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The California Golden Seals: A Tale of White Skates, Red Ink, and One of the NHL's Most Outlandish Teams
Hockey has had its share of bizarre tales over the years, but none compares to the fascinating story of the California Golden Seals, a team that remains the benchmark for how not to run a sports franchise. From 1967 to 1978, a revolving door of players, apathetic owners, and ridiculous marketing decisions turned the Seals, originally based in Oakland, into hockey’s traveling circus. The team lost tons of money and games, cheated death more often than Evel Knievel, and left behind a long trail of broken dreams. Live seals were used as mascots, players wore skates that were painted white on an almost-daily basis, and draft picks were dealt away nonchalantly like cards at a poker game. One general manager was hauled in for questioning by mysterious men because he’d mismanaged a player contract, while one of the team’s goaltenders regularly spat tobacco juice at the feet of referees.
The California Golden Seals examines the franchise’s entire mismanaged—but always interesting—history, from its ballyhooed beginnings as a minor-league champion in the 1960s to its steep slide into oblivion in the late 1970s after moving to Cleveland. Through a comprehensive season-by-season narrative and a section of definitive statistics, Currier brings to life the Seals’ entire history with lighthearted anecdotes, personal interviews, and statistics about hockey’s most infamous losing team.
The California Golden Seals examines the franchise’s entire mismanaged—but always interesting—history, from its ballyhooed beginnings as a minor-league champion in the 1960s to its steep slide into oblivion in the late 1970s after moving to Cleveland. Through a comprehensive season-by-season narrative and a section of definitive statistics, Currier brings to life the Seals’ entire history with lighthearted anecdotes, personal interviews, and statistics about hockey’s most infamous losing team.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 11, 2017
In 1967, the NHL doubled in size from six teams to twelve. Dubbed “The Great Expansion”, the league wanted to place teams in markets where they could be successful. The San Francisco Bay area had supported its minor league Seals team in the Western Hockey League and as a result, the area was awarded one of the six expansion franchises. The colorful history of this NHL franchise, with all of its ups and downs, is captured in this wonderful account by Steve Currier.
The Seals never had a winning record in their 11 years of existence, which includes the last two seasons as the Cleveland Barons. There were flashes of great play, such as in the team’s second season when they posted their best record, finishing second in the West Division (that consisted of all six expansion teams) with 69 points and making the playoffs. They followed that up with another trip to the playoffs in 1970, getting swept in the first round. The team was also in playoff contention for the 1971-72 season but failed to make the playoffs and never made it back. This lack of success on the ice translated into poor attendance, as the Seals were dead last in attendance every season of their existence.
The reasons for this lack of success are many and varied. Currier leaves no stone unturned when writing about why this happened, as he interviews former team officials, broadcasters, players and long-time suffering Seals fans. One theory for the club’s poor attendance is that they played their games in Oakland, which many in San Francisco considered a second class town. Poor marketing throughout the entire history of the team is also frequently mentioned. The revolving door of ownership didn’t help either, but as many players and historians do, Currier saves the worst of his criticism for one particular owner, Charlie O. Finley.
After purchasing the floundering hockey team in 1970, he proceeded to try to use some of the same gimmicks that made his baseball team in Oakland a success. The Athletics had some of the most colorful uniforms in baseball and Finley tried to copy that formula over to the Seals. He had the players wear white skates, which was a disaster. Currier writes rich stories, especially from the players, about those skates. It was noted that often the skates had to be painted white and each coat of additional paint added to the weight of the skate. One player felt the skates weighed “fifty pounds.”
The stories about the skates overshadowed the ultimate problem for the franchise – the lack of funds. Finley was one of only several owners who had this issue but he received the most attention about this in the book as well as in the press. His penny-pinching ways are blamed for the Seals losing 11 players to the new World Hockey Association in 1972, breaking up what was a promising team on the ice. After Finley sold the team in 1974, the happier days were never found, as the team was run by the NHL for stretches at a time. The days in the Bay Area ended in April 1976 as the Seals moved to Cleveland after George and Gordon Gund invested in the team but even in Cleveland, it was more of the same results – many losses and few fans. The franchise ended its history by merging with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978.
