankly, it's too short and lacking in detail in some critical moments. I would have liked to know more about the Connecticut Whale years and what went wrong. Howard talks about the resistance he faced from the city and state in trying to rework the XL Center lease, but doesn't say why civic leaders were so hard to work with. I also think that the gravitas of what Howard pulled off in the WHA years is diminished by the brief description of those years. This book could/should have been 500 pages, not less than 300.

However, I couldn't agree with Howard more regarding his proposed changes to the NHL. His ideas for 4 on 4 hockey, penalties, linesmen in the stands and ties are all astute observations, creative and easily implementable.

I fear this book will only appeal to die hard hockey fans or Whalers aficionados.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it was definitely an easy read. The first half dealing with the WHA and Hartford Whalers was especially interesting. I found it to be less interesting towards the end when Baldwin was part of the Penguins and getting into the movie business. Still, overall a worthy read if you're interested in the topics I mentioned.