It’s the end of an era in Montreal.
There’s been speculation for years. Each season we assume it will be the last. But this time, the Expos are really leaving… for Washington DC, at the end of this season:
Major League Baseball will announce Wednesday that Washington will be the new home of the Montreal Expos, The Associated Press has learned.
A city official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington has been notified by Major League Baseball of the impending announcement that will return the national pastime to the nation’s capital for the first time in 33 years. The city is planning its own news conference at a downtown location Wednesday afternoon, the official said.
Of course, nothing’s final till it’s final. But if you’re betting on the ‘spos being back next season, it’s probably a waste of money.
The Expos are more likely to go out with a whimper than a bang. The team has never won a pennant. Most years, we’ve been more of a farm team for the league than a real competitor. The last time there was real excitement about the team was in 1993… and then the baseball strike happened. That led to the big fire sale, which, along with the Big Owe roof woes, the Jeffrey Loria sellout, and the Puerto Rico split schedule, pretty much nailed the coffin shut on major league baseball in Montreal.
Will anyone miss the team when they go? Games were not exactly attracting sellout crowds. Sure, anyone employed by the team or the surrounding industries will be hard-hit. And there were some ticketholders or die-hard fans who will be very disappointed to see the team go.
But the reality is, we’re a big enough city to support the team, and we didn’t. We didn’t buy enough season tickets or take enough interest to attract advertisers. Even though the games can be lots of fun, we didn’t go to them in enough numbers.
Montreal has pretty much always been a one-sport city, and that sport is hockey, which – lockout or no lockout – still holds the #1 spot in most people’s hearts. In the past couple of years, the Alouettes have overtaken the Expos for the distant #2 spot. We didn’t support baseball, and these past few years we’ve been expecting it to disappear. So now it will. And there’s nobody to blame but ourselves.
Goodbye, Expos.
You last comment ” we’ve nobody to blame but ourselves” is quite correct. In the Expos 36 year history I’ve only assisted at one game. Seems to me that ever since Gary Carter left (remember the hype back in the 80’s) interest has steadily declined.
Then again, living in Montréal you just know that hockey is for “Catholics” and baseball for Protestants! All the best to Washington!!!
Hey, I’m Jewish… so which sport do I get?
Basketball. Pre-Michael Jordan era Chicago joke:
Q: What do you call 10,000 Jewish men screaming at 10 black men?
A: A Bulls game.
I feel that your overview of the Montreal Expos to be extremely harsh. First, the Expos did win a pennant in 1981 when they just fell short of making the World Series. Second, until 1994 we were never a farm team for major league baseball. In fact, from 1979 through 1987 we were amongst the best franchises in baseball regularly competing for the pennant. Had the Wild Card format existed in those days, the Expos would have been playoff perenials. Third, as recently as last September, when the Expos tied the Phillies for the wild card, there was genuine excitement at the Stadium. The fans are only a small cause of the Expos potential demise. Blame more adequately rests at the door of Claude Brochu who twice gutted a surefire playoff contender and the Montreal/Quebec/Canadian business comuunity who never once made a bid to buy the team. By the way, while everyone likes to think Montreal is a hockey town where the Canadians can do no wrong, the truth is that it required an American businessman to keep the team afloat. The same is true of the Alouettes with Robert Wettenhaul. Unfortunately, the Expos had no saviour to come in and save them.
I agree completley.
One of the most amazing things is how the Expos had such good on-field management while the head office was looking at ways to destroy the franchise.
If the downtown ballpark would have been built, the expos would be in better shape than the Jays
Correction to your post:
The Expos were play-off shoe-ins in 1994, not 1993. 94 was the strike year.
And there has been excitement fromt eh Expos since then. But you are right — for whatever reason, not enough Montrealers made it to games and not enough taxpayers were willing to subsidize pro ball.