These Brooklyn Dodgers are not to be confused with the same-named NFL team that played in Brooklyn from 1930-44 (they were renamed the Tigers in 1944---a year in which they lost all ten games), then merged with the Boston Yanks in 1945.
The AAFC Dodgers, which had originally been owned by the publishers of Street and Smith sports magazines, were by 1948, owned by Walter O'Malley, owner of their much, much better known (and more successful) baseball namesakes. Branch Rickey, president of the baseball club, was put in charge of the football team.
After three miserable seasons which saw numerous thousands of fans arriving at Ebbetts Field disguised as empty seats, the Dodgers and New York Yankees (which was owned by ex-NFL owner Dan Topping, who was an owner of their baseball namesakes) merged in 1949 to become the Brooklyn-New York Yankees. After the 1949 "merger" with the NFL, the Yankees' roster was basically divided between the New York Giants and New York Bulldogs, who were renamed the New York Yanks.
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