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Ghost teams
The Louisville Colonels, the Cleveland Spiders, the Sheboygan Red Skins, the Arizona Coyotes: franchises that no longer play, who played for them, and the last of their players to retire.
By Austin · October 16, 2026
Every franchise in sports today has a family tree, through every move and rename. These are the branches that ended. We went through every roster in our data and found the franchises that no longer play, who played for them, and the last of their players to retire.
Baseball
Baseball's first decades were crowded with clubs that came and went: the National Association of the 1870s, the American Association, the one-year Union Association and Players' League, and the Federal League of 1914 and 1915. When the National League cut from twelve teams to eight after 1899, four more went with it, among them the Louisville Colonels, where Honus Wagner started, and the Cleveland Spiders, whose last team went 20-134.
In all: 80 ghost franchises, 1,968 players who played for one of them, and 39 Hall of Famers among them. The 12 that lasted longest:
| Team | Seasons | Players | Best-known | Last to retire |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisville ColonelsAmerican Association, National League | 1882 to 1899 | 284 | Honus Wagner | Nick Altrock (1933) |
| Baltimore OriolesAmerican Association, National League | 1882 to 1899 | 254 | Willie Keeler | Hughie Jennings (1918) |
| Cleveland SpidersAmerican Association, National League | 1887 to 1899 | 164 | George Davis | Bobby Wallace (1918) |
| Washington SenatorsAmerican Association, National League | 1891 to 1899 | 187 | Jim O'Rourke | Bill Donovan (1918) |
| Philadelphia AthleticsAmerican Association | 1882 to 1890 | 141 | Lave Cross | Lave Cross (1907) |
| Detroit WolverinesNational League | 1881 to 1888 | 108 | Deacon McGuire | Deacon McGuire (1912) |
| Providence GraysNational League | 1878 to 1885 | 69 | Jim O'Rourke | Jim O'Rourke (1904) |
| Buffalo BisonsNational League | 1879 to 1885 | 68 | Jim O'Rourke | Arlie Latham (1909) |
| Cleveland BluesNational League | 1879 to 1884 | 67 | Jack Glasscock | Germany Smith (1898) |
| New York MetropolitansAmerican Association | 1883 to 1887 | 58 | Chief Zimmer | Chief Zimmer (1903) |
| Cincinnati RedsNational League | 1876 to 1880 | 53 | Deacon White | King Kelly (1893) |
| Washington NationalsNational League | 1886 to 1889 | 76 | Paul Hines | Tom Daly (1903) |
- Louisville Colonels: Honus Wagner, Fred Clarke, Dan Brouthers, Jimmy Collins, Hughie Jennings, Rube Waddell.
- Baltimore Orioles: Willie Keeler, Joe Kelley, Dan Brouthers, Hughie Jennings, Joe McGinnity.
- Cleveland Spiders: George Davis, Bobby Wallace, Jesse Burkett, Buck Ewing, Cy Young, John Clarkson.
- Washington Senators: Jim O'Rourke, Roger Bresnahan.
- Detroit Wolverines: Dan Brouthers, Deacon White, Sam Thompson.
- Providence Grays: Jim O'Rourke, John Ward, Old Hoss Radbourn.
- Buffalo Bisons: Jim O'Rourke, Dan Brouthers, Deacon White, Pud Galvin, Old Hoss Radbourn.
- New York Metropolitans: Tim Keefe.
- Cincinnati Reds: Deacon White, King Kelly.
Basketball
The NBA's ghosts are all from its first years, when the league was still sorting out which cities could support a team. Fifteen franchises from the BAA and the early NBA folded by 1954. The Baltimore Bullets (not today's Wizards, who took the name later) won the 1948 championship and lasted until 1954.