Of course, Currier writes about many of the players who played for the Seals and Barons and many of whom are fondly remembered to this day by some of the team’s fans. Players like Jay Johnstone, Denis Maruk, Gilles Meloche, Gary Simmons (nicknamed “Cobra” for his artistic goalie mask), Ted Hampson, and Bill Hicke are only a small fraction of the many players who wore the green and gold sweaters of the Seals. Their stories are a joy to read, mostly funny and always entertaining. Most of them speak fondly of the few hearty fans who came out to the games, but speak not so well about owners, especially those who played for Finley.
While the Seals were not a success on the ice or on the business pages, they left their mark in hockey history and their story is one that should be told. Currier does this in an entertaining manner and any hockey fan who wants to learn anything about this franchise should read this book.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
The Seals never had a winning record in their 11 years of existence, which includes the last two seasons as the Cleveland Barons. There were flashes of great play, such as in the team’s second season when they posted their best record, finishing second in the West Division (that consisted of all six expansion teams) with 69 points and making the playoffs. They followed that up with another trip to the playoffs in 1970, getting swept in the first round. The team was also in playoff contention for the 1971-72 season but failed to make the playoffs and never made it back. This lack of success on the ice translated into poor attendance, as the Seals were dead last in attendance every season of their existence.
The reasons for this lack of success are many and varied. Currier leaves no stone unturned when writing about why this happened, as he interviews former team officials, broadcasters, players and long-time suffering Seals fans. One theory for the club’s poor attendance is that they played their games in Oakland, which many in San Francisco considered a second class town. Poor marketing throughout the entire history of the team is also frequently mentioned. The revolving door of ownership didn’t help either, but as many players and historians do, Currier saves the worst of his criticism for one particular owner, Charlie O. Finley.
After purchasing the floundering hockey team in 1970, he proceeded to try to use some of the same gimmicks that made his baseball team in Oakland a success. The Athletics had some of the most colorful uniforms in baseball and Finley tried to copy that formula over to the Seals. He had the players wear white skates, which was a disaster. Currier writes rich stories, especially from the players, about those skates. It was noted that often the skates had to be painted white and each coat of additional paint added to the weight of the skate. One player felt the skates weighed “fifty pounds.”
The stories about the skates overshadowed the ultimate problem for the franchise – the lack of funds. Finley was one of only several owners who had this issue but he received the most attention about this in the book as well as in the press. His penny-pinching ways are blamed for the Seals losing 11 players to the new World Hockey Association in 1972, breaking up what was a promising team on the ice. After Finley sold the team in 1974, the happier days were never found, as the team was run by the NHL for stretches at a time. The days in the Bay Area ended in April 1976 as the Seals moved to Cleveland after George and Gordon Gund invested in the team but even in Cleveland, it was more of the same results – many losses and few fans. The franchise ended its history by merging with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978.
Of course, Currier writes about many of the players who played for the Seals and Barons and many of whom are fondly remembered to this day by some of the team’s fans. Players like Jay Johnstone, Denis Maruk, Gilles Meloche, Gary Simmons (nicknamed “Cobra” for his artistic goalie mask), Ted Hampson, and Bill Hicke are only a small fraction of the many players who wore the green and gold sweaters of the Seals. Their stories are a joy to read, mostly funny and always entertaining. Most of them speak fondly of the few hearty fans who came out to the games, but speak not so well about owners, especially those who played for Finley.
While the Seals were not a success on the ice or on the business pages, they left their mark in hockey history and their story is one that should be told. Currier does this in an entertaining manner and any hockey fan who wants to learn anything about this franchise should read this book.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
December 8, 2024
I had just finished Up, Up, and Away: The Kid, the Hawk, Rock, Vladi, Pedro, le Grand Orange, Youppi!, the Crazy Business of Baseball, and the Ill-fated but Unforgettable Montreal Expos about the Montreal Expos (while in Oakland) and figured I'd pivot to a book about a lost Oakland team. Being the massive hockey fan I am, I chose Steve Currier's history of the California Golden Seals. It was a pretty good choice, although Currier goes into more detail on particular games than he needs to. Overall, he paints a good picture of a team always in chaos--from the constantly shifting and sometimes mercurial ownership to the GM position to the coaching staff to the location in Oakland, the Golden Seals never quite seemed settled. They showed promise at certain points and had some great players like Dennis Maruk, Al MacAdam, and Gilles Meloche. But the Seals are probably most notable for weird bits like their white (yes, WHITE) skates. Ironically, they ended up moving to Cleveland and soon after breaking into pieces mostly picked up by Minnesota. Who then... ended up quasi-relocating to San Jose. Quite the saga, and Currier provides a detailed look at what went wrong.
