Awesome news for D.C. baseball fans

tsaler · Post by **tsaler** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 11:59 pm

Personally, I don't care what it's named. I'll be the first one in line to get a hat, jersey, whatever. Unless it's something really ridiculous. Maybe I do care. Hmm...

Jake · Post by **Jake** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:17 am

Sorry guys...

Players' Union Denies Report About the Expos

Friday, July 23, 2004; Page D02

Major League Baseball players' union officials denied reports on ESPN that they told some Montreal Expos players during a closed-door meeting Tuesday that they will likely be playing in the Washington area next year.

"What we essentially told them is that we have reason to expect Major League Baseball will make a decision, hopefully by the owners' meeting in a few weeks . . . and that a number of places are on the list," said MLB Players Association Executive Director Donald Fehr. "Nobody gave them assurances that they will be going to any location as opposed to anyplace else. People can make their own judgments on that."

The players union must approve any move.

MLB President Bob DuPuy called the report that the Expos will be playing in the Washington area next year "preposterous, not true."

"Apparently, union representatives offered their opinion of what might happen," said DuPuy in an e-mail. "It carries no imprimatur. No decision has been made and no recommendation has been made to the commissioner. Uninformed comments like this do not move the process along."

DuPuy has said that baseball is considering all six possible relocation sites: Washington; Northern Virginia; Las Vegas; Norfolk; Portland, Ore.; and Monterrey, Mexico.

The biggest impediment to the Washington area has been Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who opposes a team in Washington because he believes it will draw fans and viewers from the Orioles. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has also said he has concerns that putting a franchise too close to another would hurt both teams.

Selig has said the team will almost assuredly be playing somewhere other than Montreal for the 2005 season.

A decision is expected by an August owners' meeting in Philadelphia.

-- Thomas Heath

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... Jul22.html

Redskins Rule · Post by **Redskins Rule** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 8:54 am

I hate that Orioles owner. He's the biggest freaking idiot in the major league. He doesn't get any talent for his team and he wonders why fans 'might' switch from O's to Senators.

Maybe if he could get some good players on that team we could have a good rivalry like with the Ravens and Redskins.

surferskin · Post by **surferskin** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:36 am

personally, i think norfolk would be a much better place for a team...for the obvious reason :wink:

tsaler · Post by **tsaler** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:10 am

I think the only location that makes any sense at all is DC. None of the other places have a market share that would merit moving an MLB team there. The fact of the matter is that if MLB moves the Expos to any of those other places, the chances of it having to move again within the next ten to twenty years are too high. Move the team to DC, and it'll be there forever.

Redskins1974 · Post by **Redskins1974** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:46 am

tsaler wrote:I think the only location that makes any sense at all is DC. None of the other places have a market share that would merit moving an MLB team there. The fact of the matter is that if MLB moves the Expos to any of those other places, the chances of it having to move again within the next ten to twenty years are too high. Move the team to DC, and it'll be there forever.

I'm with you on this one. I just hope the stadium's put downtown and not out by Dulles airport. My parents live out there - traffic's a nightmare as is...

Bring on the NL East!!

JansenFan · Post by **JansenFan** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:58 pm

If they go to Dulles, I will have to pass the stadium everyday to get home. Where they propose to build it directly conflicts with my secret shortcut to bypass most of the traffic. GO DC!!

RedskinsFreak · Post by **RedskinsFreak** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 1:00 pm

Woo Hoo!!!! Finally, RFK has justification for its existance again!!!:lol:

(Woah, that's big! Hey Boss, any way to shrink the size? I tried with Paint on my comp and I lost tons of definition)

tsaler · Post by **tsaler** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 1:27 pm

I just don't want to see the Expos go through with a fire-sale and end up moving an even worse team to DC than they have now. They're talking about trading Orlando Cabrera, Brad Wilkerson, Tony Batista, and even Livan Hernandez. It just would really suck if they got rid of all of their good players at the trade deadline. It's not that the folks in AAA and those who are being called up now late in the season are bad. If Cabrera goes, then Henry Mateo could play SS. If Wilkerson goes, Sledge will play LF. If Batista goes, Carroll will play 3B. If Hernandez goes, well, I guess they'll call up Jon Rauch. It wouldn't be horrible, but I would like to be a fan of a team with some good players!

