PORTLAND, Maine — With the City Council officially authorizing a new United Soccer League team for Fitzpatrick Stadium earlier this month, the as-yet-unnamed franchise joins a list of fully professional sports teams who have called Maine home in the last hundred years or so.
Here’s a look back at some of the Pine Tree State’s salaried sports squads of yore who ran, threw, caught, jumped, kicked and skated for monetary compensation and glory.
Baseball
From the late 19th century, into the mid-20th century, Maine overflowed with semi-pro and minor league baseball teams sponsored by towns, mills and other industries. There were so many, which sprang up and folded at lighting speed, it’s hard to account for them all.
Our capital city’s professional baseball history began with the Augusta Kennebecs, who joined the Class B level New England League in 1895. That season, the team posted a 44–54 record, finishing last in their eight-team division.
In 1901, the Augusta Live Oaks began playing in the independent New England League, which folded the same year. In 1907, the Augusta Senators signed up with a re-formed Class D New England League. That league folded before the end of 1908, bringing Augusta’s minor league baseball history to a close.
Bangor’s first paid baseball side was the Millionaires, which formed in 1894. The team continued through the 1897 season, participating in three different leagues along the way. After the Millionaires were gone, the Queen City hosted one-year-wonder teams in 1901, 1907 and 1908.
The city’s pro baseball history then halted for several decades following the Bangor Maroons’ single, 1913 season in the Class D New Brunswick-Maine League. The Maroons finished with a 18–48, record, 23.5 games behind the first place Fredericton Pets.
Professional baseball returned to Bangor 81 years later with the independent minor league Blue Ox, which played at the University of Maine’s Larry Mahaney Diamond between 1994 and 1997. In its first season, the team featured ex-Red Sox hurler Oil Can Boyd.
The Bangor Lumberjacks, of the independent Northeast League, were the last pro baseball team to call Bangor home. The team played two seasons, in 2003 and 2004.
The Portland Sea Dogs began playing in 1994 and are Maine’s longest-running minor league baseball team, by far. But the Forest City’s pro baseball history stretches back to the 19th century.
Portland’s first team played in the New England League from 1886–1888, then again from 1891–1896. A squad called the Portland Phenoms played the 1899 season. The Portland Duffs, named for their manager George Edward “Duffy” Lewis, a former Boston Red Sox left fielder, played in Portland for the 1913 through 1915 seasons. Three more teams then kept minor league baseball alive in the city until 1930.
The Portland Pilots, a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate, operated from 1946 through 1949, closing up shop when their league folded.
Other Maine towns who once had professional, minor league baseball teams include Rockland, Belfast, Biddeford, York, Lewiston and Waterville.
Basketball
The Maine Lumberjacks were the first minor league basketball team to call Maine home. Formed for the Continental Basketball Association in 1978, the team was based in Bangor.
In their inaugural season, the Lumberjacks finished fourth. In their second season they finished third and made the postseason, first defeating the Leigh Valley Jets, and then losing to the Rochester Zeniths in a three-game series.
The team played in Bangor until 1983 but never again made the playoffs.
Bangor got another minor league basketball team, the Maine Windjammers, in 1985. Also associated with the Continental Basketball Association, it only lasted one season.
Portland had a United States Basketball League team, The Wave — originally called the Mountain Cats — for the 1996-97 season.
Founded in 2009 as the Red Claws, the Maine Celtics currently play NBA G League basketball in the Portland Expo.
Hockey
The Maine Nordiques were the state’s first professional ice hockey team. Based in Lewiston, the team was part of the North American Hockey League from 1973 to 1977. The Nordiques were a farm team for the Quebec Nordiques of the World Hockey Association.
The team had winning records for two of its four seasons in Lewiston. In the Nordiques final, 1976-77 season, it went 74-40 and made it to the league finals, ultimately losing to the Syracuse Blazers.
Portland’s first pro hockey team, the Maine Mariners, took to the ice inside the Cumberland County Civic Center in 1977. A farm team for the Philadelphia Flyers at the time, the Mariners captured the American Hockey League’s championship Calder Cup in each of its first two seasons.
Later, after going through several affiliation changes, the team played its final home game on April 4, 1992, against the Fredericton Canadiens. In all, the Mariners boasted three regular season titles, five division titles and three Calder Cups.
Pro hockey returned to the Forest City the very next year when the AHL’s Portland Pirates took up residence in the Civic Center. The Pirates won its first, and only, Calder Cup in its first season. The team continued through 2016, making the playoffs all but four seasons. At various times, the Pirates served as a farm team for the NHL’s Mighty Ducks, Sabres and Coyotes.
Another team, also called the Mariners, came back to Portland in 2018. Playing in the East Coast Hockey League, the new Mariners have made the playoffs twice but have yet to win a championship.
Other sports
Maine has sported other pro teams outside of baseball, basketball and hockey, too.
In 1994, the New England Stingers professional roller hockey team played in the Cumberland County Civic Center. They went 5-17 and did not make the playoffs.
The Maine Mammoths, a professional football team with the National Arena League played one season in Portland in 2018. That year, the Mammoths went 7-8, falling one win short of a playoff berth.
Portland Rising, a professional ultimate flying disc team of the Premier Ultimate League, began playing at Fitzpatrick Stadium in 2020. The team still operates and is hosting open tryouts in January for the upcoming 2024 season.