April 10, 2020
Perhaps being a life long NY Jets fans has warped my sense of what being a failed franchise entails, despite the one SB victory (right around when I was born) nobody has defined sports franchise dysfunction better than than the Jets, so the CA Golden Seals “outlandish” seems kinda mundane in comparison to things like the Beilichik debacle, spygate, the butt fumble , etc (I could go on if you want to know true sports fueled bitterness)...rant over...
Currier definitely should be commended for his enthusiasm and leg work, and not being a huge hockey fan myself, admittedly the large amount of hockey stats and the X’s and O’s of the sport, go over my head, so surely serious hockey fans will dig this book way more than I did.
Currier definitely should be commended for his enthusiasm and leg work, and not being a huge hockey fan myself, admittedly the large amount of hockey stats and the X’s and O’s of the sport, go over my head, so surely serious hockey fans will dig this book way more than I did.
January 24, 2021
The book starts with a history of hockey in the Bay Area, going back to the 1920s. It also touches on the WHL Seals, and their efforts to join the NHL. Subsequent chapters cover each season, starting with the off-season and business side of things, before going through highlights of the games and the aftermath. A concluding chapter looks at why the Seals still matter and what their legacy was.
Currier did a good job here of showing the dysfunction of the front-office. It's a convoluted mess, to say the least, but he manages to keep it all in order, and shows that the team was really doomed from the start with the ownership the way it was. Despite the publicity of Finely for his antics, the team was probably already dead by the time he bought it, though that certainly sped up the process. Currier does well getting into the specifics of things, and as someone who really appreciates the business side of hockey, I liked that he gave such coverage to this topic.
The coverage of the games themselves is also good. He doesn't just focus on a couple players, but gives everyone a fair amount of discussion, and doesn't just reel off dates and scores. I was surprised to see the Seals did surprisingly well against the Bruins, which was not something one would expect.
Currier's real strength here is that he was able to talk to a lot of key people: players, executives, fans, anyone really who interacted with the Seals (and Barons; I'm really glad he included the Barons in this). If anything it is my one critique of the book: he has extensive quotations, either via interviews or from contemporary press. While it's good to have the people themselves give their opinion, I think a little less dependency on their quotes and more summarizing would have been nice.
The book also contains a good statistical register: player stats, season records, coaching history, and miscellaneous records, from both the WHL and NHL teams. He also has citations, leading to contemporary news articles and other sources. It would have been nice to have more of those, if only to have more options for further research, but understandable in that this is not an academic work.
Overall a really great look at what happened to the Seals, and why they were not able to work out.
Currier did a good job here of showing the dysfunction of the front-office. It's a convoluted mess, to say the least, but he manages to keep it all in order, and shows that the team was really doomed from the start with the ownership the way it was. Despite the publicity of Finely for his antics, the team was probably already dead by the time he bought it, though that certainly sped up the process. Currier does well getting into the specifics of things, and as someone who really appreciates the business side of hockey, I liked that he gave such coverage to this topic.
The coverage of the games themselves is also good. He doesn't just focus on a couple players, but gives everyone a fair amount of discussion, and doesn't just reel off dates and scores. I was surprised to see the Seals did surprisingly well against the Bruins, which was not something one would expect.
Currier's real strength here is that he was able to talk to a lot of key people: players, executives, fans, anyone really who interacted with the Seals (and Barons; I'm really glad he included the Barons in this). If anything it is my one critique of the book: he has extensive quotations, either via interviews or from contemporary press. While it's good to have the people themselves give their opinion, I think a little less dependency on their quotes and more summarizing would have been nice.
The book also contains a good statistical register: player stats, season records, coaching history, and miscellaneous records, from both the WHL and NHL teams. He also has citations, leading to contemporary news articles and other sources. It would have been nice to have more of those, if only to have more options for further research, but understandable in that this is not an academic work.
