Friday, May 15, 2009

1983 Fleer Stickers #143 Al Oliver & Pete Rose

I miss the Expos.

Jenna and I attended one of the last Expos' games at Olympic Stadium in September 2004, when the Phillies were trying to overtake the Astros for the NL Wild Card. The paid attendance for the game was 12,382 - although I'd seriously challenge the accuracy of this number.

A few dozen fans held a protest outside the stadium before the game, even though it was a foregone conclusion the Expos were leaving Montreal. The game day atmosphere inside the dome was dreary. It was like a poorly attended, poorly lit JV baseketball game. The thing that bothered me the most was that there was probably some kid there, some die-hard Expos fan who had an Expos binder with all his Expos cards, and his team was leaving. I hope this kid is rooting for the Nationals and Ryan Zimmerman now.

However, I hope the Phils pummel his team this weekend and I'd like to see Zimmerman go 0 for 16. Sorry kid.

4 comments:

Matt Runyon said...

I miss the Expos too. There are times when I wish baseball would go back to the way it was when I started following (1974). 24 teams, 4 divisions. :)

Pop-Pop said...

I remember when the Expos began Gene Mauch was the manager

Jim said...

If only I had a Gene Mauch Phillies card . . .

Jim said...

Richie Ashburn used to say, "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story." Re-reading this post, I realized I had confused my years. It was 2005 when the Phils were trying to catch up to the Astros and Jenna and I attended a Nationals game in D.C. That's a story for another day . . .