Cleveland Bulldogs

The Cleveland Bulldogs were an American football team from Cleveland . The team was formed in 1923 under the name Cleveland Indians and was merged with the Canton Bulldogs in 1924 . At this point both were playing in the NFL . That is why the Cleveland Bulldogs took part in the game operations of the NFL until they were relocated to Detroit in 1928 .

history

Samuel Deutsch , a Cleveland jeweler and boxing promoter who also owned a baseball team, bought the rights to an NFL franchise in 1923 and named the team Cleveland Indians . They only played seven games in the first season and had a chance of winning the NFL Championship with a total of three wins and three draws. Before that, however, they had to play a playoff game against the also unbeaten Canton Bulldogs , which was lost 46-0. Thus, they were fifth in the then twenty-team NFL .

founding

After receiving the rights to form an NFL franchise, which he called the Cleveland Indians , in 1923, Deutsch bought the reigning NFL champion, the Canton Bulldogs, in August 1924 . The Bulldogs were in financial distress and Deutsch bought the team for $ 2,500 without further ado. The two teams were merged into one team, the Cleveland Bulldogs. Seven Canton Bulldogs players were added to the squad, including player coach Guy Chamberlin . The team now played at Dunn Field in Cleveland , but returned to Canton again for the 1924 Thanksgiving Game .

NFL Championship 1924

The club became NFL champion that year with a record of seven wins, one draw and one loss. After six wins in the first six games of the season, the Bulldogs lost to the Frankford Yellow Jackets , drawing level with the Chicago Bears , who were now also first in the table. The Bears had more games, more draws and had lost the first game of the season to the Bulldogs. Despite the poor record, the Bears now demanded a playoff, which should take place after the season. That was against the rules of the NFL in 1924 . In July 1924, the owners of the NFL had agreed to the offer that the season begins on September 27th and ends on November 30th. This offer came by coincidentally from the then co-owner of the Bears Dutch Sternaman .

Exclusion from the NFL in 1926

In 1925, several Cleveland businessmen bought the rights to the former team, the Canton Bulldogs , from Deutsch for $ 3,000 . These played during the 1925 and 1926 seasons on under the name Canton Bulldogs in the NFL . German team from Cleveland continued to play under the name Bulldogs. He also sold the Cleveland Indians, half of his team, to Herb Brandt in August 1925. In the following season, the 1925 NFL season , the Cleveland Bulldogs won five times, with eight losses and one draw. But the Bulldogs were also doing very poorly financially, and in November of that year the franchise was almost bankrupt. Because of these financial difficulties, the team was banned from playing for the next season.

Decline

In 1927 the Bulldogs returned to the NFL once more . The club, whose chairman was still German, had been financially restructured with the help of investors and games in the NFL were resumed. The team, which included Cleveland- born quarterback Benny Friedman , played an average season. They achieved eight wins, four losses and one draw and finished fourth in the NFL . After this halfway satisfactory last season the Bulldogs were sold to Elliott Fisher . The team moved to Detroit and was renamed the Detroit Wolverines . In the following season there were 12 former Bulldog players in the squad. After just one season, the entire roster was bought by the New York Giants and the Wolverines franchise dissolved. In the 1928 NFL season , eight former players, including Benny Friedman , played the Bulldogs for the Giants.

statistics

year	victory	Defeats	draw	Standings	Trainer
1924	7th	1	1	1st East	Guy Chamberlin
1925	5	8th	1	12th East	Cap Edwards
1926	exclusion
1927	8th	4th	1	4th East	LeRoy Andrews
Total	20th	13	3