OT: All-Purpose Expos Return Speculation Topic -- Part Deux

Would you root for the Expos if they returned as a split squad with the Rays?


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Chili

Ramble On!
Jun 10, 2004
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I remember Mike Marshall coming in from the bullpen and Ron Hunt getting hit by pitches. The true highlight of my Parc Jarry memory however was getting the Rocket's autograph! I was terrified of approaching him 🤣
The temperature would be below freezing, and Mike Marshall would be jogging onto the mound in short sleeves. I remember a game where he was called in with the bases loaded and no outs. He got the guy to hit into a triple play to end the inning (with a run scoring). He was one of a kind.

Edit: Instant Relief: First-Batter Triple Plays – Society for American Baseball Research

The lone exception was the one-pitch first-batter TP induced by Mike Marshall on June 13, 1973, at Jarry Park in Montreal. In a game between the host Expos and the visiting Padres, the home team was ahead, 3-1, when the top of the seventh session commenced. San Diego proceeded to load the bases against starting pitcher Balor Moore—Dwain Anderson led off and singled, Gene Locklear followed with a base on balls, and Enzo Hernadez then singled. That brought up Jerry Morales, a right-handed hitter. Moore fell behind by missing the plate with his first two pitches. With the count 2-0, Expos manager Gene Mauch gave Moore the hook and brought in Mike Marshall, a righty. Padres manager Don Zimmer chose to stick with Morales rather than go to his bench for a left handed batting pinch hitter, such as Leron Lee or Dave Marshall. Zimmer said (later), “I know he [Marshall] has to throw a strike.” As reported by Tim Burke of the Montreal Gazette, “Throw a strike Marshall did and Morales hit a capricious hopper slightly to [second baseman] Ron Hunt’s right. ‘[Umpire] Harry Wendelstedt obscured my view somewhat,’ said Hunt. ‘First I see it hopping high, and the next time I see it, it’s along the ground.’ He chuckled a little and then added, ‘It got under my glove a little.’”11 The baserunners were off and running. Anderson scored while Hunt was getting the ball to shortstop Tim Foli, covering the keystone to force Hernandez for out number one. Foli then relayed the ball to first baseman Mike Jorgensen to retire Morales for out number two. Meanwhile, Locklear reached third easily and Zimmer, coaching at the hot corner, waved him to keep running to the plate. Locklear stumbled a little and was nailed at the pentagon on a peg from Jorgensen to catcher John Boccabella.
Was so cool to see Marshall come in and throw one pitch to get out of that jam.
 
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Boss Man Hughes

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Mar 15, 2022
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Two more great players that I forgot. I use to roam Parc Jarry when Staub, Fairly, Bailey, Hunt, Marshall, Bateman, Stoneman, Jones use to play. Some of my most memorable moments as a kid was watching the Expos way back in the day.
Jonesville. And John Boooccccccccabbbbbbellllllllla
 
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Tyson

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Jonesville. And John Boooccccccccabbbbbbellllllllla
I watched a game where John Boccabella hit 2 home runs in the same inning!

The temperature would be below freezing, and Mike Marshall would be jogging onto the mound in short sleeves. I remember a game where he was called in with the bases loaded and no outs. He got the guy to hit into a triple play to end the inning (with a run scoring). He was one of a kind.

Edit: Instant Relief: First-Batter Triple Plays – Society for American Baseball Research


Was so cool to see Marshall come in and throw one pitch to get out of that jam.
Held the major league record for appearances one season, somewhere around 106 games.
 
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HuGort

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Jun 15, 2012
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The temperature would be below freezing, and Mike Marshall would be jogging onto the mound in short sleeves. I remember a game where he was called in with the bases loaded and no outs. He got the guy to hit into a triple play to end the inning (with a run scoring). He was one of a kind.

Edit: Instant Relief: First-Batter Triple Plays – Society for American Baseball Research


Was so cool to see Marshall come in and throw one pitch to get out of that jam.
You watch that on CBC? Wednesday nights
 

RC51

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Dec 10, 2005
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I never want to see baseball back. the Expos suffered the loss of their best players over and over again and when the complained to the league lied and said the MLB was about to go with a salary cap as in nhl. they lied and lied and MLB NEVER went to a true salary cap system. the top 6 teams just buy any player they want so it's a FIXED GAME.
 
