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September 29, 2004
Washington Expos?
It's finally official, although if you've been paying attention you've known for months. The Montreal Expos are moving to D.C. This should have happened about 8 years ago, after the 1994 strike and subsequent cancelling of the World Series ruined the entire future of the Expos. Remember when the '94 Expos were running away with the National League East? When youngsters Larry Walker, Moises Alou and Marquis Grissom were the best outfield in baseball? The Expos were 74-40 when the strike happened and now, ten years later, they're finally headed somewhere where the Lincoln Saltdogs won't outdraw them.
What held it up anyway? Peter Angelos, owner of the Baltimore Orioles and a notorious litigator, was very protective of what he considered his home territory. Angelos got a sweetheart of a deal from MLB to keep his lawyers in his pants.
- Baseball is willing to guarantee that the Orioles will earn a still-to-be-negotiated minimum in annual revenues. If their revenues fall below that figure, MLB would make up the difference.
- Baseball also is willing to guarantee a minimum franchise value for the Orioles. So if Angelos attempts to sell the team and can't find a buyer willing to pay that amount, MLB also would make up that difference.
What else? MLB has been running the team for the past few years and losing money like a hemmorhaging craps player in doing it. In 1984 the Baltimore Colts loaded up in the middle of the night and became the Indianapolis Colts in 1985 and moving a football team from a city that loved its team is a lot tougher than moving a baseball team from a city that doesn't know it exists. Chalk another one up to MLB ineptitude. Another bit of evidence pointing to why the NFL is far and away the #1 pro sports league.
It's nice that baseball is finally back in Washington but my Yankee-hating ways can't ignore the better proposal I heard on the radio this summer. I believe it was Paul Splittorf, former Royals pitcher and current Big XII basketball announcer, who said the best place for the Expos was in northern New Jersey where they could cut into the Yankees' lucrative market and further even the playing field.
Too bad Paul isn't commissioner of baseball. With Bud Selig as the commissioner, it's a wonder this got done at all, let alone the right way.
Posted by Half-Cocked at September 29, 2004 06:00 PM
Comments
I like the idea of the Washington Grays, named after the Homestead Grays, a Negro league team (winningest Negro league team, I think).
See DCist for a good naming thread:
http://www.dcist.com/archives/2004/09/29/dcist_naming_competition.php
Posted by: Eric at September 29, 2004 08:04 PM