New York Yanks

The team began in 1944 as the Boston Yanks, owned by Kate Smith's manager, Ted Collins. He wanted a team in New York City, but had to be content with one in Boston after the New York Giants refused to let his new team share the New York area. In 1949, however, Collins, suspecting that the All-America Football Conference was on its last legs, got permission to move the Yanks to New York; rather than a formal relocation, however, Collins asked the NFL to fold his Boston franchise and grant him a new one for New York—most likely as a tax write-off.[1] Despite being considered to have folded, when considering the players and assets of the team, it was ultimately another move of the founding APFA franchise that was originally known as the Dayton Triangles. After the players and assets were moved from Boston, the team then played as the New York Bulldogs and shared the Polo Grounds with the Giants during the 1949 season.

As was the case with much of this erratic franchise's history through their various moves and merges over the years, the 1949 Bulldogs were a disaster on the field (1–12–1) as well as the box office, drawing just 48,007 fans to six home games, with by far the largest crowd (17,704) coming against the Giants. (A 13-all tie with the Washington Redskins on October 30 attracted only 3,678 customers; only one NFL crowd[2] since has been smaller.) The Bulldogs only win came against the Giants at the Polo Grounds, 31–24.

In 1950, Collins changed his franchise's name to the New York Yanks and moved to Yankee Stadium, essentially merging the woeful Bulldogs with the New York Yankees of the now-defunct AAFC, as part of a deal in which he bought the rights to most of the Yankees players. (Eighteen players from the '49 Yankees played for the Yanks in 1950,[3] while only four players from the 1949 Bulldogs — Joe Domnanovich, Joe Golding, John Nolan and John Rauch — returned.)

After splitting their first two games, the Yanks went on a five-game winning streak, putting them on top of the NFL's new National Division with a 6–1 record. Led by quarterback George Ratterman (who the Yanks acquired after his old team, the Buffalo Bisons, failed to be accepted in the NFL-AAFC merger), New York rolled up 190 points in those five victories. (Attendance improved as well; after attracting barely 30,000 total to their first three home games (all Yanks victories), 48,642 showed up for their next home game against Chicago, followed by 42,673 against the Rams.) That proved to be the team's high-water mark, however; a porous defense led to a four-game losing streak that knocked the Yanks out of the race. A win over the expiring Baltimore franchise (playing its last game) upped their final record to 7–5, good enough for third place and a definite improvement over 1949.

The football Yanks sported two future Hall of Fame linemen in Art Donovan and Mike McCormack in 1951, but their biggest opponent turned out to be their co-tenants: the baseball Yankees, who won the American League pennant. Not wanting the field torn up while the 1951 World Series was going on, the Yanks were forced to move their first two home games to Los Angeles and Detroit, which both turned out to be blowout losses. This continued the reputation of this franchise's troublesome legacy, where they were originally known as the Dayton Triangles, being a traveling team largely without a home base. The Yanks were also bedeviled by just plain bad luck: their next five games resulted in four losses (by a total of 16 points) and a tie, all but one of which were also played on the road. With a 0–6–1 record, the Yanks season was already over. (Attendance crashed, too: their sole home game in that span, a 29–27 loss to Green Bay, drew just 7,351 fans.) The Yanks staggered through the rest of the 1951 season with only one victory, a 31–28 decision in Green Bay. Their final game, against the Giants, played on an icy field with a game time temperature of 17 °F (−8 °C), drew a crowd of only 6,658 in cavernous Yankee Stadium; the Yanks lost, 27–17, finishing their season with a pitiful 1–9–2 mark.

Only 37,268 people found their way through the turnstiles in their abbreviated 1951 home schedule (four games: three losses and a tie), and this proved to be the end of the line for the New York Yanks. The team was reported to have been "sold back" to the league following the 1951 season, but it is more likely the franchise was simply revoked and canceled by the NFL. Shortly thereafter, a group of Dallas businessmen bought the Yanks' roster and player contracts—though it was ostensibly a "new" franchise—and moved them to the Cotton Bowl as the Dallas Texans. Despite being considered new, they continued to use the original Triangles' blue and white color scheme. The Texans franchise, in turn, failed after only one season, and the remains were awarded to a Baltimore-based group that used it to start the new Baltimore Colts. However, the NFL does not consider the Colts (now based in Indianapolis) to be a continuation of the franchise once known as the New York Yanks or their predecessor the Dayton Triangles.

• Bob DeMoss
• Brad Ecklund
• George Ratterman
• Jack Russell
• Spec Sanders
• George Taliaferro
• Art Weiner
• Buddy Young