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HuGort

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Jun 15, 2012
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I never want to see baseball back. the Expos suffered the loss of their best players over and over again and when the complained to the league lied and said the MLB was about to go with a salary cap as in nhl. they lied and lied and MLB NEVER went to a true salary cap system. the top 6 teams just buy any player they want so it's a FIXED GAME.
Combination of factors killed Expos. Decline of Montreal as a city. Bad trades and management in general. Poor stadium and placement.
 

salbutera

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Sep 10, 2019
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Combination of factors killed Expos. Decline of Montreal as a city. Bad trades and management in general. Poor stadium and placement.
That was the biggest factor along w Charlie Bronfman’s boneheaded stance to give Blow Jays exclusive TV & Radio rights west of Belleville in summer of 1976, when all Beeston asked for was sharing broadcasting in Canada

The vast % of fans making up that 2M attendance from 1979-1982 hightailed it down the 401… to the delight of the Blow Jays..

Baseball operations management was never an issue, the Expos were avant garde in every respect, scouting, player development, analytics etc
 
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Boss Man Hughes

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The FLQ crisis, which occurred in 1970, a full one year after the Expos were established and 34 years before their move to Washington, contributed to ending the Expos?

What? That makes no sense.
I suspect the majority of Expos most fervent fans were English and many left the province as did most of the companies with head offices. We left in 1974. Over the years more and more left which would affect ticket sales. That along with the league locking out the teams and ending the season when the Expos would have won the World Series.
 

Spring in Fialta

A malign star kept him
Apr 1, 2007
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I suspect the majority of Expos most fervent fans were English and many left the province as did most of the companies with head offices. We left in 1974. Over the years more and more left which would affect ticket sales. That along with the league locking out the teams and ending the season when the Expos would have won the World Series.

Except the Expos were very popular in Montreal in the 80s, sometimes more than the Habs.

Your rationale doesn't hold up. Do you have any data that suggest that the majority of the Expos fanbase was anglophone? With all due respect, it just seems like you're applying your personal experience/bias (i.e., 'We left in 1974') to something that lasted for decades thereafter (and saw its biggest successes after 1974).

The truth is that with a better stadium, the Expos would probably still be in Montreal given its market size and the player development they had. To equate a political event that occurred a year into their existence with their departure 35 years later reeks of misplaced sentiments.
 

Boss Man Hughes

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Except the Expos were very popular in Montreal in the 80s, sometimes more than the Habs.

Your rationale doesn't hold up. Do you have any data that suggest that the majority of the Expos fanbase was anglophone? With all due respect, it just seems like you're applying your personal experience/bias (i.e., 'We left in 1974') to something that lasted for decades thereafter (and saw its biggest successes after 1974).

The truth is that with a better stadium, the Expos would probably still be in Montreal given its market size and the player development they had. To equate a political event that occurred a year into their existence with their departure 35 years later reeks of misplaced sentiments.
I believe a lot of money moved out of the province in the 70's. Now some of it may have moved back If the stadium wasn't a dud it may not have been a factor at all.
 

salbutera

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Sep 10, 2019
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Except the Expos were very popular in Montreal in the 80s, sometimes more than the Habs.

Your rationale doesn't hold up. Do you have any data that suggest that the majority of the Expos fanbase was anglophone? With all due respect, it just seems like you're applying your personal experience/bias (i.e., 'We left in 1974') to something that lasted for decades thereafter (and saw its biggest successes after 1974).

The truth is that with a better stadium, the Expos would probably still be in Montreal given its market size and the player development they had. To equate a political event that occurred a year into their existence with their departure 35 years later reeks of misplaced sentiments.
I grew up in the West end (NDG), we had a 12-team youth baseball league, Cote des Neiges had a 24-team league out of Van Horne park, Cote St Luc / Hampstead had a 10-team league - all that demand within a 5km radius of west end Mtl

There were a few teams in the East & North end but it was hard to find any teams to play against. West Island & South shore had a handful of leagues

As I posted prior, Expos were top-3 in league attendance 1979-1982 topping 2million fans and that was when they were the most popular team in the city even more than Habs. That also coincided with the timeframe of mass exodus of primarily Anglos & head offices out of Quebec down 401 to Toronto which translated to big time corporate $$$$

Make no mistake there are diehard francophone baseball fans who were as knowledgeable as anyone, but not near the rate of the Anglo community.

