The Montreal Expos are no more.

Any comments from the baseball fans on the board ?

Here are some pictures from the last game by the way:

As you can tell, it was a pretty emotional night.

Originally posted by Tristan Well I'll always have contempt in my heart for the Expos, since the Dodgers traded Pedro Martinez for virtually nothing to the Expos. Oh well, it was Montreal's fault for the team having to leave.

What a putrid comment! Based on what? I'm sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about. I suggest you read these articles by Jim Caple from ESPN :

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&page=caple_jim

EXPOS DESERVE BETTER

By Jim Caple ESPN.com

Major League officials are congratulating themselves today but the announcement that the Montreal Expos are moving to Washington, D.C. is a colossal failure and a downright shame.

The Expos weren't completely void of fan support.

Everyone insists the Expos are finally moving but I'm not so sure. Remember, before the Expos move there is still the little matter of finding an owner, getting a stadium officially approved by the city and fighting off any lawsuits from Montreal. Despite what everyone is saying, I think there is at least as good a chance that the Expos will play next season in Montreal as in RFK Stadium.

And frankly, no one ever goes broke betting against baseball accomplishing an objective on time.

Even if the deal goes through as planned, it seems foolhardy. Jayson Stark reports that Orioles owner Peter Angelos has to be guaranteed revenues in order to allow the move. When you consider that, plus all the money major league teams paid out running the Expos the past couple years, wouldn't it have been much easier to have simply used that money to build the Expos a stadium in Montreal and keep them in one of North America's largest markets?

Of course, it would have. But that would have meant undermining ownership's indefensible policy of forcing communities to build stadiums at taxpayer expense. It would have meant treating fans with respect rather than disdain. So it was never even considered.

The fans in Montreal were treated abysmally in all this. They supported their team loyally for years until the 1994 strike ruined what promised to be their finest season. And after that, the city was abused and let down by baseball again and again. As the league repeatedly hinted at the Expos demise, Jeffrey Loria was allowed to purchase the team amid promises that he would oversee the team's renaissance. Instead, he ran the club into the ground, failing to put the games on radio in English at one point, and was rewarded with a sweetheart deal to go to Florida while the Expos were threatened with contraction. They also had many of their home games moved closer to Venezuela than Montreal. And baseball pointed to the low attendance as proof that the game would never be supported in Montreal.

Had any of this happened to a team in the U.S. -- the contraction policy, the shifted home games, the conflict of interests -- there would have been an enormous outcry. But because it happened to a Canadian team, no one noticed. Or cared.

That's the real crime here. Baseball treated a team and a city about as badly as it could and no one paid attention.

If tonight's game is to be the final one at Stadium Olympique, I suggest the fans enjoy some final smoked meat sandwiches, sing "O, Canada' at the top of their lungs, cheer their Expos and then give baseball the raised middle finger it deserves.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

Second article by Mr. Caple:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/040930

Inside The Mascot's Studio

By Jim Caple

His final game with the Expos finished, Youppi! removed his sweat-soaked, size-34½ shoes and tossed them into his locker.

"Whoever tries replacing me in Washington, D.C. has some awfully big shoes to fill,' he said.

It was difficult to tell whether Youppi! was laughing or crying with that remark. Of course, with Youppi! and that ridiculous grin permanently fixed on his enormous head, it's always difficult to tell what he really feels inside.

"I haven't heard a damn thing about whether I'm going to Washington or not with the team,' he complained. "And I don't know what the hell I'll do if they cut me loose. It's not as if there are a lot of job openings for seven-foot, orange-furred mascots who walk around wildly waving their arms as if they're whacked out of their minds.'

There are in D.C., I said.

"Maybe,' said Youppi!, reaching into his locker, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting up six at once. "Of course, I'm still not convinced the Expos are moving to Washington.'

That's a serious case of denial, I said. Bud Selig just announced the Expos are definitely moving to D.C. He had a press conference and everything.

"Except the city hasn't approved the financing for the stadium; and if the stadium falls through, the whole deal falls through,' Youppi! said, cracking open a six-pack of beer and finishing it off in one swallow. "Not that baseball has a backup plan. When Selig was asked what they would do if the city refused to pay for a stadium, he just said he would cross that bridge when he comes to it. With an approach like that, is there any question why the Expos have been in this situation the past five years?'

