There was so much to do.
I had to be in Chicago Monday April 7. Luckily the hospital could induce on the Tuesday prior and so it was that Myles Jonah Price was born on April Fool’s Day 2003. Mother came out of the hospital on Thursday and Daddy was in frigid Chicago four days later embarking on a 13 game road trip that included 10 home games in Puerto Rico.
Finding qualified announcers to work Major League games on the road for free turned out to be the easiest part of the job. I searched out sports job websites on the internet and placed ads in four of them. Talk Show host Mitch Melnick was now executive producer of the baseball games and it would be his job to make sure there was one in each city. He’d have some time since we filled the Chicago series quickly and Roberto Clemente Jr. was hired to work in Puerto Rico.
In 24 hours the designed email box was filled with more than 100 applicants and needed to be emptied for the next flow to settle in. We would put several levels of announcers on the air but I can honestly say that when the curtain eventually came down on this experiment there had not been one announcer that we used that didn’t deserve a shot.
At first I was reluctant to give them much more than an inning of play by play, using them as analysts – just really someone to talk to during the broadcasts. As time wore on however it became clear that several were of at least borderline major league caliber especially Rob Evans, longtime voice of the Mets triple A team, Brett Dolan in Arizona, Russ Langer in Vegas, Roxy Bernstein in California, Mike Curto in Washington and Joe Block in Jacksonville. All talented.
Evans was the first of that group that I worked with and it was obvious he and others could handle at least two innings of play by play. I had done all nine of every game I worked the previous two years and would continue to do so at home where Melnick took over as my partner (and he had neither the desire nor talent to work play by play) but I did give up some time on the road. As I surmised, the time on those broadcasts were to be very beneficial to those who were willing to intern.
Roxy Bernstein was the first to gain Major League employment, ending up on the air in South Florida working Marlins games with the great Dave Van Horne.
Brett Dolan would get his shot with the Houston Astros.
Joe Block worked his way up the ladder, first alongside ‘Mr Belvedere’ Bob Uecker and eventually moving on to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Joe beat me out for that job, but as it turned out I was barely in the running.
That would be 13 years later.
By then I was pushing 60 and sadly still in that position of needing a U.S. work visa. Tough for any team to take a chance on a process that might take time when they needed to announce their new employee ASAP.
I always figured Major League Baseball teams looking for a new announcer might find it odd to have so many different audition tapes with the same analyst on the broadcast. Stranger still was that so many of them seemed to be Montreal Expos road games.
This was a new baseball broadcast for me with all the equipment neatly packed into a traveling container. At least it started the year neatly packed. There no longer was an on-site producer. That was me.
Producer, director, pre game host and announcer. I was like the radio version of Bert Campaneris playing all nine positions in a game.
Let the fun begin.
My opening day in Chicago was the coldest game I have ever attended and that’s saying something having grown up in Montreal. The good news was that we were heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico. A chance for me to go somewhere I had never been before. What an eye opener. Everywhere we went, the buses included a gun-toting guard and a siren- wailing-light-flashing police escort.
I awoke at the “El San Juan hotel” and finally made up my mind to shower and head out for a bite. I stepped into the shower with the glass shower door. I showered, turned off the faucet, pulled back the glass door and suddenly there was no door but just shards of glass tumbling everywhere. As I looked down I could see blood amongst the pile of glass heading toward the drain. I wondered how the hell I could get out with glass all around so I threw the towel down and checked for damage. There were little nicks down my legs and a gash in the underside of one of my pinky toes. As the blood emerged from all of the tiny holes and the one sizeable one, it occurred to me what damage could have been done to a naked man in a barrage of falling glass. As a Jewish man, that had been done once already, thank you.
Then I called hotel emergency.
Well, you have never seen such a commotion. The doctor came to sew me up, room service was alerted to bring food and chambermaids were called to clean blood stains out of the carpet. Maintenance arrived to first clean up the fallen glass and then to install another glass door.
Several questions came to mind.
First of course was what would this have cost them if let’s say it was Vladimir Guerrero with stitches in his toe and unable to play? Apparently announcers can still work with stitches in their feet. And secondly did this thing with the broken glass shower doors happen frequently?
