Expos officially headed to Washington
Baseball’s Coming Back To Washington
Expos mascot will likely still have a job…somewhere
Pavano beats former team for 18th win
Like there was any doubt that things were going to end up like this, eh? Washington will finally have a baseball team next year, and everyone in DC is all atwitter over what to name their hapless nine. No one has really mentioned much about the plight of Montreal’s baseball fans because, well, there just doesn’t appear to be all that many of them.
I’d feel sorry for Montreal fans myself, but it’s not as if the city made much of an effort to save their franchise. The Expos played in a crummy stadium, in front of sparse crowds, and, except for 1994, never managed to put together anything resembling success. In a town that worships Les Habitants, the Expos were always doomed to play second fiddle. Still, had Montreal’s city fathers found a way to build a decent stadium, and if management had been able to build a team that stood a chance of making the playoffs now and then, well…. Of course, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride, no?
To give you an idea of just how blase Montrealers are about their Expos leaving town, check out this poll from the Montreal Gazette’s website. Yeah, they certainly seem all broken up about…wait, what were we talking about again??
Yeah, that collective yawn you heard was from a bunch of hockey-obsessed Canadians, a goodly number of whom probably couldn’t discern the difference between a foul line and a blue line. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not as if Quebec is fertile baseball territory.
There is one thing I will definitely miss about baseball in Montreal. A few years back, I was on a business trip in Vancouver, BC, and as I sat in my hotel room one night I was an Expos-Braves game from Montreal on CBC’s French network. There is something profoundly odd about listening to America’s pasttime in French. Thankfully, this was in the time before “Freedom Fries”. No matter how the announcers tried, some baseball terms just don’t translate from English to French. Still, it was rather enjoyable, and it gave the game a different twist.
MONTREAL (AP) — The Expos era in Montreal ended with a 9-1 loss to Florida on Wednesday night, a game delayed for 10 minutes when players were pulled off the field after a fan threw a golf ball that landed near second base.
Hours after baseball announced that the 36-year-old franchise will be moved next season to Washington, D.C., a crowd of 31,395 showed up at Olympic Stadium for its final chance to say farewell.
It was the largest crowd of the year and about four times the season average. Fans were warned in the third inning that the game would be forfeited if anything else was thrown onto the field.
Three plastic bottles were tossed into left field in the sixth, one near Florida’s Miguel Cabrera. But the teams remained on the field and no announcement was made. The game was delayed just a couple minutes as the bottles were retrieved by a ball boy.
With two outs in the ninth, a fan jumped onto the field near Florida’s on-deck circle and was quickly escorted off by two security guards.
After Terrmel Sledge popped up for the final out, Marlins coach Perry Hill took the ball from third baseman Mike Mordecai and tossed it across the field to Expos manager Frank Robinson.
Montreal coach Claude Raymond stood alone on the field before he was joined by all the Expos as they waved goodbye to fans.
The crowd began standing when the Marlins came to bat in the top of the ninth. Fans, some with tears in their eyes, waved Canadian flags and held up signs. Some were still lingering in the stands 15 minutes after the game ended.
Does a city that can’t even summon an average of 10,000 people who can be bothered to attend a baseball game deserve to keep a franchise? Yes, it’s sad that Montreal is losing the Expos, but it’s not as if the people there bent over backwards in support of the team. Any professional franchise deserves to located in a city where they can expect fan support if the team holds up it’s end of the bargain. Will the ex-Expos get that support in DC? At least initially, the answer will be yes. The fact that there are plans for a new stadium should also help. That already is more than Montreal was willing to do for it’s Expos.
Sadly, no longer will a fan be able to buy pommes frites or poutine at a ballpark. America’s pasttime (at least the French-Canadian version) will be much the poorer for it.
So, au revoir, Youppi. So long to perhaps the strangest, most nonsensical mascot in all of professional sports. Somehow, I don’t think you’ll be a good fit in DC….
