Baldwin became one of the youngest executives in professional sports when he became a founder and partner of the World Hockey Association’s (WHA) Boston-based Whalers in 1971 at the age of 28. Five years later he was president of the league. The Whalers first season in the WHA was a success both on and off the ice with coach Jack Kelley’s team winning the 1973 AVCO World Cup Championship. In 1974, Baldwin determined that the team needed its own building. He moved the Whalers from Boston to Hartford’s new Civic Center Coliseum, a vehicle for the revitalization of downtown Hartford. In 1979 Baldwin guided the WHA into a historic merger with the National Hockey League. Baldwin served as the managing general partner of the Whalers until the team was sold to local ownership in 1988.