Posted on 07/22/2004 5:30:57 PM PDT by aculeus
Expos players were told this week that a decision on their 2005 home is near, that it won't be Montreal and that there is a strong likelihood they will be living in the Washington, D.C., area.
Sources familiar with the Expos' relocation process told ESPN.com on Thursday that union leaders Donald Fehr and Gene Orza met Wednesday with Montreal player representative Brian Schneider and assistant rep Brad Wilkerson.
The player reps were informed by the union that there is now an overwhelming probability that they will wind up in either Washington or Northern Virginia -- although there is still a small chance that baseball could opt to move the franchise to Las Vegas.
The players now believe Washington is the favorite, with Northern Virginia looming as a compromise choice if Orioles owner Peter Angelos attempts to block Washington's bid. Either way, the players were told that the union is very confident this is, finally, their last season in Montreal.
(Excerpt) Read more at freerepublic.com ...
Gotta be the Senators again.
Does this mean that Norfolk is out? How will we survive without all the extra traffic? What will our surplus tax dollars be spent on?
Why not the Representatives, or the Lobbyists, or the Special Prosecutors?
Coming to VA baby!
They wont replace the Yankees for me but at least I'll have a home team.
Toronto next? That would please me. No more Canadian baseball teams. They hate us. Leave Delgado behind in Toronto though.
Just name it after Clinton - The Washington Expose.
The Washington Stuffed Sox.
I thought Quebec is the most highly unionized province in Canada with a gravy train full of benefits? So why would the Expos' union want to leave Montreal? Or is it a language barrier? Hmmmm...
Hey, I was rooting for Norfolk. I went through your area earlier this month - very pretty.
Because Tab Hunter sold his soul to Ray Walston so the Senators would beat those damn Yankees.
Plus he got to make out with Gwen Verdon.
Also, Walter "Big Train" Johnson and Harmon Killabrew were Washington Senators.
I really liked to watch that movie when I was a kid. They used to run it all the time on the Million Dollar Movie on Channel 9. Remember that, or are you not old enough?
As a frequent "bleacher creature" at the old Griffith Stadium, I believe the actual name of the Senators was the "Washington Nationals," surely an odd apellation for an AL team. But if they keep the 'spo's affiliation, it will fit just fine. All we'll need then is a big "National Bohemian" sign in the outfield.
It's the confiscatory taxrates in Canada that have made Montreal a graveyard for players. Throw in the '94 strike when they were running away with the pennant, and the fans never came back. When the NBA Grizzlies moved to Memphis from Vancouver, they made no bones about the tax rates being a big reason. No free agent would want to fork over more than half his contract to the government, and they couldn't compete. I wouldn't be surprised if the Blue Jays and Raptors are next to be looking for a way out of Canada.
I remember the Million Dollar Movie. It was a great flick.
Wash DC is the richest zip code in the USA.
I was an Orioles' fan myself. But I would occasionally go to a Senators' game. Most of the kids in the neighborhood were
Frank Howard fans. I got to meet Casey Cox at some local school thing. I even remember Denny McLain.
I don't know about DC. If any ranking member of Congress cared about it, it would have been a done deal eons ago.
I heard Robert Caro on tour for his LBJ bio. The then Speaker was a big baseball, and hence, Senators' fan. LBJ,
in order to suck up, would regularly go with the Speaker to the games....
Great, I love it. Now we don't have to worry about our players being booed when they play in Canada.
I would like to have a Washington Senators again.
Do you think they'd move them to the American league?
One Senators team moved to become the Minnesota Twins when Harmon Killebrew played.
Did another Senators team become the Texas Rangers?
longjack
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