C'mon, I said. What else could baseball do with the attendance problems in Montreal? You drew less than 4,000 fans Monday night. You're barely averaging 9,000 a game for the season.

"Gee, I wonder why?' Youppi! said, leafing through an old issue of Hustler magazine. "Could it have anything to do with when that incompetent Jeffrey Loria owned the team and he refused to put our games on radio in English? Could it be that MLB moved a quarter of our home games to Puerto Rico, which is closer to Venezuela than Montreal? Could it be that MLB has told fans repeatedly for the past four years that the team wasn't going to exist the next season? Do you think that maybe all that might have had an effect on attendance?'

Granted, the team has been jerked around lately. But that doesn't change the fact that there isn't any support for baseball in Montreal anymore, I told him.

"Who's fault is that? Baseball. For working so hard to destroy enthusiasm for baseball here,' Youppi! said, passing some incredibly smelly wind. "Instead of going to all the expense and effort to move us to Washington -- they're going to appease Peter Angelos by guaranteeing minimum revenues? -- maybe they should have just built a stadium for us here. It would have been easier and probably cheaper.'

Do you really think that would work?

"Why not?' Youppi! said, hacking up and spitting onto the floor. "We're one of the largest markets in North America, and we supported baseball here. We drew almost 40,000 for the game just before the 1994 strike. Until baseball started monkeying us around, we reached the two million mark in attendance more often than the Brewers did. We outdrew the Mets one year.

"Cleveland was one of the worst markets around, and then they turned things around overnight. Same with Seattle. We could turn things around here, too, if only baseball would gave us a real chance.

"But no. We've got to move to Washington, where they've already lost two teams and where I don't get the sense there is an enormous clamoring for us from the general population. You mark my words -- if the Expos really do move, they're going to have problems in D.C. within five years, too.

"Cripes, they would be better off moving us to Baghdad. And at this point, I wouldn't rule that out.'

Do you, I asked him, see anything good at all coming out of the move?

"Well, I'll admit it is a bit of a relief after all the crap that's gone on the past couple years,' Youppi! said, scratching between his butt cheeks. "Performing in front of an empty house night after night the past couple years hasn't been that fun. I've had about all the smoked meat sandwiches a guy can handle. And all this fur gets pretty damn hot during the summer.'

Yeah, I said. I bet that costume got a little uncomfortable from time to time.

'What do you mean 'costume'?'

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com

Youppi's torrid love affair with Halle Barry:

Youppi leading the "Save The Expos" march:

Originally posted by Tristan I'm sorry but the fan support is very low in Montreal, just based on the horrendous number of tickets sold for each game, but the team has taken many unfortunate turns for the worse. In 94, Montreal had about their best lineup of players of all time, and then the strike happened, and Montreal ended up having to lose many of their talented players. The Expos were stuck with Olympic Stadium. Bud Selig has been set to move the franchise for quite a while now. But all this shouldn't explain 9,000+ fan attendance average. The fans may have been demoralized over the years, but hell a few more thousand people could have went to the games. Anyways, I doubt a team in Washington will do very well, unless they end up getting an owner with an open wallet and a sensible person to guard their farm system. It may be sad that Montreal will have to say goodbye to the Expos, but freakin hell 9,000!

When you get your face out of your ass, let me know!!!

Originally posted by Tristan I'm sorry but the fan support is very low in Montreal, just based on the horrendous number of tickets sold for each game, but the team has taken many unfortunate turns for the worse. In 94, Montreal had about their best lineup of players of all time, and then the strike happened, and Montreal ended up having to lose many of their talented players. The Expos were stuck with Olympic Stadium. Bud Selig has been set to move the franchise for quite a while now. But all this shouldn't explain 9,000+ fan attendance average. The fans may have been demoralized over the years, but hell a few more thousand people could have went to the games. Anyways, I doubt a team in Washington will do very well, unless they end up getting an owner with an open wallet and a sensible person to guard their farm system. It may be sad that Montreal will have to say goodbye to the Expos, but freakin hell 9,000!

C'mon Tristan, gets your fact straight.

