By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--June 16, 2015
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I suppose I want this for the same reason I wanted Twin Peaks brought back from the dead (and got it). I'm not one to live in the past, but it's also not my style to accept the unjust demise of something that deserved a better fate. Agent Cooper deserved better than to be stuck forever in the Black Lodge while BOB possessed his soul and made him smash his forehead into that mirror while cackling, "How's Annie?"It's not hard to figure out what's driving the Montreal conversation: Baseball has problems. The problem is with Oakland, a team not for sale and unwilling to relocate outside of the Bay Area but desperately in need of a new stadium. The problem is with Tampa Bay, a team also not for sale, but unlike Oakland, it's frustrated enough to move. Rays owner Stu Sternberg is in an impossible place. The ballpark is no good. The region, a mass of bridges, is rush-hour-challenged. Transplants root for other teams. The fans supported the team with solid TV ratings as it improved and won the AL pennant in 2008, but the Rays have finished last in attendance per game for three years straight. Despite the agreement that the Rays must stay in St. Petersburg until 2028, baseball historically has proved there is a way out of anything. To that end, MLB has another problem: It is out of places to go. Portland would infringe on Seattle; Charlotte would infringe on DC, Baltimore and Atlanta. Las Vegas is too small of a TV market. The Mets and Yankees oppose a third team in New York. The Red Sox oppose a second team in New England. MLB's creative idea for San Antonio and Monterrey, Mexico, to share a team died with the great recession. Maybe it's just a leverage ploy, but Montreal, once the problem, might be a solution. The city's fans remember the sabotage beginning in 2002, believing the fix was in from the inside (directions to the stadium in French and English mysteriously went missing) and outside (the commissioner's office taking ownership of the team; the trial run of regular-season games in Puerto Rico; Selig's calling Washington a prime candidate for relocation), so they have no reason to trust baseball. Still, the city has people (1.6 million, over five times as many as Tampa), sophistication and history. Not just the Steve Rogers-Andre Dawson and Pedro Martinez-Vlad Guerrero history, but dating to 1946, when Jackie Robinson made his pro debut with the Dodgers' Montreal-based minor league team. And as painful as the Expos' exodus was, it's also worth remembering that when there was magic on the field, made by Tim Raines or Larry Walker, Expos fans always represented. The game's roots run deep, and if Washington can be remade as a baseball town -- the game failed there twice before taking off -- so too can Montreal.This needs to happen, and not only for nostalgic purposes. First, something has to be done about the Tampa Bay situation. The Rays simply don't draw, and at this point ownership seems determined to dismantle what's left of a team that once won the American League pennant. Tropicana Field is an embarrassment, and it would be insane to invest in a new stadium in a market that hasn't embraced the franchise. I don't know if it's because Florida is a state of transplants, or because there are so many other MLB teams in near proximity during spring training. I know Florida State League franchises draw much more poorly than, say, the Midwest League - even though it's a more advanced level of Class A baseball. The most likely reason is that it's hot as hell in Florida in mid-summer and people don't want to sit outside in the sun. (I do. Tony and I will be in Lakeland next week attending five games at Tigertown. But you can never judge what the masses will do by what we do.) And for all the reasons stated above, Montreal is the most logical relocation point for the Rays, who would of course change their name and colors to give us a resurrection of the Expos. I envision a grand experience for the first game, with classic Expos like Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Steve Rogers, Vladimir Guerrero and Randy Johnson taking the field in uniform alongside their modern counterparts. It would be a great way to give a proper Expos imprimatur to the new generation, and let the fans know that their passion was interrupted, but not permanently taken away. If the Cleveland Browns, Charlotte Hornets and Winnipeg Jets could survive their near-death experiences, so can the Expos. It would right one the most historic wrongs in sports history, and it would bring a great sports city back to the major league status it always deserved. I just hope the new Expos - should they come to be - get the kind of ownership and stadium they and the fans deserve.
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