Cleveland-Baltimore Connection

[LeonardRachiele]

Cleveland-Baltimore Connection
There is an historic connection between the two subject cities which partly involved football.

[1] The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s mission was in part to connect the Chesapeake Bay with the Great Lakes. Lake Eire here was the obvious place.

[2] The Carling Brewing Company of Cleveland had a branch in Baltimore. This was a big seller in the industrial areas in Eastern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Most taverns had it on draft. Carling also brewed Red Cap Ale. Neither was a big seller in Philadelphia.

[3] The Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Colts came into the National Football League from the All America Conference in 1950.

[4} In three seasons, 1959, 1964, and 1968, each team had big wins against the other. The Cleveland wins in the regular season at Baltimore in 1959 and 1968 are in my opinion the biggest the Browns ever had.

1959. The Browns defeated the Colts 38 to 31 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Baltimore with a 9-3 went on to win the NFL Title while the Browns were 7-5

1964 NFL Title. The Browns shut out the Colts 27 to 0 at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland.

1968. The Browns defeated the Colts 30 to 20 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Baltimore went on to win the NFL Title. This was their
only loss of the season.

1968 NFL Title. The Colts shut out the Browns 34 to 0 at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland.

1970. Both Cleveland and Baltimore moved to the AFC.

1996. The Cleveland Browns became the Baltimore Ravens.

The Cleveland victories 1959 and 1968 were big in the teams history. I will detail them later.

[Brian wolf]

The 1971 AFC Divisional playoff between the teams was huge as well. Its was John Unitas' last postseason win and Bill Nelson's last season as starter ...

Yes, the 68' win for the Browns was huge in the regular season but not as memorable as it should be because they played flat and left their emotion to the Dallas game while getting blownout by the Colts in the NFL Championship game.

A great win in 1959 as well, being a shootout with Brown looking great but the Browns for the year were well below expectations. This win at least allowed Paul Brown to avoid a .500 season.