2M$+ attentance in the 80's, 40K+ a game in the 90's up to the 1994 strike, when the ownership decided to do a fire sale and give away all our best players.

We thought we had a savior when the team was bought by Jeffrey Loria, but unfortunately, he did so many weird moves that it but the team into a bottomless pit. (no TV, no radio, etc)

You can put the blame on many factors, but never on the fan... remember the Braves had 4000 fans in the stand before starting to win... the people in Montreal had enough of the crap that was going on and the non-commitment of the ownership that just trashed the best team of the 90's in baseball....

Oh well... blame it on the city...

One last thing: you should show more respect to the team that traded the Padres a much-needed shortstop two weeks before the end of the season !!!!!

;)

man, Too bad i can't get into baseball, because now i have two teams to choose from. :P

I wonder if they're going to rename the team the senators again.

Originally posted by WenOrder man, Too bad i can't get into baseball, because now i have two teams to choose from. :P I wonder if they're going to rename the team the senators again.

Believe it or not, the name "Washington Senators" is owned by the Texas Rangers, so unless they deal it, they can't!

More food for thought:

Baseball's handling of Montreal 'has been a disgrace'

Short Hops: Expos situation still a real Bugger Sept. 30, 2004 By Scott Miller CBS Sportsline

Before getting too excited about the Washington Watergates, or Buggers, Congressmen, Grays or whatever they're going to be called, a note of caution:

It wasn't long ago that commissioner Bud Selig promised that two teams -- one of which was going to be the Montreal Expos -- would be contracted.

And you saw how successful that was.

Granted, it's going to be easier to move the Expos than to kill them. But despite all of that happy talk Wednesday ("It's quite a historic day," Selig said), let's remember that there is still no new stadium financing plan in place in the District of Columbia and that the former limited partners of the Expos have a suit against baseball that could put up a roadblock.

Mayor Anthony Williams is confident the district will vote in favor of a new stadium, though three recently elected city council members oppose financing the stadium with tax money.

And what if the baseball club, which will play in RFK Stadium temporarily, doesn't get a shiny new home?

"I hope we are never faced with that possibility," Selig said.

Oh, and there's no ownership group yet, either.

Baseball's handling of the Montreal situation has been a disgrace since the owners took over the Expos. And baseball in Montreal once could have worked, but the strike of 1994-95 killed off any last hope of that. Baseball wholly failed in its role as a caretaker of the franchise, and we can only hope the landing in D.C. is smoother than the past several seasons have been.

"I'm glad it's over now," Felipe Alou, Montreal's legendary one-time manager, said after Wednesday's developments. "I was almost hoping the club would stay there. I was always pulling for the community. I know the last several years there have been lean.

"Their attendance, losing Vladimir Guerrero finally ... there was always hope (the bad times) would be over with. But it's dead now."

On a very sad day for those in Quebec, Alou, now managing the San Francisco Giants, was happy he wasn't there as the Expos played their final home game against Florida on Wednesday night. It would have been too emotional for him.

"I actually have to thank Mr. Loria for firing me," said Alou, referring to current Florida and former Montreal owner Jeffrey Loria, one of the many, many baseball folks who treated Montreal like dirt on the bottom of his shoes.

Ultimately, the landing spot was about as surprising as finding ants swarming on a dropped ice cream cone. Washington was always the preferred locale, according to industry sources. Baseball simply was going to get the best proposed stadium deal it could, and it was going to have to satisfy Baltimore owner Peter Angelos. By guaranteeing him against lost revenues and a depreciating franchise value, officials are close to placating him.

As for the abandoned fans in Montreal? Well, too bad. That, essentially, was baseball's attitude. And it's a shame. It is a fantastic city that could have remained a vibrant part of the game had that game behaved itself.

In the end, Montreal fans let baseball off easy: only a golf ball and a few plastic bottles tossed onto the field during the Expos' finale with Florida, loud boos during the Star Spangled Banner (but cheers during O, Canada) and some harmless signs (example: "Mr. Selig, Mr. Loria, Satan Called, Your Room is Ready").

I'd say, in the end, Expos fans treated baseball far better than baseball treated them.

