“Take me out with the crowd,” amène-moi dans la foule. Some people went to the ballgame, but many more hearts were with the Habs. “Take me out to the ball game,” amène-moi au match de baseball. How to sum up? Well, Harry Caray’s favorite song might lose something in translation, but here’s a go at it anyway: It was one of the reasons the Expos struggled so much. A Canadian team in a US organization would find out just how true that was. Randy Newman once sang that it’s money that matters. The Expos’ woes didn’t begin and end with a hockey rival for fans’ attention and disposable income. But it’s much more likely that those same fans cared more about - and talked more about - the 1976-77 Habs team that suffered only eight losses in an 80-game season, or the 28-game unbeaten streak in 1977-78, or any of the Stanley Cups in 1969, ’71, ’73, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ’86, or ’93. Which is why in the summers from 1969 to 2004 joggers and hikers on the paths of Mount Royal were probably talking about Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, and Ken Dryden more than Bill Stoneman’s no-hitter in 1969, Rusty Staub’s (Le Grand Orange for his hair color) plate heroics, or even other Expos stars such as Gary Carter and Andre Dawson.īusiness people going to and from work and shops in the Underground City ( La ville souterraine) along the subway lines may have talked about Blue Monday (the October 19, 1981, Game Five loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series), or they may have talked about the collusion charge against Bronfman, the fire sale of players by Brochu, the contraction worries under Loria, or the limbo the team and its fans suffered before the franchise’s fated move to Washington under MLB care in 2004. ![]() It’s a homage to a gloried past for the players, the seasons, the Stanley Cups, and a great and magical building.Īfter watching it, ask yourself, how could Jarry Park (1969-76), Olympic Stadium (1977-2004), and Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan compete? How could Bronfman, Brochu, Loria, and MLB in 36 seasons match the history of the National Hockey League’s Canadiens (founded in 1909)? The answer is obvious: They couldn’t. ![]() Need proof? Then watch about seven minutes of an outpouring of love for Rocket Richard, one of the all-time greats. Ask anyone north of Plattsburgh, New York, and they will testify that hockey’s Montreal Canadiens franchise, one of the most successful in sports, owns the town. ![]() 3ĭespite the history and current climate, though, the area’s joie de vivre never centered on baseball. And a December 14, 2018, story on Canadian television reported that bringing the majors back to the city was financially viable if a new stadium could be built in a central location with access to public transit. The Toronto Blue Jays have played preseason games in Olympic Stadium since 2013. 2Įven today, and possibly tomorrow, pro baseball has a home in Montreal. 1 Players like Jackie Robinson, who broke modern baseball’s racial barrier with Montreal in 1946, Don Drysdale, Duke Snider, and Roy Campanella, among others, played in Delorimier Stadium ( Stade de Lorimier). Subsequently renamed the Royals, the club was to become the top farm team of the Brooklyn Dodgers until 1960. The minor Eastern League’s Rochester (New York) Blackbirds moved to Montreal on July 16, 1897. Make no mistake, people played ball in Montreal in the past. And, to be honest, it didn’t help that there was heavy competition for fan attention and dollars in Montreal, which was a hockey town with a baseball problem. Shifting ownership doomed the franchise, regardless of whether the owner was Charles Bronfman (1968-91) with his family fortune, Claude Brochu (1991-99) with his executive experience, or Jeffrey Loria (1999-2002) with his flair, or even Major League Baseball itself (2002-04) with its dictate to play about one-fourth of each season’s “home” games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for two years. Fate didn’t really smile on the ’Spos ( Les Expos de Montreal) in 36 seasons. ![]() It somehow seemed inevitable when it all came to an end in 2004. Montreal mayor Jean Drepeau with (from left) John Bateman, Jim “Mudcat” Grant, and Maury Wills on Opening Day in New York, Ap(COURTESY OF THE McCORD MUSEUM, MONTREAL)
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