The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #72588   Message #1252171
Posted By: GUEST,chinmusic
20-Aug-04 - 12:26 PM
Thread Name: BS: Baseball to Washington, D.C.?????
Subject: RE: BS: Baseball to Washington, D.C.?????
Alas, Bobert, I have to agree with Mr. Olesko on this one. As a ball fan, I can understand your desire to see baseball come back to the DC area, but I also think the main reason that Washington twice lost the Senators, was lack of fan support. It's still very much open to debate, whether the DC area can support two teams. The Bay Area has the Giants and A's, and for years, both clubs struggled with attendance. Since the construction of their new park, the Giants have flourished. I'm not a fan of Mr. Angelos, but I believe he's got a point on this issue. I think the sad story in this sorry mess, has been the way major league baseball has jerked around the Montreal Expos. Yea, their attendance has been awful for years, but the final nail in the coffin came during the infamous strike in the mid 90s, that in essence, doomed the ballclub. Arguably, they had the best team in baseball during that year of the strike, until baseball closed up shop for the rest of the season. More importantly, when original Charles Bronfman sold the Expos, the franchise never recovered. He was a solid owner, and the Expos always had a great farm system, with his hand at the wheel. Since his departure, they've become a farm team for the wealthier franchises. The Montreal fiasco simply illustrates the imbalance between the have, and the have nots, in the game. The Lords of Baseball just don't get it. Olympic Stadium is the worst facility in the majors. In a perfect world, Montreal needed local ownership with deep pockets, that could have provided a new ballpark in the downtown area.
    Being from Toronto, I fear the Blue Jays are headed down a similiar path as the Expos. I really hope that they don't migrate south in the future.