Link: http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/7741113

Originally posted by kamar i thought tristan hated the padres? he's a dodgers fan.anyways, expos or whatever they might be called in DC isnt going to draw fans. maybe for the first month or so while the excitement is high but overall unless they bring in great players and have a winning team and invest in the minor leauge organizations, they are screwed. same owner in DC right as im montreal?sorry montreal, but 9000 ppl a game isnt going to pay todays salaries. there are some semi-pro teams in the suburbs here that even draw close to 5-6 thousand a game.other teams that draw shit to the games unless they are winning are the marlins and w. sox. they tried to move the w. sox to florida early 90's but god damn did fans protest, city protested, everyone protested and they ended up staying.

Well, you have to know a little more to the story before saying anything.

We had a deal with the government for a stadium in downtown Montréal (the Olympic stadium isn't a baseball stadium, plus he's really not in a right place for such a thing.. it's a pain when you work downtown to go there), the found the spot, they had a 120M$ deal with Labatt for the name, everything was set, they found an owner...

First thing this owner did, he cancelled the deal with Labatt and started to say the olympic stadium was great (the former administration asked for a new stadium for 10 years!! so nobody wanted to go to the olympic stadium anymore), they did a complete blackout of baseball on TV, fired the most loved manager in Expos' history (Felipe Alou), then everybody was very pissed at them for completely stopping the new ballpark project.

IMHO, the new ballpark would have saved baseball in Montréal in a long term, our other problem was the weakness of the canadian dollar, which is quite better these days...

I remember clearly last year, the Expos were in a race for the wild card.. the stadium was packed each days for the series against the Phillies, but they they HAD to do a damned trip to Puerto Rico and it was over...

This year, unfortunatly they were 15 games behind before even playing a game in Montréal!! or something like that.

Plus, you can't blame the fans.. it's been 3 years (since the last CBA) MLB said they would move the team, nobody wanted to give importance to this...

But the most obvious problem of them all is the lack of a local ownership... the last CBA simply wasn't good at all for small market teams, so it will always be a super league of 6 teams, then the rest of the teams.

We're pissed, but we're logical... Montreal is STILL a bigger city than many other baseball markets in MLB, if it can't work here, it can't work anywhere else... it would have costed less to MLB to build a damn stadium than what they did... so!

For Dodgers fans on this site (aherm...) :

Gagne feeling better Dan Weber 12:54 AM PDT on Friday, October 1, 2004

LOS ANGELES - Eric Gagne got up Thursday and noticed his stiff right shoulder "was feeling better."

"I went through my typical work during the day, and it feels fine now," he said.

The first episode of shoulder tendinitis to sideline the Dodgers' ace closer was no longer a problem, Gagne said. His manager, after Gagne played catch before the game, agreed - to a point.

"We can use him one inning only," Jim Tracy said of his Thursday plans.

Gagne did pitch one inning, yielding a run in the 10th inning.

"But if we need him to get four outs some night after this," Tracy said, Gagne should be able to.

"It was just a little stiffness in there," Gagne said of sitting out the first three games of the Rockies' games.

What did hurt Gagne, he said, was watching the final Montreal Expos' game played in his home town Wednesday on TV.

"It hurts," said Gagne, who admitted to skipping school to watch the Expos as a kid. "I was almost in tears."

Link: http://www.pe.com/sports/baseball/notebooks/stories/PE_Sports_Local_dodgers_notes_01.a0836.html

From USA TODAY : Link: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/columnist/thorne/2004-10-03-thorne_x.htm

Expos move a tough sell outside baseball circles

by Gary Thorne USA TODAY

Montreal is a great city. In every way it shines as an eloquent locale with a rich history and wonderful people. It is a baseball supportive city, but it was asked to play house with Major League Baseball after being told the team would be contracted, then told it would be moved. Who could be surprised the past few years have seen so little support? Montreal baseball fans were being asked to support a ghost. Now they are without a team as the Expos head off to Washington, D.C.

Once again, the effort is being made by multimillionaires to have their business funded with public tax dollars. MLB owns the Expos. That won't last for long if the move is completed.

Despite MLB's continuing whines about franchises losing money and the high cost of players, no fewer than four groups stand in line to buy this franchise. MLB purchased the Expos in 2002 from then-owner Jeffery Loria in a convoluted move to get John Henry into the ownership role in Boston and Loria off to the same role with the Marlins.