The answer was affirmative.
So “Why,” I asked “Do you keep replacing them with more glass doors?”
That question went unanswered.
Finally I headed off to find something to eat.
With no background in Spanish I found it interesting how many of the words in that language resembled French from back home. For the first broadcast I wanted to say “first pitch” in Spanish and was told it was “lancemiento primera”. In French the translation is “premier lancer”.
As I searched for food I found that in Puerto Rico “Subway” was still Subway and they served it with the same less fat of a Big Mac as they did at home.
Roberto Clemente Jr. did not turn out to be a Major League caliber broadcaster, at least not in English. In Montreal they started referring to him as Roberto “Wow” Clemente since that was often his response to whatever transpired on the field. He was however, a lot of fun and since he was the son of the great Roberto Sr, he was Island royalty. We spent time together away from the games and I got to see a lot of the Island that I otherwise wouldn’t have.
Junior however partied hard. There didn’t seem much time left for him to do anything else. And hey, Junior – anytime you want to pay back the 200 dollars I loaned you that would be okay.
At least we got along well.
Once again playing without a compass that would tell them where their future home would be, the 2003 Expos would give it quite a go.
They were forced to trade Bartolo Colon before the season for right-hander Rocky Biddle, infielder Jeff Liefer and Yankees right hander Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez who wouldn’t throw a single pitch as an Expo because of a shoulder injury.
Still, at the end of April, they were 17-10, tied with Atlanta Braves for first place. On May 25, they were 32-18, and a mere two games behind. However, baseball had already conspired to make sure they couldn’t win.
Since the team was owned by all the other owners, why would they want this ward of the state to grab their thunder or even receive any financial help to do it?
It was ridiculous and terribly unfair.
The 2003 Expos were saddled with a horrendous and crippling travel schedule. Despite being a legitimate contender, they were not allowed to add payroll to improve the team after the all star break. Nor were they allowed to add players for the stretch run when rosters expanded on September 1.
After beating the Phillies in Montreal on May 25th to push their record to that 32-18 record the Expos would not return to Montreal until June 20th.
The travel itinerary was as follows:
Four days in Florida including a doubleheader, three days in Philadelphia including a doubleheader. From Philadelphia to Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico to Seattle Washington, Seattle to Oakland and believe it or not Oakland to Pittsburgh to finish off the trip where a rainout forced a third doubleheader.
They went 8-14 on the trip including 0-6 in the three doubleheaders.
After six games in Montreal, it would be 10 more games on the road.
In all from May 26 until July 7, the Expos spent a total of just seven days in Montreal.
Six out of 38 games in which they went 15-23 overall.
The stop in Seattle provided one of the stranger stories you’ve never heard about.
A close play at first base had gone against the Expos. The replay however showed that rarely used Edwards Guzman had indeed touched the base. It was an obvious out to everybody except the first base umpire. Following the game while waiting for elevators at the hotel, media relations director John Dever turned to his right and called to Guzman, “Edwards, they blew the call, no doubt you touched the base.”
I was just to John’s left and from over my left shoulder came a yell. Unbeknownst to us, just to our left, were the night’s four umpires.
“What the fuck is that?” yelled Bill Welke even though the missed call belonged to Rob Drake
John tried to backtrack.
“I didn’t know you were there,” he spouted out.
“Next time keep your bullshit to yourself”, shot back one of Major League Baseball’s finest.
“Can’t we all just get along?” sang third baseman Fernando Tatis.
“Be quiet Fernando,” said umpire Wally Bell.
And the longest, quietest five minute wait in the history of elevators followed.
Certainly the grueling travel had a hand in all the injuries the Expos suffered. There was a steady parade to the disabled list. Three starting pitchers, their best reliever Luis Ayala, starting catcher Michael Barrett and the cruelest blow of all, star outfielder Vladimir Guerrero missed 40 games with a herniated disc in his back.
Back In Montreal in early July after all that interminable travel to face the Phillies, I walked into Frank Robiunson’s office for the usual pre-game media scrum and he stopped me in my tracks.
“Elliott!” he said for everyone’s ears “I hear you called me out the other day.”
