16 February 1931 - America's Other New York Yankees

On 16 February 1931, the American Soccer League's Fall River Marksmen merged with the New York Soccer Club to form a new team--the New York Yankees.

The Marksmen were one of the ASL's most successful clubs, with seven league titles and three National Challenge Cup trophies from 1922 through 1930. But by the time they won their last league title in 1930 (despite playing only 27 of 30 matches), the Great Depression had lowered attendances across the league. In an effort to revive the team's flagging revenues, owner Sam Mark moved them from Fall River, Massachusetts to New York.

The team competed in the Spring 1931 league season as the New York Yankees, but had already registered for that year's National Challenge Cup under their former name. Accordingly, they participated in the two different competitions under two different names. As the Yankees, they finished third in the league, but as the Marksmen, they won the Cup, defeating the Chicago Bricklayers in a three-leg Final, behind strong play from their US internationals, Billy Gonsalves (above left) and Bert Patenaude (above right).

After splitting the first two matches of the Final, the Marksmen won the third leg 2-0. It was the last match the team ever played under either name, as the owner moved the team back to Massachusetts as the New Bedford Whalers.

23 October 1930 - The Final Is Finally Final

On 23 October 1930, Fall River won the Lewis Cup, beating Hakoah in the second leg of the final almost five months after the first leg.

Led by their stars Billy Gonsalves and Bert Patenaude (pictured), Fall River reached the two-legged final of the Lewis Cup, the ASL's league cup, earlier that year and beat Hakoah 2-1 in the first leg on 27 May at the Polo Grounds in New York. The second leg was originally scheduled for the next day, but was rained out. Additional postponements followed and the final was pushed out to October.

In the meantime, the Marksmen won that year's National Challenge Cup, the predecessor to the current US Open Cup, and were on their way to a dominant ASL title run that would give them a triple on the season. Additionally, both Gonsalves and Patenaude played for the US national team at that summer's World Cup in Uruguay where they took third place.

When the eventually returned to the Polo Grounds for the Lewis Cup's second leg, Gonsalves led a Fall River rout, scoring twice as the Marksmen won 3-0 (Arnie Oliver provided the other goal). It was the team's seventh and final Lewis Cup trophy, though they did win the National Challenge Cup in 1931 before folding later that year.

16 February 1931 - America's Other New York Yankees

On 16 February 1931, the American Soccer League's Fall River Marksmen merged with the New York Soccer Club to form a new team--the New York Yankees.

The Marksmen were one of the ASL's most successful clubs, with seven league titles and three National Challenge Cup trophies from 1922 through 1930. But by the time they won their last league title in 1930 (despite playing only 27 of 30 matches), the Great Depression had lowered attendances across the league. In an effort to revive the team's flagging revenues, owner Sam Mark moved them from Fall River, Massachusetts to New York.

The team competed in the Spring 1931 league season as the New York Yankees, but had already registered for that year's National Challenge Cup under their former name. Accordingly, they participated in the two different competitions under two different names. As the Yankees, they finished third in the league, but as the Marksmen, they won the Cup, defeating the Chicago Bricklayers in a three-leg Final, behind strong play from their US internationals, Billy Gonsalves (above left) and Bert Patenaude (above right).

After splitting the first two matches of the Final, the Marksmen won the third leg 2-0. It was the last match the team ever played under either name, as the owner moved the team back to Massachusetts as the New Bedford Whalers.