Redskins1974 · Post by **Redskins1974** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 3:17 pm

tsaler wrote:I just don't want to see the Expos go through with a fire-sale and end up moving an even worse team to DC than they have now. They're talking about trading Orlando Cabrera, Brad Wilkerson, Tony Batista, and even Livan Hernandez. It just would really suck if they got rid of all of their good players at the trade deadline. It's not that the folks in AAA and those who are being called up now late in the season are bad. If Cabrera goes, then Henry Mateo could play SS. If Wilkerson goes, Sledge will play LF. If Batista goes, Carroll will play 3B. If Hernandez goes, well, I guess they'll call up Jon Rauch. It wouldn't be horrible, but I would like to be a fan of a team with some good players!

Fred Malek and his ownership group trying to put the team in DC are loaded - they'll get that team back in business... William Collins (VA ownership) is also loaded and has a lot of baseball knowledge and ties so I think from that standpoint, they'll produce winners.

redskincity · Post by **redskincity** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 4:43 pm

Hey guys, With this team, our area will become #1 as far as traffic is concern, surpassing Los Angelos. :celebrate:

tsaler · Post by **tsaler** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:38 pm

Redskins1974 wrote:
tsaler wrote:I just don't want to see the Expos go through with a fire-sale and end up moving an even worse team to DC than they have now. They're talking about trading Orlando Cabrera, Brad Wilkerson, Tony Batista, and even Livan Hernandez. It just would really suck if they got rid of all of their good players at the trade deadline. It's not that the folks in AAA and those who are being called up now late in the season are bad. If Cabrera goes, then Henry Mateo could play SS. If Wilkerson goes, Sledge will play LF. If Batista goes, Carroll will play 3B. If Hernandez goes, well, I guess they'll call up Jon Rauch. It wouldn't be horrible, but I would like to be a fan of a team with some good players!

Fred Malek and his ownership group trying to put the team in DC are loaded - they'll get that team back in business... William Collins (VA ownership) is also loaded and has a lot of baseball knowledge and ties so I think from that standpoint, they'll produce winners.

Good!!!

welch · Post by **welch** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:34 pm

As noted above,

DuPuy has said that baseball is considering all six possible relocation sites: Washington; Northern Virginia; Las Vegas; Norfolk; Portland, Ore.; and Monterrey, Mexico.

Washington is a major league city. The others are AAA cities, or NBA cities (that is, San Antonio? Sacramento???), or not cities at all.

NOVA is inaccessible.

And what is the point of having a team in the National's Capital if you stick it out in Northern Virginia? Edward Bennett Williams hit gold when he realized that all the big-shots would want to be seen on national TV watching George Allen's team from the RFK mezzanine. And the camera would then turn to show the Capitol...which team is America's Team?

*

Oh, and the name? It has the be the Senators or the Nationals. In my day, and, Wysocki's day, they were the "Nats", for short. (Saw my first Nats game in abut '53, when they gave the Silver Bat to Mickey Vernon for leading the AL in hitting. I saw a lot of games in '59...made sure that Camilo Pascual was the starter. One night, my dad had the PEPCO box seats behind the 1st base dugout. Pascual carried a no hitter into the 8th, struck out more than 10 guys, and Bob Allison hit a line drive half-way up the left field bleachers. You could feel the impact when hit hit it...a rifle shot. Oh, and my other memory from that long-ago was the smell. Griffith Stadium, under the grandstand, smelled like cigar smoke.)

*

Jake, you will love being a Nats fan. To start, take a look at this website:

http://www.cjis.com/senators.htm

Then this one, by "Big Bruno":

http://www.cjis.com/senators.htm

And Frank Howard's 500 foot homerun...RFK April 25, 1970:

http://www.bigbruno.com/senators/fhoward.html.

Hondo's HR want into en exit in the upper deck. It would be around the 20 or 30-yard line above the "bouncy side" of RFK, hit from the back corner of the endzone. Go to a DC Unted game, and you can spot the baseball park underneath the soccer stadium.