Quote:The bell tolls on the Expos...
AU REVOIR
It was a sad, sad day for baseball fans in Montreal. The league, after dragging its heels for years, finally announced Wednesday that the Expos franchise would no longer play in Montreal after this season. And that meant they'd no longer be playing in Montreal after Wednesday, their last home game of the season.
The 9-1 loss to the Marlins was a side-note to the 31,395 in attendance at Olympic Stadium, which rarely sees more than a few thousand people on game day. But the sadness was plainly written on so many of their faces as they waved goodbye to the franchise that has given them 35 years of major-league baseball; 35 years of memories.

From its early days at Jarry Park to its final game at Olympic Stadium, the Expos organization produced some truly great players. Hall-of-fame catcher Gary Carter started and ended his career there; Tim Raines emerged as one of the all-time greatest base-stealers with the Expos; outfielder Andre Dawson was a three-time all-star with the Expos and third baseman Tim Wallach was a five-time Expos all-star; Canada's all-time best hitter, Larry Walker came into his own in Montreal; one of the greatest pitchers of all time, Randy Johnson, originally came up as an Expo; and then there's Vladimir Guerrero who may be the best of them all. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

The Expos only made the postseason once, in the strike-shortened 1981 season, but were ousted in the first round of a makeshift playoff schedule by the Dodgers on an infamous Rick Monday home run. Again, in 1994, a strike spoiled the Expos' fun, as they were the best team in baseball when the strike ended the season and the postseason was canceled. "Fool me once," said Expos fans as they decided in droves that they wouldn't let baseball and its labor troubles toy with their emotions anymore. So, understandably, most Montreal baseball fans stopped coming to the park.

It will undoubtedly be asked, why didn't the extra 20,000 people who came to the park Wednesday night come every other night? But the answer surely is that many among those were the disillusioned, returning to celebrate what baseball once was to them. For them, baseball in Montreal already ended 10 years ago when they were robbed of their dream season by stubborn players and owners.

At around 10:00pm ET, outfielder Terrmel Sledge popped out to current Marlins infielder and ex-Expo Mike Mordecai to end the game and turn out the lights on Olympic Stadium as a major-league baseball park. In the end, it's the best thing for this lost and neglected franchise to relocate, but that's no consolation to the thousands of diehard Expos fans that, believe it or not, do exist in Montreal.

But Montreal baseball fans only need look to the city getting their franchise, Washington, D.C., for a faint sense of hope. After all, the city has lost not one but two major-league franchises in the past. It took D.C. 33 years to get baseball back. So, who knows, it may take a few decades, but the door may not be entirely closed on major-league baseball in Montreal.

Quote:The red part is an E for Expos, the blue part a B for baseball, all made too look like an M for Montreal.