In all: 15 ghost franchises, 341 players who played for one of them, and 1 75th Anniversary Team member among them. The 12 that lasted longest:
| Team | Seasons | Players | Best-known | Last to retire |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Bullets | 1947-48 to 1954-55 | 100 | Paul Seymour | Ray Felix (1961) |
| Washington Capitols | 1946-47 to 1950-51 | 32 | Bill Sharman | Bill Sharman (1960) |
| Chicago Stags | 1946-47 to 1949-50 | 42 | Andy Phillip | Joe Graboski (1961) |
| St. Louis Bombers | 1946-47 to 1949-50 | 35 | Ed Macauley | Ed Macauley (1958) |
| Indianapolis Olympians | 1949-50 to 1952-53 | 29 | Joe Graboski | Joe Graboski (1961) |
| Providence Steamrollers | 1946-47 to 1948-49 | 45 | Chuck Halbert | Brady Walker (1951) |
| Indianapolis Jets | 1948-49 | 24 | John Mahnken | Ray Lumpp (1952) |
| Waterloo Hawks | 1949-50 | 21 | Don Boven | Don Boven (1952) |
| Toronto Huskies | 1946-47 | 20 | Clarence Hermsen | Clarence Hermsen (1952) |
| Pittsburgh Ironmen | 1946-47 | 17 | Noble Jorgensen | Noble Jorgensen (1952) |
| Cleveland Rebels | 1946-47 | 17 | Clarence Hermsen | Clarence Hermsen (1952) |
| Sheboygan Red Skins | 1949-50 | 17 | Bob Brannum | Bob Brannum (1954) |
- Washington Capitols: Bill Sharman.
Hockey
Since 1967 only two NHL franchises have stopped playing. The Seals of Oakland and California became the Cleveland Barons in 1976 and merged into the Minnesota North Stars two years later. The Coyotes (the Winnipeg Jets of 1979 until they moved to Phoenix in 1996) were made inactive in 2024, when their players and staff moved to Salt Lake City as a new franchise.
In all: 2 ghost franchises, 822 players who played for one of them, and 10 Hall of Famers among them.
| Team | Seasons | Players | Best-known | Last to retire |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Coyotes | 1979-80 to 2023-24 | 672 | Teemu Selanne | Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2026) |
| Cleveland Barons | 1967-68 to 1977-78 | 153 | Gilles Meloche | Dennis Maruk (1988) |
- Arizona Coyotes: Teemu Selanne, Brett Hull, Phil Housley, Jeremy Roenick, Serge Savard, Mike Gartner, Keith Tkachuk, Dale Hawerchuk, Bobby Hull.
- Cleveland Barons: Harry Howell.
Why this matters in Teammate Chain
A ghost team is still a roster, so its players still link to everyone they played with before and after. In Teammate Chain, the last player to retire from a ghost team is a bridge from a franchise that no longer exists to the decades that came after. See from the first season to today for the longest bridges of all.
How we counted
A franchise is a ghost if it no longer plays and no team today descends from it. Relocated and renamed franchises aren’t ghosts: the Seattle SuperSonics are today’s Oklahoma City Thunder. In baseball we follow the Lahman database’s franchise records, which also connect the National Association clubs of the 1870s to the franchises that followed them. “Best-known” is the player picked for the most All-Star teams and with the longest career; “last to retire” is the alumnus whose career ran latest, with the year of his last season.
About the data
These numbers come from the rosters behind Teammate Chain, not from every league a player ever played in. Two players count as teammates only if both are on the same club’s roster for the same season in our data, so a player who spent part of his career somewhere we don’t cover has fewer teammates here than he really had.
- Baseball: every MLB and major-league season since 1871. Every major-league season is included, back to the National Association, so baseball careers are complete.
- Basketball: every NBA season since 1946-47 (BAA included). The ABA isn't included, so ABA seasons (Julius Erving's, Moses Malone's, Spencer Haywood's first) don't count. Some rosters from the 1960s to the 1980s are incomplete.
- Football: every NFL season since the 1970 merger. Nothing before 1970, so the AFL and the pre-merger NFL are missing, along with the USFL, XFL and other leagues. A career like George Blanda's (1949-1975) only counts from 1970.
- Hockey: every NHL season since the 1967 expansion. Nothing before 1967-68, and no WHA, so Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull, for example, only count from 1967.
- Soccer: Europe's top five leagues since 1963-64. Only league matches in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1. Seasons anywhere else (Portugal, the Netherlands, Turkey, MLS, lower divisions) and cup and international matches aren't included. Teammates count from the club's squad list, even a player who didn't play that season; career lengths count only the seasons he played. A career that starts with a newly promoted club may have begun in a lower division, so those careers are left out of the lists.
Our hockey rosters are missing Arizona’s last season, 2023-24, so its count of players is a little short.
Careers that are still going count through the latest season in the data, as of October 17, 2026. Players who share a name are kept apart by their league ids and birth dates, and a player listed on a roster for a season he didn’t play (an injured rookie, a draft pick still overseas) isn’t counted for it. Spot a mistake? Let us know.
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