They’ve been coming out since the spring of 2014, the Montreal Baseball Faithful.
They’ll be there again Monday and Tuesday nights at Olympic Stadium to watch a pair of exhibition games between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Milwaukee Brewers.
They’ll be there for a couple of reasons.
For the past five springs, baseball fans have filled Montreal’s Olympic Stadium in an effort to bring Major League Baseball back to Montreal. (Photo Credit: cbc.ca)
To enjoy a ballgame for sure.
More important, at least for the great majority, the two nights will provide another chance to–once again–deliver a message to the men in suits who run Major League Baseball.
Without a team to root for since the Expos left at the end of the 2004 season, the Montreal Baseball Faithful–on this the 50th anniversary of the team’s first game–want a team back, they want their team back, and the sooner the better.
In this Sept. 29, 2004, file photo, Montreal Expos first baseman Brad Wilkerson signs autographs before the team’s final home game against the Florida Marlins in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz/The Associated Press)
Are they any closer to living their dream?
Tough to say since conversations about an expansion franchise being created here or an existing franchise moving to Montreal are played out in radio silence and the two people in leadership roles, businessmen Stephen Bronfman and Mitch Garber, are not going to be the ones to speak publicly and antagonize MLB powers that be.
Before he was a journalist and talk-show host, Dave Kaufman was a hard-core baseball fan, who grew up adoring the game in general and the Expos in particular.
Montreal Expos fans Annakin Slayd (left) and Dave Kaufman take souvenir photos at the renamed Rue Gary-Carter in Montreal in 2013. (Ryan Remiorz /The Canadian Press)
If a vote were held among the Montreal Baseball Faithful, Kaufman would likely make their all-star team.
I spoke with him Friday about where things stand right now.
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