Wednesday 27 January 2016

My thoughts after watching "The Colorful Montreal Expos"

Last night, MLB Network aired a wonderful documentary on the Montreal Expos called "The Colorful Montreal Expos".  It was an incredible documentary that brought back many memories and emotions for me, so I thought I'd share.....

I was born in Montreal and lived there until I was 7 years old, but even after I moved I still had that connection given that my parents would always consider themselves to be Montrealers.  I had grandparents and other family that lived in Montreal, plus I visited from time to time.  As I grew up in Toronto, there was always a piece of my heart that was still a Montrealer.  I really became a bigger Blue Jays fan than an Expos fan, but I considered myself a fan of both teams.  There was never any real conflict in that.  The Pearson Cup was just a fun exhibition game.  Interleague play came along and they would play each other in real games, but I don't believe any of those series were very consequential to either team.

The first baseball game I ever attended was at Jarry Park in Montreal in 1976.  It was Expos picture day, so I was able to go onto the field while my father took pictures of me and my brother.  My memory of this is quite fuzzy, but I'd imagine that the lineup to have your picture with star players was quite long, so I don't have a picture with the "Kid" or anything like that.  In fact, it seems like over time some of those pictures were lost.   Here is one that I have remaining with my brother and coach Ron Piche of the Expos.  You could see the Olympic logo on his jersey sleeve.


I'm the little guy on the right (6 years old).

Watching the documentary last night brought back memories of the passion that my grandmother had for that team.  She was a huge Expos fan.  In those days, many games were not televised, so she would always listen to the game on the radio.  The voice of Dave Van Horne, who appeared in the documentary, was part of my childhood.  I would sit at my grandmother's kitchen table listening to the game, playing cards with her and trying not to inhale too much secondhand smoke from the constant cigarette she had burning.  She was an emotional fan, although not a sophisticated fan.  She would complain about certain players and yell things like "ahhhh, he strikes out all the time!", or "I don't trust that Reardon!".  She would also get very pleased when the team was doing well and would always tell me how many games they were above .500.  When she would come to Toronto to visit us, she would always want me to find the Expos game on the radio, which was sometimes an impossible task.  She didn't seem to appreciate that Toronto had different radio stations than Montreal.

Overall she was a disappointed fan.  The pain of "Blue Monday" sat with her.  Those great teams in the 1980s that never quite got over the hump left fans feeling empty.  She didn't care much for the Blue Jays.  Montrealers often look at rooting for a Toronto team as a betrayal.  But in 1992 she was happy that the Blue Jays won the World Series because she knew how happy I was.  She was rooting for them for me.  She was too sick in 1993 and died that year.

During 1994, the Expos had the best team in baseball.  My initial thought was "oh figures, now that she's gone they are going to win it all".  But of course, the strike happened that year and the season ended without playoffs.  My thoughts changed.  I thought of how angry she would have been to see that happen to her beloved team, and maybe it was good that she didn't get to experience what was the ultimate disappointment for Expos fans.

I hope to see the Expos return to Montreal one day.  It just seems wrong for that team to no longer exist.