Baseball fans who haven’t given up hope that major league baseball would one day return to Montreal got a boost this week from MLB’s top executive, who said Montreal would make “an excellent candidate” for a future franchise.
Ears perked up in Montreal when MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, speaking to media ahead of Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game, said he was “very, very pleased” by the turnout at two exhibition games held in March at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium.
“They drew 95,000 people, they did very, very well,” Selig said. “I’m very, very pleased and proud of what they’ve done.”
For those who have been making an earnest push to see baseball make a comeback in Montreal, Selig’s words carry weight.
“Comments from Bud Selig is like getting news from the president,” said former Expo Warren Cromartie, who has been working tirelessly to rebuild Montreal’s baseball brand. “It gives you the support.”
The Montreal Expos played from 1969 to 2004, but suffered poor attendance numbers in their final years, when they were owned by the league.
Former Expos commentator Rodger Brulotte says the March exhibition games were a turning point.
“Showing the MLB, yes, there was a base of fans, but most of the fans were 35 and younger,” he told CTV Montreal.
The fan base has always been in Montreal, Brulotte says. “The reason why it left, is that we told people, ‘Come and eat at my house,’ but we had nothing to eat.”
Cromartie says he is well aware that bringing the team back will require a lot of money. A new team and stadium could cost up to $1.5 billion, and require a major effort to recruit investors.
“We’re at a point right now where we’re waiting for a team to become available,” Cromartie said. “But in the meantime, we have a lot of stuff to do behind the scenes.”
Cromartie is not alone. Expos fans have been trying to drum up support in recent years.
Last summer, hundreds of Expos fans travelled from Montreal to pack the bleachers at a Blue Jays game in downtown Toronto, bringing Expos banners and wearing the team’s traditional colours of red, white and blue.
Still, Matthew Ross, who runs the Expos Nation website, says fans have a lot of work to do in keeping the team dream on the public radar.
“People need to continue to rock their Expos colours on the street,” he said. “Continue to voice their opinions on social media.”
One fan told CTV Montreal that even 10 years without a team, Montreal is still a baseball town.
“You’ve got to have faith.”
With a report from CTV Montreal’s Denise Roberts and with files from The Canadian Press
