Talk to the players who were in Brooklyn’s Dodgers moved to Los Angeles they do not talk about it as a great day. None of their all star greats wanted to go down as anything else as a Brooklyn Dodger if they spent most of the best part of their career their.
Yet for Andre Dawson and Gary Carter the only two Montreal Expos brought into the Hall of Fame they both wanted to be displayed as a Cub or Met respectively. They seem to perceive their time in Montreal as a way-station to a “real” team. Imagine if George Bell or Ernie Whitt wanted to go into the Hall as something than a Toronto Blue Jay. (just an example)
It is insulting to the Expos. Yes they are completely wiped from the history books in Washington, sadly they did not take any of the Montreal records with them. Still Montreal has a great baseball tradition. Just because some dumb or devious owners, stupid politicians and Major League Baseball could not honour that tradition does not make them somehow less worthy.
Keep in mind that Jackie Robinson first broke the professional baseball colour barrier not in Brooklyn but in their AAA affiliate the Montreal Royals. Baseball has had an important place in the history of the city. The big O was a huge mistake for a stadium. There is little doubt that it had a large effect on the death of the Expos as it did for the Montreal Alouettes.
Of course special mention must go to the 1994 lockout/strike which destroyed the last best chance for the Expos to compete for a World Series.
Given all that I find myself reflecting on the team, and baseball in Canada which has slowly started to disappate after the halcon days of the early nineties when both Canadian major league teams were top ranked, as well as the numbers of teams across Canada which played at various feeder levels.
I think the Justin Morneau’s of the MLB probably came out of that era.
I think Canada and MLB lost something with the loss of the Expos. It should not be ridiculed or treated as a joke. The Expos do not deserve that and Canadian baseball does not need that. I would much rather look at them like people in Winnipeg see the Jets or the people of Quebec City value the Nordiques.
Gone but not forgotten.
Tags: Dawson, Expos, Hall of Fame, MLB
