What might have been? That's the question
diehard Montreal Expo fans have been asking themselves for
the past decade.
What if there was no strike in 1994? What if the players' union and
owners had been able to work things out? What if that season hadn't
been cancelled?
What if?
When the players' union walked out on Aug. 12, 1994, no one could
have predicted that a decade later Canada's first Major League Baseball
franchise would be on the brink of extinction.
But that's exactly what happened. The 1994 players' strike not
only resulted in the first cancellation of a World Series, but it
also hammered the first nail into the coffin of the soon to be dearly-departed
Montreal Expos.
"That was the start of the end," says Ken Singleton, a former
Expo who served as a broadcaster for the team from 1985 to '96.
"I think the fans really felt that the rug was pulled out from under
them and they didn't go back after that."
"A lot of people felt like it was the best team in baseball that
year and maybe one of the best to come along in a long time," says
Kevin Malone, who took over as Expos general manager in 1994.
"We felt like we were the best team in baseball but it wasn't
meant to be."
If the words of Singleton and Malone sound like hyperbole, consider
the following:
- The Expos were 74-40 on Aug. 12, 1994 and topped the National
League East by six games over the Atlanta Braves. In 52 home games
at Olympic Stadium, Montreal drew 1,276,250 fans (an average of
24,543) and were on pace to break two million in attendance for
the first time since 1983.
- Pedro Martinez anchored a dominant starting rotation, closer
John Wetteland was nearly automatic from the bullpen, and Marquis
Grissom, Moises Alou and Canada's Larry Walker formed one of the
best outfields in baseball.
The 232-day strike signalled the beginning of the end for
Les Expos. A new collective bargaining agreement between
the union and the owners resolved little, and offered no improvements
to help out small-market clubs such as Montreal.
Instead, Malone was forced to trade top stars during the off-season
to purge the club of salaries.
The Expos of 1994 were quickly stripped of their assets – starting
pitcher Ken Hill was dealt to St. Louis, Grissom was traded
to Atlanta and Wetteland went to the Yankees in exchange for
very little.
Walker was allowed to leave and inked a four-year, $22-million
US contract with the Colorado Rockies where he went on to win National
League MVP award in 1997.
"I think instead of losing a Wetteland, a Walker, a Hill and
a Grissom, we would have lost one, maybe two of those guys (if
the strike didn't happen)," said Malone. "It's very hard to
overcome losing four all-stars at one time."
And it showed on the field. The 1995 Expos went 66-78 and
finished in the NL East basement, 24 games back of Atlanta.
Attendance also dropped by 6,000 a game from 1994 to 1995, when
they drew 1,309,618
"The next year was really sad," remembers Pedro Martinez.
"The same way management got rid of players, the fans went away
with them and I don't blame them for leaving."
The average attendance held steady at around 18,000 per game
until after the 1997 season. From that point on, the bottom
fell out of the franchise.
The Expos also suffered on the field, posting losing records in
five of the six seasons from 1995 to 2001.
Martinez was traded to the Boston Red Sox just one week after
winning the 1997 NL Cy Young Award as the league's top pitcher.
Many saw the move as yet another downswing in the Expos' fledgling
fortunes.
Average attendance dropped down to 11,000 a game and the Expos
kept plummeting into more trouble.
In 1999, then-owner Claude Brochu sold controlling interest
in the team to Jeffery Loria, a New York City art dealer.
Loria tried initially to foster a sense of optimism, doubling
the team's payroll for the 2000 season and making a strong pitch
to build a new ballpark in downtown Montreal to replace the
much-maligned Olympic Stadium.
But in hindsight, the effort was in vain. Apathetic fans didn't
come. Having no TV contract or English radio deal didn't help maters.
The Expos averaged a league-low 12,000 fans a game in Loria's first
year and by 2002 Loria had enough, selling the club to the league
itself and using the profits to purchase the Florida Marlins.
A consortium arranged through the commissioner's office began
operating the Expos, but they continued to struggle both on
and off the field. The 2002 season saw Montreal average only
7,648 fans per game to the domed stadium – their fourth 90-loss
campaign in a row.
With the Expos falling to pieces, Major League Baseball signed
the club's death certificate in Oct. 2001 when Selig announced that
owners had "overwhelmingly" voted to eliminate two teams. Reports
suggested it was the Expos and Minnesota Twins on the chopping block.
The players' union grieved the elimination of any franchises, while
court decisions in Minnesota halted any contraction plans. The Expos
lived on – but not for long.
The next few seasons were turbulent and offered the first indication
a move was around the corner. The league agreed to have the Expos
play 22 "home dates" in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2003, making the
extra travel difficult on the players.
The final kick in the teeth came in the off-season when management
was forced to let franchise player Vladimir Guerrero leave via free
agency. He signed with the Anaheim Angels. With Guererero's departure,
the Expos' days in Montreal appeared numbered more than ever before.
The 2004 season was another year for fans, players and management
to wonder if it would be the last year for the Montreal Expos. The
questions came to end Sept. 29. when Major League Baseball announced
that the Expos' 36-season run in Montreal has come to an end. The
club will relocate to Washington, D.C., for the start of the 2005
season.
Canada's first Major League Baseball team has finally gone south.
