Best Record: 103-59 (1985 & 1986)
Worst Record: 50-112 (1963)
Playoff Appearances: 5
Championships: 0
The New Jersey Stallions came into the league for the 1962 season along with the Bears, Sea Monsters and Stars. Things did not start out well for New Jersey, as they lost 104, 112 and 105 games in their first three seasons. They began to improve after that, and made the playoffs for the first time in 1970. They faced the Minnesota Lakers, who promptly swept them. They returned to the playoffs in 1971, but this time the San Francisco Seals knocked them out in five games. They won their first pennant in 1975, going to the World Series but losing to the Indiana Fireflies. They made the playoffs again in 1977, but lost in the first round again, this time to Cleveland. They won 103 games in 1985, but thanks to the fact that there were no longer any wild card teams, they missed the playoffs due to finishing second in the division as the Hornets had won 105 games. To add insult to injury, the 3-year old Washington Eagles went 79-83 but won a very weak NBC South (the Montreal Dragonflies also went 79-83, but finished last in the NBC East that year). Owner Matt Blair was so outraged over the playoff format and the fact that his 103-win team missed the playoffs while a 79-win team made the playoffs (and made it all the way to the World Series, at that!) that he made a formal appeal to have the league re-aligned back into 3 divisions and to bring back the wild card. When he lost his appeal, he immediately sold the team.
A local business owner named Josiah Mack purchased the team, quickly putting to bed rumors that the team would be moved out of town. The Stallions came back and won 103 games again in 1986, this time finishing in first place and making the playoffs. Their playoff opponent was none other than the Washington Eagles, who at least had won 95 games this time around. The Eagles defeated the Stallions in the Division Series en route to winning the World Series. The Stallions have not been back to the playoffs since but have been contenders the entire time.
Outlook for 1990:
The Stallions have a good team on their hands, and look to be a factor in the playoff race in 1990.
Current Manager:
Pat Williams has been the Stallions' manager since 1982. He had been the manager for New Jersey's AAA farm team the Portland Kodiaks, but toward the end of August they fired manager George Knox and brought Williams up as interim manager for the rest of the season. The team finished at 62-100, but Williams was hired as the permanent manager and has had the job ever since. Williams was born and raised in Hawaii, and he played in the low minors from 1952 through 1954.
Hall of Famers:
None