The game never fully got engrained in the francophone community, and since the mid 80s the demographic driven by immigration from mainly la francophonie who are not predisposed to the game just wouldn’t work.

Baseball is done in Mtl, it can never work over a regular 82-home game schedule - Mtl hasn’t been a baseball town for over 40-years
 
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Spring in Fialta

A malign star kept him
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How could the NBA do well in Montreal?

Basketball has grown immensely popular in the city to the point that it's producing big NBA talent, city of 2 million people and 4.3 in the metro, ideal arena located downtown. Local money willing to bring a team in if possible. Adam Silver's already named them as a potential expansion option.
 

DAChampion

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May 28, 2011
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The Expos did well due to elite drafting and development, but I think it's safe to assume that the rest of the league has caught up, and that whatever they did wouldn't work now.
 

DAChampion

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Basketball has grown immensely popular in the city to the point that it's producing big NBA talent, city of 2 million people and 4.3 in the metro, ideal arena located downtown. Local money willing to bring a team in if possible. Adam Silver's already named them as a potential expansion option.

I didn't realize that Quebec was producing so many basketball players.
 

salbutera

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Sep 10, 2019
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NBA players don’t like signing w Raptors, they’re not signing in Mtl.

Adam Silver is doing what a good commish should, always keep a 3M metro option open as potential for expansion.

Other than Habs, Mtl can’t swim with the sharks in any of the other major pro sports… hopefully one day the city will become an economic powerhouse again as it was between 1950-1969
 

Spring in Fialta

A malign star kept him
Apr 1, 2007
27,408
16,160
Montreal, QC
NBA players don’t like signing w Raptors, they’re not signing in Mtl.

Adam Silver is doing what a good commish should, always keep a 3M metro option open as potential for expansion.

Other than Habs, Mtl can’t swim with the sharks in any of the other major pro sports… hopefully one day the city will become an economic powerhouse again as it was between 1950-1969

NBA markets aren't chosen based on free agents (considering 85% of the league isn't a marquee destination either) and the metro market is well over 4 (with no other competition in the rest of the province).

The idea that Montreal couldn't support an NBA team is absurd on its face, as it's still an international metropolis and one of the biggest cities on the continent.

Just out of curiosity, as you've mentioned you live in the US: When is the last time you lived in Montreal and how familiar are you with modern Montreal and what it's like?
 
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Boss Man Hughes

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NBA markets aren't chosen based on free agents (considering 85% of the league isn't a marquee destination either) and the metro market is well over 4 (with no other competition in the rest of the province).

The idea that Montreal couldn't support an NBA team is absurd on its face, as it's still an international metropolis and one of the biggest cities on the continent.

Just out of curiosity, as you've mentioned you live in the US: When is the last time you lived in Montreal and how familiar are you with modern Montreal and what it's like?
But they shouldn't want one. Never going to win because FA's won't sign with them. If Raptors can't attract them Montreal certainly isn't.
 

BargainBinSpecial

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Jul 2, 2018
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NBA players don’t like signing w Raptors, they’re not signing in Mtl.

Adam Silver is doing what a good commish should, always keep a 3M metro option open as potential for expansion.

Other than Habs, Mtl can’t swim with the sharks in any of the other major pro sports… hopefully one day the city will become an economic powerhouse again as it was between 1950-1969
It won't as long as they don't stop combatting english as the language of communication. The city is run by an incompetent administration which thinks we are some european capital with mild winters. The damage is done, Toronto leads the way by far. Montreal is slowly morphing into an irrelevant stagnant US urban center. The crumbling infrastructure and social fabric continue to deteriote. Violence is on the rise. We have the bike paths, at least, to rejoice.
 
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BargainBinSpecial

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Jul 2, 2018
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Basketball has grown immensely popular in the city to the point that it's producing big NBA talent, city of 2 million people and 4.3 in the metro, ideal arena located downtown. Local money willing to bring a team in if possible. Adam Silver's already named them as a potential expansion option.
A hypothetical MTL basketball team will have a tough time attracting players. At the salaries, they are paid now, they will have a hard time retaining top talent. The franchise will be relocated quickly. I just don't see the white francophone population ever loving such a sport. They will have a large following from the immigrant communities like Haiti for example but it won't be enough.
 
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