1995 Baltimore Stallions season

The 1995 Baltimore Stallions season was the second in the history of the Baltimore CFL franchise. It would be the final season in Baltimore as the team relocated to Montreal, Quebec. The team ended its existence with a victory in the Grey Cup. The Stallions were the first American based football team to win the Grey Cup. Despite the Stallions success, attendance dropped. The club only sold 9,000 season tickets.

1995 Baltimore Stallions season
Head Coach	Don Matthews
Home Field	Memorial Stadium
Results
Record	15-3-0
Place	1st, South
Playoff Finish	Won Grey Cup
Team MVP	Mike Pringle
Team ROY	Chris Wright
Uniform
Timeline
Previous season	Next season
1994	1996

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Attendance
1	Sat, June 17	vs. Ottawa Rough Riders	45-11	Win	20,642
2	Sat, June 24	at Birmingham Barracudas	37-0	Win	31,016

Regular season

• After the 1994 season, a name-the-team fan poll was held to decide a new team name. After the team's first week of the season being known as the Baltimore Football Club, the fan poll ended and Jim Speros announced to the Baltimore faithful that their team would be known as the Baltimore Stallions.

• Mike Pringle's rushing totals were 1,791 yards. Compared to his stats in the 1994 season, his yards-per-carry fell by .6 from 6.4 to 5.8. Despite the reduction, his statistics were still the best any back posted in the CFL that year.

Season standings

South Division

Team	GP	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pts
Baltimore Stallions	18	15	3	0	541	369	30
San Antonio Texans	18	12	6	0	630	457	24
Birmingham Barracudas	18	10	8	0	548	518	20
Memphis Mad Dogs	18	9	9	0	346	364	18
Shreveport Pirates	18	5	13	0	465	514	10

Season schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Attendance
1	Fri, June 30	at BC Lions	34-37	Loss	23,999
2	Sat, July 8	vs. San Antonio Texans	50-24	Win	31,016
3	Sat, July 15	at San Antonio Texans	28-23	Win	18,112
4	Sat, July 22	vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers	43-7	Win	30,641
5	Sat, July 29	at Birmingham Barracudas	36-8	Win	30,729
6	Wed, Aug 2	at Edmonton Eskimos	19-12	Win	30,698
6	Sun, Aug 6	at Calgary Stampeders	29-15	Loss	24,609
7	Sat, Aug 12	vs. Memphis Mad Dogs	25-15	Loss	31,221
8	Sat, Aug 19	at Memphis Mad Dogs	16-13	Win	18,249
9	Sat, Aug 26	vs. Toronto Argonauts	41-14	Win	27,853
10	Sat, Sept 2	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	41-14	Win	23,120
11	Sat, Sept 9	vs. Birmingham Barracudas	28-20	Win	29,013
12	Fri, Sept 15	at Shreveport Pirates	24-17	Win	12,445
13	Sat, Sept 23	vs. Shreveport Pirates	42-32	Win	27,321
14	Sun, Oct 1	at Saskatchewan Roughriders	28-24	Win	30,758
15	Sat, Oct 7	vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders	29-27	Win	31,421
16	Bye
17	Sat, Oct 21	vs. BC Lions	28-26	Win	33,228
18	Sun, Oct 29	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	24-17	Win	29,310

Playoffs

Mike Pringle ran for 484 playoff yards and four touchdowns in three games. The result was that the Baltimore Stallions made their second straight appearance in the Grey Cup.

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Attendance
South Semi-Final	Sat, Nov 4	vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers	36-21	Win	21,040
South Final	Sun, Nov 12	vs. San Antonio Texans	21-11	Win	30,217
Grey Cup	Sun, Nov 19	Calgary Stampeders	37-20	Win	52,564

Grey Cup

The 83rd Grey Cup was played between the Baltimore Stallions and the Calgary Stampeders at Taylor Field in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Stallions won the game by a score of 37-20. It marked the only time that an American-based team won the Grey Cup. Not one television station from Baltimore sent a crew to Regina to cover the Grey Cup game. Only 200 fans showed up for the Stallions Grey Cup celebration.

Awards and honors

After the season, other Baltimore Stallions' received awards and accomplishments in the CFL, which are:

Divisional Awards Most Valuable Player of the East Division - Mike Pringle (RB) Most Outstanding Rookie of the East Division - Chris Wright (WR) Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award of the East Division - Mike Withycombe (OG)

CFL Awards CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award - Mike Pringle (RB) CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award - Mike Withycombe (OG) CFL's Coach of the Year - Don Matthews Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player - Tracy Ham (QB)

1995 Southern All-Stars Offense Mike Pringle (RB) Chris Armstrong (SB) Mike Withycombe (OG) Shar Pourdanesh (OT) Neal Fort (OT) Defense Jerald Baylis (DT) Elfrid Payton (DE) Tracy Gravely (LB) O. J. Brigance (LB) Irvin Smith (CB) Charles Anthony (DB) Special Teams Josh Miller (P) Chris Wright (ST)

1995 CFL All-Stars Offense Mike Pringle (RB) Mike Withycombe (OG) Neal Fort (OT) Defense Jerald Baylis (DT) O. J. Brigance (LB) Irvin Smith (CB) Charles Anthony (DB) Special Teams Josh Miller (P) Chris Wright (ST)

Relocation to Montreal

In late 1995, Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announced his intention to relocate his NFL club to Baltimore, where they would be rechristened the Baltimore Ravens. This would have made the Stallions the only CFL club ever to directly compete with the NFL, whose season overlaps with the last three months of the CFL season.

In late November, Jim Speros had a Save our Stallions campaign, with January 5 as the deadline to sell 20,000 season tickets. It was revealed that the team was $800,000 in debt.

Stallions owner Jim Speros realized that despite the Stallions' popularity, they could not possibly compete with the NFL. After deals with Norfolk, Virginia and Houston fell through, Speros moved the Stallions to Montreal and revived the old Alouettes name for the 1996 season.