“Which day was that Frank?” I asked.
“You know,” he said
“Vidro?” I wondered aloud.
“Yes Vidro” He shot back
“Would you like to know what I said?” I asked him.
“That would be nice” he replied.
And so I did.
Braves reliever John Smoltz had gone an entire calendar year and blown just 3 saves. Twice it was Vidro who had beaten him with a game winning hit.
So it was on the previous Sunday afternoon that Jose had not started the game and thus was available at any time to be called upon as a pinch hitter. Throughout the game I had reminded fans that Frank had Vidro at his disposal should that exact situation arise. I gave them Vidro’s sensational numbers at the time against one of the best in the business.
Finally the situation presented itself and I said
“Now coming out of the dugout to pinch hit, it’s…it’s…Brian Schneider.” Schneider popped out to end the game.
Frank asked if it was necessary to make sure everyone knew about those numbers. I gently explained that thanks to the internet, those numbers were now readily available to all. Frank turned to media relations director John Dever and asked
“Hey John, are those the papers you give me that I keep throwing in the garbage?”
“I guess so” said John.
“I better start reading them” said Frank.
And the case was closed.
With some creative accounting GM Omar Minaya tried to acquire outfielder Juan Gonzalez from Texas. The oft-injured outfielder turned down the opportunity and stayed in Texas where he got hurt again.
By July 22, the cache of a 32-14 start was completely gone followed by a palindromic 14-32. 100 games in the books and they were back to square one at 50-50.
The season seemed lost but the best moments in years were yet to come. Even providing some proof of life at Olympic Stadium. But sadly, for the last time. It was just prior to Labour Day.
On August 24 the Expos returned home from California with a 67-64 record, now miles behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. But, somehow just four games behind in the National League wildcard race. They would play a rare four game series at home before heading out again for another 14 days on the road.
The series began with a rousing 13-1 pasting of the Phillies to move to within three games of both Philadelphia and Florida. There were more than 30,000 fans in attendance for five dollar night, most of whom were busy scarfing down one dollar hot dogs.
It was fun but the next three days were magical.
A four game sweep that would tie them for the wildcard lead with what appeared to be a month of meaningful baseball ahead.
With four and a half innings in the books in the second game of the series, the Phils were blasting the Expos 8-0. The rest of game two was electric.
“How exciting was that game?” second baseman Jose Vidro asked. “We came back – unbelievable, one of the most exciting games I’ve played since I’ve been in the big leagues.”
The Expos scored three runs in the 5th, one in the 6th, exploded for seven runs in the 7th inning and added three more in 8th. A crowd of 12,509 sounded like 50,000 from the old days and there was hope once more as they moved to within two games of the wild card spot.
More than 20,000 fans showed up Wednesday without enticement. There were no five dollar tickets and no hot dogs for a buck. For the first time in years, probably late in the 1996 season, the city was alive with baseball.
The Expos never flinched after blowing a five run lead in the top of the 7th. They merely scored in the bottom of the inning on a key base hit by Joe Vitiello to go back on top and scored twice more in the 8th inning to put the game away.
“This crowd was awesome tonight,” Vitiello said. “I wish we could have this type of crowd here every night. It just fires us up.”
“It’s the noise,” said centerfielder Brad Wilkerson.
Now one game back, the Expos front office braced themselves for a poor afternoon turnout the next day. Error on the front office.
There weren’t enough ticket booths open to handle the overflow. While the paid attendance was better than 20,000, there were still thousands outside trying to buy tickets as Javier Vazquez pitched a shutout to extend his scoreless streak to 26 innings and the now healthy Vladimir Guerrero homered for the third time in four games.
“Twenty thousand here feels like fifty thousand,” Vazquez said. “We love it, Now that we’re playing great baseball and we’re in the race, they can’t see us next home stand because we play in Puerto Rico,” Vazquez said before the native of Puerto Rico added, “We can’t do anything about it.”
The Expos real home record was 36-17. But they’d play just six of their remaining 27 games at Olympic Stadium. They were however tied for the wildcard and on the road again to for the next showdowns – four games against the Marlins and two in Philadelphia. And then back to Puerto Rico.