Overall a really great look at what happened to the Seals, and why they were not able to work out.
January 4, 2022
What an interesting book, I grew up a leafs fan and often saw the seals on hockey night in Canada as an opponent of the Leafs. Garish yellow or green jerseys with a seal on the front, usually crappy, and frequently found in a pack of hockey cards the seals were one of those teams that showed up to get beat.
This book chronicles the history and tragedy of the NHLs ultimate doormats. Definitely worth a read.
This book chronicles the history and tragedy of the NHLs ultimate doormats. Definitely worth a read.
February 11, 2023
Wow!!! I’m a very casual hockey fan but I found myself incredibly invested throughout the incredibly detailed history of the Seals. I even felt sad when they moved to Cleveland even though my boyfriend spoiled that for me and it literally already happened. I didn’t understand numbers and stats but all the shade from the reporters, members, front office… everyone, really, was hilarious. Impeccable sports book and my favourite hockey book!!
January 13, 2026
I've always been fascinated with the Seals (I have a retro cap of theirs) and other defunct or really bad teams. Incredible research and a labor of love for the author (who wasn't even born when the Seals were playing). For fans of old-time hockey mostly though. Small negative: Most sports books contain too much game by game detail. It depends on the book, but the in season shenanigans and history were more interesting to me.
June 25, 2021
Incredible detail and extensive interviews thst spanned long periods. Looked like took a real long time to write. Interesting history. Prob bit too much nitty gritty for most people about individual games in the season. But can skim past that a bit at times.
July 31, 2022
When Nobody wants to control the ship because they think Somebody Else will control it you get a disaster of a business. Were they located anywhere else but northern California they would have moved a lot sooner. Plenty of blame to go around.
February 3, 2025
Seemed like a good book and I thoroughly enjoyed the section on the Barons era.
February 19, 2019
The San Jose Sharks are one of the more successful teams in the National Hockey League, both in terms of on-ice performance and in the loyalty (and dollars) earned from their legion of fans. However, they're not the first NHL team in the San Francisco Bay area; that “honor” (term used loosely) belongs to a team that long time hockey fans will remember for their white skates and on-ice futility – the California Golden Seals.
Steve Currier has written and published what appears to be the definitive work on the team that was believed to be the top of the 1967 expansion class, but which spent most of their history mired in on-ice and off-ice futility. Personally, I did not become aware of the team (or to the NHL) until Charlie Finley had bought the team, issued the gawdawful white skates, and renamed the team from “Oakland Seals” to “California Golden Seals”. Currier, however, expands past the books title and implied timeframe, and discusses the professional hockey teams that played in the Bay Area before the NHL expanded from 6 to 12 teams – and to the limited post-California days of the newly christened and relocated Cleveland Barons.
I loved the book, with my only complaint being with the photography. I found the selection to be … lacking, and the inability to include glossy pages for reproduction further lessened their impact.
I suspect this book is in limited circulation, and encourage hockey fans to locate a copy while they still can.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5 stars where 1/2 stars are not permitted.
Merged review:
The San Jose Sharks are one of the more successful teams in the National Hockey League, both in terms of on-ice performance and in the loyalty (and dollars) earned from their legion of fans. However, they're not the first NHL team in the San Francisco Bay area; that “honor” (term used loosely) belongs to a team that long time hockey fans will remember for their white skates and on-ice futility – the California Golden Seals.
Steve Currier has written and published what appears to be the definitive work on the team that was believed to be the top of the 1967 expansion class, but which spent most of their history mired in on-ice and off-ice futility. Personally, I did not become aware of the team (or to the NHL) until Charlie Finley had bought the team, issued the gawdawful white skates, and renamed the team from “Oakland Seals” to “California Golden Seals”. Currier, however, expands past the books title and implied timeframe, and discusses the professional hockey teams that played in the Bay Area before the NHL expanded from 6 to 12 teams – and to the limited post-California days of the newly christened and relocated Cleveland Barons.
I loved the book, with my only complaint being with the photography. I found the selection to be … lacking, and the inability to include glossy pages for reproduction further lessened their impact.