Therein lies another story that may yet come forth in the lawsuit pending in Federal Court in Miami where former minority owners of the Expos claim MLB, Commissioner Bud Selig and Loria conspired to reduce the value of the team at the time MLB purchased it.

In any event, MLB now stands to sell the franchise for some $300 million. Not a bad return on investment. When all the tax write-offs and accounting book entries are included, the amount of actual cash MLB put into the deal is probably minimal.

All that means an even better return.

The sale will take place after MLB uses its muscle to get the D.C. city council to float the whole thing. RFK Stadium must be renovated to the tune of some $15 million to be ready for the team in 2005.

D.C. mayor Anthony Williams will then ask the council to approve funding for a $440 million new stadium. If all that takes place, MLB can sell the franchise for a maximum amount since all the legwork will have been done.

Williams is saying "taxpayers won't spend a dime" on construction. That is a myth repeated in so many of these shakedowns for money to build pro sports buildings.

Williams and other supporters say the dollars for all of this will come from financing bonds issued by the District; taxes on tickets, and stadium concession sales; and a new tax on large businesses in the District.

There is no such thing as free money, and this money is not free.

The District struggles to maintain its schools and infrastructure. It is a constant battle with Congress for the District to stay financially viable. What the District proposes to do is to use its taxing power to raise money for baseball owners and not for its real needs.

When the ability to issue bonds is used to finance a baseball park, it means that amount of bond dollars can't be used for schools or any other service.

When the District uses tax dollars raised from ticket and concession sales and money from a whole new business tax to build a stadium, it means those dollars are not available for any other use, no matter how great the need.

It also means each of those revenue sources is being used up and is not available for alternative uses.

Oh, yes, the taxpayers of the District will be paying. Money that could have been used for kids' playgrounds will go to the millionaires' playground.

Is the money needed to make the franchise viable in D.C.? Not if you read the rest of MLB's and the District's press releases.

Selig is convinced D.C. is ready to support a team. He says the 33 years since a team last played there has seen explosive growth and "…baseball will be welcomed there and be a great success."

One of the groups seeking to buy the franchise, the Washington Baseball Club, says it had 10,000 season ticket requests before the announcement Wednesday and received another 1,000 requests that day.

MLB feels strongly enough about the money to be made that it continues to negotiate with Orioles owner Peter Angelos to make him monetarily happy since he hasn't wanted a team in D.C. even though he apparently has no legal recourse if one lands there.

A baseball franchise is no different than Ma and Pa's deli down the street. It is a private business that should succeed or fail on its own merits. As Peter Magowan did with the Giants and their new park, it's a private investment to be paid for by the owners. You can be sure MLB owners won't hesitate to take the profits.

The politics of the situation required Selig to move now. Three new members of the Council will take office in three months. They have already indicated they do not approve of the public funds being used for this deal.

MLB is now in the spin cycle to make it appear as though this deal is done and get the public sufficiently wound up to negate any attempt by the current Council to vote the deal down.

That's why the announcement was made before MLB settled matters with Angelos and before it knew for sure how the Council would vote. If it can get momentum moving in the "done deal" direction the perception may create the reality.

However, it's not done yet and Yogi is still right.

Originally posted by Green Another good article on the Expos demise:EXPOS

Thanks for that, Allan. Great article!

Originally posted by Jeff okay...I may not be popular with our Canadian brothers for pointing this out, but part of the deal with MLB for getting a team in Montreal was building a domed stadium...sooooo...where is that domed stadium???

Huh... I thought Olympic Stadium was ???

By the way, Jeff, are you gonna root for the Astros for the next few days??? They managed to get through after all!

And what about those Texas Rangers? With the infield they got, if they can get 3 good starting pitchers, a closer and 2 men to set the people in the bullpen, they're gonna have a scary lineup !!!

God, I forgot about Cordero...

Originally posted by Jeff okay...I may not be popular with our Canadian brothers for pointing this out, but part of the deal with MLB for getting a team in Montreal was building a domed stadium...sooooo...where is that domed stadium???

Dome? I thought they meant DOOM :p