Montreal Fans Need a Team

Brad Wilkerson, Jose Vidro and Livan Hernandez still have their boosters in Montreal. But with the Expos now in Washington, what major league club will local fans pull for?

“They’re probably going to split up among several teams, but I would hope the majority of the fans in Montreal will be behind us,” Nationals manager Frank Robinson said. “I hope some of them will come and see some games, wherever.”

Geoff Donaldson isn’t likely to be swayed by the Hall of Famer’s appeal.

“I’m not rooting for anybody,” said Donaldson, who moved from Ontario to Montreal six years ago partly because of his affinity for the Expos. “I looked at Washington’s boxscores for the first game or two, but unless something special happens, like when Wilkerson hit for the cycle, they’re pretty much any other team.”

Frank Riccio, one of the Expos’ few remaining season-ticket holders last season, saw it the same way.

“I’m still following baseball, though I don’t consider myself a fan of the Nationals,” he said. “I check the boxscores to see how the Expos players are doing, but I’m not interested in the new guys.”

The exploits of the former Montreal stars get prominent play in the predominantly French-speaking city’s only English daily newspaper, The Gazette, which leads its baseball coverage with Nationals game stories.

“I would say there’s a loyalty to the players, not to the organization, and I think that stays there,” said New York Yankees pitcher Carl Pavano, who played for Montreal from 1998-2002.

Nationals catcher Brian Schneider figured Montreal’s remaining baseball fans will choose their own route. Not that there are millions of fans -- the Expos did not draw well during the end of their 36-year run.

“I’ve heard mixed opinions,” he said. “I’ve heard some people say that they’ll never follow us again, and I heard some people say that they had a great time while we were up there and they’ll always be fans of some guys on the team, and they’ll always wish us the best. You know, that’s going to be up to them.”

Expos great Andre Dawson thought that Montreal fans who won’t follow the Nationals will likely cheer for the Toronto Blue Jays.

“It’s a tough call, but they’re the only team in Canada now,” Dawson said. “Montreal is a hockey town and those fans have got to be dying as a result of having the season canceled and then not having baseball. It’s going to be tough for them, considering the division they’re in, but I think if they fare well, of course the fans will get on the bandwagon.”

Riccio, who took in a couple of Blue Jays games on a recent trip to Toronto, won’t be one of them.

“I wasn’t rooting for them at all,” he said. “I couldn’t care less whether they won or lost.”

Expos fan Micheal Trahan followed the Expos from Calgary, Alberta. Nearly 2,500 miles from Montreal, his hometown is much closer to the Pacific Ocean than it is to Toronto.

“I’d probably cheer for the Mariners before I cheered for the Blue Jays,” he says.

Though Toronto is in the same country, the closest team to Montreal geographically is actually Boston.

“As spread out as Red Sox Nation goes, it would be a very welcome thing to pull them into the crew,” Boston captain Jason Varitek says. “We’ll take that with open arms.”

Red Sox fans took over Olympic Stadium on July 15, 2001, when Boston played at Montreal. Of the 32,965 in attendance that Sunday afternoon, easily 27,000 of them were cheering Boston on to an 8-5 win.

Montreal fans had a particular soft spot for Pedro Martinez. He was a star with the Expos before becoming an ace with the Red Sox, and he acknowledged the support he had in Montreal during Boston’s victory celebration after winning the World Series.

Varitek recalled how Martinez drew a crowd for an interleague appearance with Boston at Olympic Stadium.

Martinez has now joined a number of former Expos with the New York Mets, including general manager Omar Minaya, coaches Manny Acta and Jerry Manuel, and outfielders Cliff Floyd and Ron Calloway.

“We would encourage anybody in Montreal who misses baseball to come down and be a Mets fan, sure,” Mets catcher Mike Piazza said. “It’s an open call, but I don’t know if we’re going to have many takers. We had a tremendous rivalry for many years. It’s going to be tough.”