I suspect this book is in limited circulation, and encourage hockey fans to locate a copy while they still can.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5 stars where 1/2 stars are not permitted.
Steve Currier has written and published what appears to be the definitive work on the team that was believed to be the top of the 1967 expansion class, but which spent most of their history mired in on-ice and off-ice futility. Personally, I did not become aware of the team (or to the NHL) until Charlie Finley had bought the team, issued the gawdawful white skates, and renamed the team from “Oakland Seals” to “California Golden Seals”. Currier, however, expands past the books title and implied timeframe, and discusses the professional hockey teams that played in the Bay Area before the NHL expanded from 6 to 12 teams – and to the limited post-California days of the newly christened and relocated Cleveland Barons.
I loved the book, with my only complaint being with the photography. I found the selection to be … lacking, and the inability to include glossy pages for reproduction further lessened their impact.
I suspect this book is in limited circulation, and encourage hockey fans to locate a copy while they still can.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5 stars where 1/2 stars are not permitted.
Merged review:
The San Jose Sharks are one of the more successful teams in the National Hockey League, both in terms of on-ice performance and in the loyalty (and dollars) earned from their legion of fans. However, they're not the first NHL team in the San Francisco Bay area; that “honor” (term used loosely) belongs to a team that long time hockey fans will remember for their white skates and on-ice futility – the California Golden Seals.
Steve Currier has written and published what appears to be the definitive work on the team that was believed to be the top of the 1967 expansion class, but which spent most of their history mired in on-ice and off-ice futility. Personally, I did not become aware of the team (or to the NHL) until Charlie Finley had bought the team, issued the gawdawful white skates, and renamed the team from “Oakland Seals” to “California Golden Seals”. Currier, however, expands past the books title and implied timeframe, and discusses the professional hockey teams that played in the Bay Area before the NHL expanded from 6 to 12 teams – and to the limited post-California days of the newly christened and relocated Cleveland Barons.
I loved the book, with my only complaint being with the photography. I found the selection to be … lacking, and the inability to include glossy pages for reproduction further lessened their impact.
I suspect this book is in limited circulation, and encourage hockey fans to locate a copy while they still can.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5 stars where 1/2 stars are not permitted.
February 19, 2019
The San Jose Sharks are one of the more successful teams in the National Hockey League, both in terms of on-ice performance and in the loyalty (and dollars) earned from their legion of fans. However, they're not the first NHL team in the San Francisco Bay area; that “honor” (term used loosely) belongs to a team that long time hockey fans will remember for their white skates and on-ice futility – the California Golden Seals.
Steve Currier has written and published what appears to be the definitive work on the team that was believed to be the top of the 1967 expansion class, but which spent most of their history mired in on-ice and off-ice futility. Personally, I did not become aware of the team (or to the NHL) until Charlie Finley had bought the team, issued the gawdawful white skates, and renamed the team from “Oakland Seals” to “California Golden Seals”. Currier, however, expands past the books title and implied timeframe, and discusses the professional hockey teams that played in the Bay Area before the NHL expanded from 6 to 12 teams – and to the limited post-California days of the newly christened and relocated Cleveland Barons.
I loved the book, with my only complaint being with the photography. I found the selection to be … lacking, and the inability to include glossy pages for reproduction further lessened their impact.
I suspect this book is in limited circulation, and encourage hockey fans to locate a copy while they still can.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5 stars where 1/2 stars are not permitted.
Steve Currier has written and published what appears to be the definitive work on the team that was believed to be the top of the 1967 expansion class, but which spent most of their history mired in on-ice and off-ice futility. Personally, I did not become aware of the team (or to the NHL) until Charlie Finley had bought the team, issued the gawdawful white skates, and renamed the team from “Oakland Seals” to “California Golden Seals”. Currier, however, expands past the books title and implied timeframe, and discusses the professional hockey teams that played in the Bay Area before the NHL expanded from 6 to 12 teams – and to the limited post-California days of the newly christened and relocated Cleveland Barons.
I loved the book, with my only complaint being with the photography. I found the selection to be … lacking, and the inability to include glossy pages for reproduction further lessened their impact.
I suspect this book is in limited circulation, and encourage hockey fans to locate a copy while they still can.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5 stars where 1/2 stars are not permitted.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews