so the tying run is at second the run that would win the World Series is in third remember perfectly I was sitting in my living room with my gang from expose nation it was the Phillies and Jane you have to remember Toronto Montreal is water and fire Joe Ryder is the batter the one Joe Carter get that and I heard that announcer sake crushing crushing and a bit of jealousy because we were here first all I could see when he was running on the basis we're seeing the expose doing the same thing we're seeing a Larry Walker hitting that home run we would have liked to have been the first Canadian team to to win the World Series I think that would have been terrific packing the place every night and winning back-to-back championships that was supposed to be us it was torture to watch the Blue Jays win the World Series but it was tempered by the fact that the Expos had an incredible finish at the end of 1993 the expose 130 of their final 39 games in 93 finishing a close second to the eventual national champion Phillies Montreal fans had every reason to be hopeful we were just improving every year it was unbelievable and I knew our time was gonna come manager Felipe Alou had one of the best outfields in the game Larry Walker was in right marquise grissom and center and Felipe Sun Moises was in left the montreal expos were really kicking butt that year and philippe Alou was about to have some tremendous success of things they had a great great team that the Expos had the best team in baseball 1994 was not lost on us before it happened I think we had a pretty fair idea that that was going to be a team after we watched them down the stretch the year before on the eve of the 94 season some pundits felt the Expos had a shot to follow Toronto's back-to-back pennants and become the next Canadian team to reach the world series but while the team was solid baseball's collective bargaining agreement had run out and that spelled potential problems for this star-crossed franchise there was the specter of the possibility of a shutdown and hanging over that season the dislike the distrust of both sides to each other kept getting worse and worse neither side was willing to budge they knew it was going to be a long strike they knew that it was some big issues that year the clock is ticking because the owners have said they will unilaterally implement their salary cap proposal after the season the players have a simple choice take the salary cap proposal now take it after the season because they impose it or strike it was obvious that bad times had a chance to be right around the corner throughout the negotiations the Expos did their best to keep their focus on baseball you dream to play on a team where you go to the ballpark every day and you're gonna win every day we were the best team and there's no doubt I think at anybody's mind that we were the best team but you always had that old strength the strike was there of course it's scared us rightfully it scares none of us would like to go on a strike but some things are not to happen we knew for the good of baseball you had to negotiate a new contract for the good of the Expos you could have wait another year three years before the triumph and tragedy of the expose 94 season was the 91 campaign one of the darkest in franchise history Koller own and he is disgusted with himself there 71 and 90 record that year was their worst in 16 seasons and it wasn't just the team that appeared to be collapsing chase the bad one strike three of the Expos do not have a head yet no Olympic Stadium itself was imploding as a 55 ton beam fell from the roof onto the field forcing the team to play its final 13 home games on the road but then this was just another in a long litany of problems inflicted on the Expos in their fans by this stadium a facility that wasn't even built for them Olympic Stadium was built for the Olympics it really wasn't a baseball facility I remember walking in just before the Olympics and I almost had a heart attack but I said look cuz this was gonna be a failure olympic stadium to Quebecers was a bit of a thorn in the thigh because of the costs the senior eventually costs 1 billion dollars and as you know the roof never worked they spent a lot of money on that place the fans never liked it it's just that simple it was a terrible place to watch a baseball game it was cold it was Hollow it was nothing more than the world's largest ashtray coming off a terrible season in an equally flawed building all the Expos could do was keep their chins up like a tender so there's no pressure on no the pressure was on expose general manager Dan Duquette i sat down with bill stoneman and in quote brochu and together we did a three year projection of the players in terms of their talent in terms of their value to the team and in terms of what the team could pay me but when we put the blueprint together to have a decent team over a couple years we were really shooting for 1994 process began immediately after the 91 season when the Expos made some much-needed additions they traded for catcher Darren Fletcher and a pair of solid pitchers in Ken Hill and John wetland we had traded for a top starter in a closer and that gave us the bookends for our pitching staff Hill went on to win 16 games in 92 and wetland registered 37 saves giving the Expos 16 more wins than the previous year aiding the turnaround was a man named Alou no not Moises who was a rookie that year his father Felipe who took over a most familiar team as manager in late May most of these people have played for me somewhere and they know that I want action to do the impossible sometimes Felipe possessed the perfect temperament to lead a young squad well you know what when I got to it it takes all of us to see the questura he was fun to learn from I really so what he's doing back is my fault of these goals and that's what Philippe was and is he's a baseball man throwing Tara with a full season at the helm Philippe guided the Expos to a 94 and 68 record in 93 closing out the year in furious fashion to finish three games behind the eventual National League champions they simply ran out of time the only thing that stopped the Expos from overtaking the Phillies in 1993 was a schedule so you could see it coming they were starting to develop a little brashness they were going to have a swagger when the next season started the one caveat to 94 was economics it was a recurring theme in Montreal one that ultimately became synonymous with the franchise we knew that we had a very tight close short window to keep this team together because of the fiscal restraints that we were working under as such to get made the decision to part ways with fan-favorite delino deshields in exchange the expose received promising but slight 22 year old pitcher named Pedro Martinez the genesis of that trade really was Dennis Martinez was playing out his option there was no way with our revenues that we could fit him in with this group of young players that we were putting together so we had to trade one of our young players to get a good pitcher to replace Dennis Martinez I was one of the guys who roasted Dan Duquette because all I knew was how skinny Pedro Martinez was kids only about 160 pounds that plenty Lasorda his own manager in LA said he wasn't strong enough to be a successful starting pitcher we were blasted here we were the biggest idiots only doing it for money we would be able to use the Dennis Martinez a sweater and not have to buy a new one I mean we were killed and yet when we made the trade Dan said to me you know what with this trade we're gonna win in 94 Pedro Martinez the city has always been and will always be about the Montreal Canada but when the ex post came in 69 you had this incredible love affair I remember sitting at our kitchen table listening to a call-in show what our new teams name would be someone called in and said well we just had Expo 67 why don't we name it the Expos and it stuck the Montreal Expos were born during baseball's centennial season of 1969 the first ever major league team to play its home games somewhere other than the United States when they came alive they weren't just another team they were the only team that wasn't an American team they were Canada's baseball team we all be proud of our Montreal thankful this is what the city wanted they want a good baseball and they're gonna get it people forget that this was a pretty good baseball market at the Montreal Royals did pretty well here the Royals were a Montreal institution for 62 seasons the last 16 the Dodgers triple-a affiliate and the stepping stone for some iconic baseball legends Jackie Robinson played here Roberto Clemente played here for Montreal they had had the experience of being in triple-a now they wouldn't sell from anywhere they're too big and Montreal was suddenly a major league town the tears are just rolling down my cheeks and frankly sandy next to me Rapala cheers rolling down his cheeks to heir to the Seagrams wines and spirits companies Bronfman was a Montreal native in his pride knew no bounds 45,000 Americans sanded attention for our anthem that was a huge day the home opener at Gerry Park was equally historic for it was the first major league game to be played on international soil pretty something is standing ovation before the verse fall is fans went insane you couldn't get another person in the ballpark they had people that was standing on ladders outside the ballpark trying to look over the fences the excitement was big time it really was cut with so much fun the giant Park West but as intimate as it gets anywhere in that park you are touching players practically nobody cared that they lost 20 odd games in a row that they finished with 110 losses Major League Baseball was in our town and we celebrated it right from the very start the fans took the rusty Staub and the baseball writer Ted Blackmon dubbed him looking on Dodge who didn't love no doubt at all although I do have a fixation for shortstops he became the first baseball superstar of Montreal rusty Staub is embraced by Expos fans as their own living legend not only could rusty get hit for power he actually embraced the culture of Montreal you learn French the fact that I tried to speak to her language was the one thing that really separated me from the rest of the guys he was one of those guys who showed heat enough to play here and of course he was big and tall and he had a massive red hair and he was amazing so you can imagine the shock expos fans experienced when after just three seasons LeGrande orange was forced to bid au revoir when rusty Staub was traded to the Mets that was the first time I felt that there was another element to professional sports it did break everyone's hearts certainly just a little bit that he was not going to be in the voltage of the doís for the Expos any longer it was hard for the fans to say goodbye to their first baseball hero and it was just the first in a long line of personnel decisions that would go on to reflect baseball's changing financial landscape in free agency came about we had the first pick and we picked Reggie Jackson and then the Yankees started bidding for him and San Diego did their Sheik eventually signed with New York and I remember George Steinbrenner said Roth who may have Seagram's break Rock might have McDonald's but I got the Big Apple so I said there's only one we were gonna be able to do this that's to grow our own talent Charles did what he had to do to survive and that was he put a lot of resources into the scouting staff he put a lot of resources into the minor-league system and he said fellas I want you to go out and build the best organization in baseball and while the Expos endured eight losing seasons at Jerry Park the organization's overall plan was being executed to precision I got to get their scouting Department and their development Department a lot of credit because I mean they were signing some monster players Steve Rogers joined the team in 73 followed by Larry parish and Gary Carter one year later in 1975 it was Ellis Valentine and Andre Dawson came on board in 76 I don't think that we did it to get any credit for it we did it for us to save our own skins the last vestiges of Bronfman's insistence on building from the ground up can still be seen throughout baseball years after anyone's worn an Expos uniform it's no wonder this franchise was often hailed as one of baseball's best if you go through the Expos history as of 1969 til the end I challenge any organization to have developed so many outstanding players I had a special feeling toward this 1994 team I thought finally here is the championship team that's going to take us to the promised land we have a great manager we have the young player good pitching we play fearless and we don't care who we play and that thing we have the talent to do it this year the Expos appeared unfazed when before the 94 season the powerful Atlanta Braves joined the East Division in a long needed realignment there was no team that was gonna stand in wake up the Montreal Expos internationally he's weather was braves the phillies combination of two other teams playing gates at the same time the 94 Expos were that good just 17 years earlier much the same level of excitement gripped the city when the Expos moved into Olympic Stadium the first game there there were over 50,000 people I remember being at the home open in 77 they lost 72 against the Phillies but I'd never sat so high up it in anything in my life it was huge it was immense it was enormous and it felt great they felt really Major League Montreal was now in the big leagues and the expectation level was raised considerably in part due to the presence of new manager dick Williams a two-time world champion who had little to lose with this team the year before they lost a hundred and seven ballgames so we had no place to go but up and why not the young seeds the Expos talent scouts had planted were about to blossom men like Gary Carter Andre Dawson Larry parish Ellis Valentine Warren Cromartie Steve Rogers Bill Gullickson and Scott Sanderson comprised a core that was eager to win by 1979 we had become a contending team and behind this homegrown talent they captivated the city of Montreal with a 95 and 65 record their first-ever winning season brought them a second-place finish but a first for the franchise we do 2,100,000 people the whole nation Canada was turned on by the Expos that's all but the promise of even greater success in 1980 ran headlong into labor unrest it would be unfortunate if it comes to that it looks like with us being so far apart that some kind of work stoppage will be forthcoming and one did indeed bring spring training to a halt for eight days a new deal was struck though there was a good chance that talks might resume in 81 but despite the labor issues more than 2 million Expos fans turned out again in 1980 fourth most in the National League only to be disappointed in the end 1980 we went down to the final weekend of the season with the Phillies tied up at 4 in the 11th the 2 opens I expect 1979 we lost out to the pirates by two games and in 1980 we lost out to the Philly by one game it was becoming a frustrating trend especially for a team that was trying to maintain its eager new fanbase we didn't win and at the end of the day winning is where it's at because you can guarantee pretty full houses for the next five years if you ever win so the team made a few adjustments in 1981 that they hoped would push them over the top homegrown and ready to go rookies Tim Wallach and Tim Raines both cracked the starting lineup walks arrived the rains that arrived wow that team was getting good unfortunately the new kids were not the years enduring memory the strike is on the reports we've been getting indicate with a substantial number of the players or have already left the home baseball's first ever midseason work stoppage forced some major changes with no baseball for 50 days this schedule was shortened it and a unique split season playoff format ended up benefiting the Expos first part of the season the Expos are not there but they win the second half of the season three is a charge we didn't go and he felt so damn good to know that there was tickets on sale for the playoffs and that there was this chance that the gun gel Expos would be in the World Series the prospect looked even brighter when they dispatched the Phillies in five games in the first ever division series the league championship series against the Dodgers went down to a deciding fifth game as well and tied at one in the ninth expose Steve Rogers on just two days rest was called on in relief the Expos closer Jeff Reardon was not available to pitch he had had some back problems Steve Rogers was full of adrenaline he had never come out of the bullpen before he was too strong Rick Monday the batter to the game tied up at one no one knew it at the time but the fortune of a franchise was about to be decided by one pitch one pitch changed definitely the course of the history of the Expos here's the 3-1 pitch Shanna's swung on fly ball centerfield Dawson going back you still see Andre going back going back I said whoo that's gone all right uh Floyd and the season the expose version of Blue Monday will never be forgotten in Montreal for despite winning more games than any nationally team from 1979 through 82 this would be the closest the expose would ever come to a world series it was just unfortunate that we never materialized the overall talent that we had to win a World Series then eventually the team started to break up primarily in an effort to keep the payroll under control Montreal bid adieu to many of its core players over the next five years parish Cromartie Carter Gullickson and Dawson all became expose these were business decisions but much like when rusty Staub was traded Montreal fans had to once again endure the loss of their heroes that just took the wind out of everyone's sales because you could look around the major leagues and see an all-star team made up of xx bold players the pain was felt at the box office - his attendance dwindled to just over a million fans by 1986 the same season that Claude Brochu was named the new team president when I took over from John McHale it became very clear in discussions with with Charles prof. Minh that he was frustrated glad these young feisty teams and damn good teams and I'd go to a stadium and see 70,000 people in this cavernous place I'd be heartbroken now in his 18th season his expose owner Bronfman zest for the business of baseball was waning Charles Bronfman became very concerned with the direction baseball was taking when I first went into baseball if he had a really allows a year he could lose $100,000 when I left baseball if you had a really lost year you lose between 10 and 20 million dollars the changing landscape led Charles to seek out a buyer for his beloved expose with the provision that they keep the team in Montreal when Charles brought with the situs of the team we knew we were in trouble finding that buyer though was no easy task the expose proved to be a hard sell it took Brochu more than two years to cobble together a consortium of 12 owners process that raised some red flags with the fans it was hard to believe that the Expos were owned like many companies that was a bit odd and let's faces not a word you hear every day consortium almost immediately this new group discovered that no one entity among the twelve had the monetary wherewithal to absorb the financial challenges that were unique to Montreal small market existence TV and radio rights were a prime example Dave Van Horn tonight is broadcasting his four thousand game the montreal expos from 1969 through 76 the Expos were Canada's team seen and heard coast to coast but that would change Toronto Blue Jays came in they wanted their territory they were granted it and that forced the Expos out of the most lucrative part of the country Montreal became a provincial team it was the Quebec team the best we ever dipped from a rights perspective probably somewhere between 22 and $25,000 a game somebody liked the Dodgers at the time we're getting 200 250 thousand dollars a game factored in an unfavorable exchange rate where the Expos generated Canadian funds while paying their players in American money and it was clear that Bronfman's deep pockets would be missed there was no way you could turn around to and say oh we're in trouble mr. province can help us we knew that corporate Institute's could not help us so mr. profit is the biggest loss in the issue vixens this has been in my pocket since 1994 it's the 90/14 I've carried that with me ever since because that was the most talented team most exciting team that I'd ever been a part of let's be the power yeah pigeon factory leadership on the front end of the rotation and Martinez and he'll those guys through 94 95 miles an hour we were having so much fun we were so young so fast everybody threw hard letting gets the strikeout in the same you have to understand too that we had why is this I Newton left field marquise grissom centerfield by Walker right field and balls didn't touch the outfield we told you how the Expo outfield turns doubles in we have a certain cockiness to us and we all know how good the other one is everybody got a really strong arm and I think we can cover a lot of ground I think that would make us look different on that outfit this one right here if I can run if I got to despite the expose money woes the 94 team was filled with promise but they were in fact to work in progress testing one two rows we started off slow we were under 500 and I remember Philippe ain't got a little upset with the effort the team was giving at the time so shortly after that the team just turned it around and he could sense that everything was clicking the Expos were 21 games over 500 at the all-star break and with five representatives at the Midsummer Classic they showed two nations that their success was no flew Moises Alou first at-bat of the night for it lose drive to left center did more than just snap an all-star skin it was fantastic is he one of my guys doing because we were always so overlooked well it's tough to ignore a team that goes 20 and 7 after the all-star break in route to its best record ever and the Expos they're on a pace to win best team in baseball best team and the best young team we had a chance realistically not to go all the way but this snake bit franchise would never get the chance to fulfill that dream for the games labor was once again reared their ugly head high school faces in 1994 first time the diminution in its written I deeply regret that that the players see no reason to respond to that set of brown rice to me is a terrible shame that's because the large market and the small market owners can't agree on how to sort out baseball's revenue among themselves that they have to force players to struggle on August 11th of 94 the Expos held a six-game lead over the Braves in the NL East and owned baseball's best record and then like a lot of things in life you anticipate something and fear that it's coming hope that it isn't and when the day is here there's an incredible amount of sadness it was very sad to see what was happening sad we have to leave this way but sometimes you gotta do what you have to do everybody believed that baseball would find a way to correct the situation we might miss a couple games but they will find a way to resolve the problem and then September happen come on enjoy theology adapt can't get room I remember mr. Boucher announcing it say combo proceed every millennium nación de las a zone cattle que todos de Syria oppresses Oh finally they get the chance after 25 years of existence and it gets wiped out how would you deal with that as a fan whatever city are in that would have been devastating and I only wanted to win a World Series once in my life this is one of the best teams Montreal sports has ever seen it cannot end like this it was a death knell to the Mojo expose through all the wars and everything else we had a World Series but we did in that year community and nobody cared affected a whole city had pretty much destroyed baseball in Montreal the cancellation of the 94 season had league-wide implications several players were flirting with magical numbers including Tony twins chance to hit 400 a few suffered more than the city of Montreal what we had to go through after the 94 season I mean was absolutely devastating not only to our organization but to our fans here they were on the verge of perhaps winning the World Championship that was certainly favored and the season ends in that respect the work stoppage was a huge tragedy certainly for Montreal we were witnessing history in the making not only because of what the team was doing on a nightly basis but these were all players who hadn't yet reached their peak so people were very disappointed but hopeful that next year with the same nucleus we would be successful but the team never got the chance to fulfill that promise and prove they were the best in baseball for during spring training of 95 new Expos general manager Kevin Malone was instructed to jettison some key players Wisam wetland Walker and Hill in two days in spring training Kevin Malone was forced to deal away for the best players in baseball can he had equal value for that they trade John wetland for Fernando Sega yo they trade marquise grissom for Tony Tarasco Larry Walker they don't even offer him anything no offer no arbitration they don't get draft picks for him it was the event that really started to turn the franchise around in a negative way I was extremely hurt feeling at myself on Santa Teresa powerless I was like every day another knife in the side our team was dismantled the expose infamous fire sale of 95 could be traced directly to the cancellation of the 94 season we were used to living pretty close to the vest and all of a sudden we were losing a tremendous amount of money the expose had lost the revenue from 29 late season home games in 94 and even if they hadn't reached the World Series they were still guaranteed 16 million Canadian dollars in television revenue from the Fall Classic which they never got with a 94 payroll of just over 18 million these losses crippled the franchise you had too many people that didn't have enough money to make decisions on stuff you needed money for we could have kept that team together one more year with that experience who knows when we're done they didn't even try to keep the team together ownership completely betrayed the fan base they completely betrayed the team's capacity to win they were able to keep a couple guys they chose not they chose to rebuild without question that was the beginning of the end of the franchise nobody wanted to try to understand you know what we were going through everybody's looking for good players we had him here to bring back that team wouldn't have been that crazy all the would have taken is about 10 million dollars it's very easy to be critical with other people's money you knew that these guys were simply trying to balance their books mojo ownership coming up short when it came time to keep the team together to invest in their product instead they divest it they say you got to spend money to make money they had the opportunity to bring back some of the best players in the history of the franchise look if by mid-season it doesn't work out for your trade the guys that's fine but you already have these guys in your midst and you let it go in 1995 the Expos finished last 12 games under 500 we wanted to finish what we start we wanted to show everybody that we were the best in baseball unfortunately we have to get rid of those parties Larry Kenny wetland you don't realize how great of a park love your hat until you lose the sky to make matters even worse expose fans had to endure watching the four that they lost playing the 95 postseason if you open up the TV and you take a look you see all our players are all over the place they're doing so well part of me was happy for them but I was envious I couldn't believe I had had these guys in my hand the year before and next thing you know they're winning it with someone else tough to swallow the 95 Expos like many teams experienced a drastic drop in attendance it was now easier for fans to stay away from a stadium that always seemed to be somewhat out of the way the biggest problem for Olympic Stadium was location it was in the wrong place this was a stadium that needed to be built downtown Montreal that's where things were happening and still are no question stato limb peak was passe so clogged Brochu came up with a plan that he believed would help revive the franchise if we can get ourselves a new ballpark downtown will bring baseball back to the city and Lincoln never was before a downtown stadium would have catapulted the franchise into among the best in major league baseball every other city where they built it downtown whether it was Denver or Baltimore Cleveland it reignited all the interest in the ballclub and do I think it would have been a success yes I do paying strict attention to how new downtown ballparks could impact a franchise and a city the Expos carefully crafted a plan we had decided we needed three levels of contribution we needed provincial government the federal government and we needed the fans to contribute probably one third of the amount needed to build a stadium each Canada's federal government did its share by pledging this downtown site you see that tree where the Canadian flag is that's where I'll be sitting I remember I was in California when they called it said they were in heaven a big rally you people are too good and deserve too much for this brochure could sense the momentum and he designed a unique financial plan for the provincial government that all but assured its success his group arranged a meeting with the premier of Quebec Lucien Bouchard for confirmation the expose and administer finances had worked out a deal taxpayers were prepared to fund their share here in Quebec on the basis of being repaid by player salary income taxes mr. Bursch plan was if the Expos are not here those income taxes you're not going to get them anyway so let's use them and pay a stadium the Minister of Finance agreed when mr. Brochu met the Prime Minister mr. Bouchard at that time there's no more deal something happened he sank near Ottawa re-partition territoire impede evidence Beaulieu got to arrest a personnel value Sparky and his dog didn't destroy a study there would be no provincial funding so that was like a hammer brochu was shocked but armed with ten thousand season tickets already sold and ballpark naming rights secured for ten years he enlisted MLB commissioner Bud Selig to try and secure a change of heart I thought we had very productive meetings they were constructive there was no question that franchisees needed a new stadium but it just didn't materialize and we tried and we tried as bud was trying to be persuasive and trying to explain the importance from a baseball perspective and explained the you know baseball economics was clear was just going in one ear and out the other once that decision was made everyone in the organization realized that it was purely a question of time before the team would be relocated once it became clear that a new downtown stadium would not be built baseball fans in Montreal vented their anger and frustration towards some more than others under fire from both the public and the consortium he headed bro shoes sold his shares and controlling interest to New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria club Brochu wanted to see the motel expo succeed but he failed people new to the lengths that Claude Brochu was going to so that the fans of Montreal could keep their team they would have really appreciated the work that he did for him I know if we could have gotten this ballpark built downtown that things would have been different however it was no way that the government wanted to do it but they were wrong they heard a province they heard a city and they heard a population the last year's of the Expos mr. Lawrie was honored and the Major League Baseball took over ownership was like going to the hospital to see somebody you loved suffering from terminal cancer kind of preparing myself for the worst year every night a last forever they had great fans Japanese Expo I love the Expos gemenese Expo you know a lot of people I really loved baseball many years we outdid the Yankees in attendance does anyone ever say that no they concentrate on a time we only had two thousand fans in the stands the fan base was slapped around like a rag doll there's that all people aren't into baseball in Michelle anymore give me a break it was particularly painful to watch baseball games in an empty stadium knowing full well how things could have been it had been a trying decade for Expos fans since the fleeting triumph of the 94 season and on the day of the last home game in the 2004 campaign the news they dreaded sadly came to pass it's official now Major League Baseball has announced the Expos are headed to Washington DC it was hard and you know it was 31,000 people and everybody was crying grown man kids on their parents shoulders this was disappointing and we didn't want to move but in the end it was reality we had a move prior to that final game the franchise honored what might have been the greatest team never to reach the postseason even though we didn't win a World Series and whenever you want to playoff game however 94 I'll still maintain that we wouldn't want a full series one of the games tragedies that we weren't allowed to continue that season through see where that team ended up and see what the franchise would have ended up it was a personal tragedy for these players who missed their chance to shine it was a tragedy for the baseball fans in Montreal because this was the best team that they ever had but perhaps the greatest tragedy was the one that befell the fans in the province of Quebec in the city of Montreal I am terribly sad I think it was a great lift for the city for the province and for the country when they came in and it's been not the same kind of summer anymore I've been told since they're gone Oh wha alleys expose life goes on when you lose a brother or a best friend that's how I've often spoken but the module expose it's like I lost somebody that I loved I still look for the team's listening and in the standings and actually yeasts that haven't seen them for quite a while it's true the Washington Nationals now occupy that place in the standings and it's hard to find reminders of the Expos these days but the team's legacy of drafting and developing great players should never be forgotten Andre Dawson the hawk Montreal naturally 1976 to 1980 because I don't have a team anymore but for one day I can pretend in a strange twist of fate in this hockey centric city the one place where the expose grades have been immortalized right alongside the legends of lay habitants more than anything else I think it's sad for the fans of Montreal that there's no longer a baseball franchise the loss of their beloved Expos still resonates in Quebec but no one can ever take away the sheer excitement and promise of the 94 team and what might have been there was a hole left in all of us and when you go around baseball and you see the guys that are retired now that we're on that team where you see the coaches are on that team we do feel like we have a brotherhood unfortunately they're also going to be remembered as but the greatest team that never got an opportunity to show they were a great team if they won the World Series they would have gotten a new ballpark and baseball would have been very different the Montreal Expos would still be it was Pedro Martinez who actually acknowledged a Montreal in his hosts serious remarks and that really struck a chord with a lot of people I would like to share this with the people in Montreal that I'm not gonna have a team anymore if a lot of tears were shed that night when Pedro saluted Montreal when his Red Sox won my heart and my my break it led them to everyone still remembers the Expos fondly was very much a part of Montreal and when people ask me what team I'm a fan of I always say the Expos even though they don't exist anymore I still tell my kids I'm an Expos fan
