Remembering the Expos

Six years ago today the Montreal Expos played their last game as a major league ballclub (relatively speaking).  Let's face it for the last several years of their existence, they were primarily a farm club for other major league teams who pilfered their best players as the trade deadline approached.... kind of like the Pirates and Royals today.  Best let's remember today, so that we may always be reminded of the conspiracy against the best team in baseball in 1994.  In 1994, the Expos were sitting at a pretty 74-40 on August 12th when the strike began.  However, the end of the season and the postseason was cancelled.  What you haven't heard is the rest of the story....

In a dark room, American patriots were discussing the importance of baseball to pull the United States out of a rut following the Gulf War in the early '90's.  What they failed to realize is that such a rut didn't exist.  However, their discussion revolved around the impact American morale would take if another Canadian team would win the World Series - after the Blue Jays took the '92 & '93 Series.  It was then decided that the season had to be cancelled, and the Expos had to be slowly destroyed over the course of the next decade.  Indeed, that is what happened.

So, at some point today, take a few moments and remember those Expos.  The team that once saw baseball greats Larry Walker, Andres Galaragga, Pedro Martinez, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Moises Alou, and... of course, the greatest Expo of all, Delino DeShields.

Here's former Expo Brad Wilkerson, barely able to stand because of the emotional pain the conspirators caused after finally accomplishing their goals.