Tonight, the Montreal Expos are playing their final home game at Olympic Stadium (the “Big-O”), as they are being relocated to Washington DC next year. They played baseball in Montreal for 36 years.
A very sad final chapter for Canada’s first MLB team. The demise of this franchise is attributed to a combination of poor ownership, fan apathy, and an ill-timed lockout/strike back in the early 90s when, arguably, the Expos were the best team in baseball and might have gone all the way that year. The fans of Montreal never forgave MLB, and attendance dwindled after that year.
I have so many great memories of the 'spos especially with the great teams of the early 80s that included Garry Carter, Andre Dawson and Warren Cromartie. Pete Rose played a year for the Expos as did the ‘Grand Orange’ - Rusty Staub, who played for several great years. Bill “The Spaceman” Lee was one of the most colourful characters to ever wear an Expos uniform. And then there was Blue Monday - the HR that was heard around the world - a very dark day for Expos fans. I just hope Yuppie (their lovable orange mascot) will find work somewhere for he (it?) is the only team mascot I ever liked. Anyways, all good things come to an end…
The mascot was “Youpi”, as in French for “Hurray”. “Yuppie” sound more like a corporate brown-noser. Sad day for Montreal! Used to go to games at Jarry Park when I was a kid.
Since this topic will have limited appeal to the majority of Forumosans, I’ll continue it here, along the lines of ctizen kane’s “sad day for Montreal” comment.
I think Montreal is a city with it’s best years long behind it. I’ve read about Montreal in the 50’s and 60’s and it was one of a few international cities of the jet set. The still-strong jazz festival is a legacy of the thriving jazz and entertainment scene that the city once knew.
Before the seperatist politicians started agitating it was also the biggest port in Canada, and if I’m not mistaken, Canada’s richest city as well.
I grew up there and remember seeing the businesses getting boarded up begining in the early eighties. By the mid eighties, entire stretches of Ste. Catherine were empty store fronts. Especially down near Guy (until le Faubourg opened but that was just one mini-mall). That was just downtown, Mount Royal, Avenue du Parc and Ontario were all ghost streets in certain areas.
Each time I go back it seems deader and deader. And when I meet people who’ve travelled there, they all comment on the nightlife and Vieux Montreal but they’ve also said it kind of looks like it’s been hit hard. Recently someone said it looked like and Eastern Bloc city!!!
Compunding this is a certain negativity I feel in Montreal. An anger and a xenophobic attitude as well.
I could never live there again.
Do you Montrealers here agree that Montreal is a dying city?
ain’t montreal’s fault. in no way. the jerk-off who ran the franchise into the ground (henry?) was actually rewarded and given another franchise to play with. start the finger poinitng at him and end such at MLB. the good people of montreal are not to blame in any way.
MLB jerked ya’ll around and to your good credit you showed em how you felt.
i dunno. baseball sure seems on the decline even here, in the city with the “best fans”, and no one is even talking about the obviously empty seats. when whitey was field manager we were getting 50,000 a game. now, 10,000 (or so) seats are covered with tarps- and still have lotsa empty seats in even this our winningest season in two generations. the new stadium will have even fewer seats. seems they are recognizing the drop in attendance but willing to sacrifice such for greater TV bucks.
MLB wanted montreal out. MLB got what it wanted. i’ll miss em. thanks for larry walker.
[quote=“skeptic yank”]
MLB wanted montreal out. MLB got what it wanted. I’ll miss em. thanks for larry walker.[/quote]
Also had players like Randy Johnson play in the farm. Pedro Martinez played there for a while and in that strike shortened season. Had “EL Presidente” for a while and he was involved in a brawl too if I remember correctly. Was pretty excited that the Expos could meet up with the Blue Jays in the short season. They also had Vladimir Guerrero who is going to be the next player to hopefully win the triple crown.
Attendence is very bad. Maybe the Blue Jays are next.
Jeffrey Loria was the culprit - bought the team with the sole intention of taking it out of Montreal. Fans in Montreal are a funny breed though; they turn-up when they’ve got a winner, head for the hills when they don’t. Friends back home tell me they see the same thing happening to the Habs down the road if they don’t put together a winning team sometime soon.
What can you say? Professional sports is all about the
$$$
.
CK
