Montreal roots everywhere

Heading south on I-75 to visit Red Sox training camp in Fort Myers, this morning, I relaized I needed gas and a coffee. Given the choice of gas stations, seeing that I was going to see the Bosox, I searched out the Citgo station in honour of that humongous sign that can be seen in every TV shot of the Green Monster.

Hey, I figured that for all the years I've been looking at that flashing landmark, I should finally give them $34.33 worth of my business. By the way, when refueling I always try and stop on 33 cents, because that was Larry Walker's uniform number and has become my lucky number as well. Of course, the way my luck's been going, maybe I'll change that.

Anyway, the Expos connection with Walker reminded me that now, on consecutive days, yesterday and today, I was in the process of renewing old Expos connections.

Yesterday I was in Lakeland at Tigers camp and stood on the field interviewing Tigers GM David Dombrowski and today I sat on a bench while the Red Sox pitchers and catchers went through their paces and spoke and laughed with former Expos outfielder Terry Francona, now managing the  Bosox. The coincidence runs deeper than that. In 1987, as PR man for the Expos I introduced Dombrowski to the Montreal media his first day on the job. In 1980 in the Expos spring clubhouse, I was the first to shake the hand of a hotshot college rookie named Francona in his first day in the majors as he sauntered through the door.

Yesterday, standing with former Expos travelling secretary Dan Lunetta, now with the Tigers in player development, I spoke with Dombrowski mainly about basketball. Why? As a single GM in Montreal those first two winters, Dombrowski decided that he needed some exercise and a social life. He knew I played basketball every Thursday night with the St. Gabriel's Basketball Association, so he decided to tag along. Basically it was a bunch of aging formerly active friends - teachers, lawyers, journalists, PR guys, mechanics - (SI's Michael Farber was also in the group) who got together for two hours of hoops and three hours of drinking at Brasserie Magnan in Pointe-St. Charles.

Dombrowski was like Jason Kapono from the corner, with an awkward, ankles together release that was pretty effective. He was too young and too good, but he hung in. The great thing was that as a major-league GM, he would go with us for post-game libations and nobody would bother him, even those fans that recognized who he was. You don't see that much today.

As for Francona, the day he showed up for his first day at Expos camp, he had just spent the winter attending banquet after banquet honouring him as college player of the year. He claims that when he signed, as a No. 1 pick, the Expos told him to just relax and enjoy himself. He looked like Buddha when he walked in. "I took them at their word," he said yesterday. "I gained 32 lbs. I heard about it from everybody. It never happened again." 

Expos, Expos everywhere and not a team to cheer. Quel Dommage.

Richard Griffin

Comments

[sandy sieradzan]

Any idea why Toronto would have offerred Shannon Stewart a contract? I would think that there are enough outfielders signed up already.

[MJ Di Rocco]

Richard, I love reading your stuff. I am from Montreal originally and I can relate to your Expos stories. My dad has season tickets and during that 1994 run, we were at almost every game together. Though I've been living in Toronto for the last 6 years and I have been an active Jays follower since my move here--when the Big O was jumping--and I mean jumping full of fans, it was the best atmosphere in baseball... Montreal fans in general, either in hockey, baseball or foorball are insane in very best sense of the word and sometimes I miss it.
Griffin Replies: Anyone who believes that the Expos died because of lack of fan support is wrong. The Expos died because of lack of baseball's support. They wanted a team in DC and they got it.

[Tom]

No-one cares that you once worked for the Expos. Good for you, pat your self on the back and stop reminding us that you were such a good PR man for the expos, you had to finish out the rest of your life writing bitter baseball articles because you couldnt get another job with a big league team.
Griffin replies: And you have a lovely day, too.

[Paul]

Richard,
Thank you for blogging on the Jays. I cannot say that I was an Expo's fan, but watching that franchise get shipped off to the U.S. was not good for baseball in Canada (or baseball for that matter) and even though I was not a fan, I was not happy to see them leave. Even though I do not like interleague play, at least the yearly series with Expos, especially when it was during the Canada day weekend, made interleague play interesting. Now I just wish they would completely do away with interleagure play.
Griffin replies: I too agree that inter-league play has run its course. Take Frank Thomas for instance. They sign him for $10 million and there are nine regular-season games he can't play because of the no-DH rules. I also hate it when teams meet in the World Series that already met in the regular season.

[Sam Cusato]

Richard
I think it's great that you have a few friends left in baseball from your Expos days. But don't bore us with your warm and tender memories of days gone by. You sound like a love sick puppy. How about trying to keep current. By your picture with your column I figure you are in your early 60s and no doubt can offer us far more interesting baseball tidbits. By the way, the Expos never won anything so who cares about them now.

[John]

Richard! Had it not been for the Expos there may not have been a Jays. Such a shame that franchise went into such decline after their glory days. This may sound like so much a** kissing, but form a(an?) historical perspective there should be people like you around to record this stuff. Is there a book in the works and were you there from the start with "le Grande Orange"?