How’s that for late season travel – San Juan > Montreal > Miami > Philadelphia > San Juan?
In the opener of the series in Florida, The Expos appeared to be on their way to sole possession of the lead in the Wild Card race. They had a late 2-0 lead. The Marlins hadn’t scored a run in 25 innings.
Then the season fell apart.
The tying run scored when third baseman Jamey Carroll, who had just entered the game, bobbled a hard hit grounder by Alex Gonzalez. Carroll threw home too late to get Juan Encarnacion. Carroll didn’t get an error but many charged Frank Robinson with one, sending in a cold fielder in a tight spot
“I put Jamey in for defensive purposes,” said Frank “He’s a little quicker on the slow rollers and has a stronger arm. I don’t second-guess that move.”
Rocky Biddle’s season, which had been such a surprise out of the bullpen as the closer, was also coming apart. He eventually lost the game in the 9th inning on a hit by Brian Banks of all people.
It was like baseball quicksand.
The Expos would lose all six games on the trip and arrive in Puerto Rico five games out. They were a tired team that wasn’t even allowed to add a back up catcher for the fried Brian Schnieder. From July 27 to September 11 Schneider started 39 of 43 games behind the plate.
The Expos faced the Marlins and Cubs in the final go round in San Juan. There was a special guest to mark the occasion.
One of the P.R. flaks to the Commissioner came by our booth and asked if we would like to have him on for an inning on our broadcast the next day. I asked if he knew we were the Expos broadcast going back to Montreal and he said yes.
So Bud Selig joined me the next night. I asked him about what had happened with plans by Major League Baseball to move the Expos. (An announcement that was supposed to come during the All Star break had not yet been made.)
I also asked why the Expos were not allowed to add players like all other teams after September 1st. He said they had been allowed to add pitcher Jose Mercedes.
This contract however had been guaranteed months before and the decision to add the pitcher in September had been promised Mercedes when the Expos signed the right hander out of the Mexican League.
The next day the Commissioner of all things baseball held a press conference in San Juan.
A question and answer session followed.
He was asked why the Expos were not allowed to add players after September 1. He said he hadn’t heard about that.
Sadly I wasn’t there.
I was enjoying my family trip to San Juan, off with everyone to the rain forest, where for one of the rare days in our visits to Puerto Rico, the rain like the commissioner, took a day off.
The Expos finished the season with a record of 83-79.
Attendance jumped to over a million fans, with many outsiders pointing to the 22 dates in Puerto Rico. Though several cities tried to sell themselves to the Commissioner as the Expos next home, a decision had not yet been made. All that was decided at this point was that Puerto Rico would get another 22 games the following season. Some on the Island were convinced they had a good chance to get all 81 “home” games.
As you know by now the Expos would play another vagabond year but 2004 would have none of the potential magic of the previous campaign.
Vladimir Guerrero could not be retained, signing as a free agent in Anaheim.
The organization made a last ditch effort to try and get his name on a contract, a big name to eventually hand over to a new owner in a new city but it was not to be.
They also traded away their best pitcher, spending the better part of the winter dangling Javier Vazquez in front of the Red Sox and Yankees before finally sending him to the Bronx for injury prone first baseman Nick Johnson, outfielder Juan Rivera and left-handed reliever Randy Choate.
General Manager Omar Minaya would smartly send Choate to Arizona at the end of spring training for under achieving former first round pick John Patterson who would eventually pitch well for the franchise but only after the move to Washington.
The management team that was hired for just the one year to take everyone to contraction was readying itself for a third season. It’s amazing that President Tony Tavares, General Manager Minaya and manager Frank Robinson could co-exist. It was clear that Tavares wasn’t much of a Robinson fan, saying more than once that he thought the game had passed the Hall of Famer by. He admitted to trying to convince Minaya not to bring Frank back after the 2003 season but Minaya stuck with Frank.
There were managerial calls along the way that left more than a few dismayed and it wouldn’t help Frank’s cause to be caught on television apparently fast asleep on the dugout bench during a game.
Apparently the Expos were pleased with my work in 2003.
This letter from Claude Delorme attesting to that at the end of September:
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your outstanding work this season. Your professionalism, work ethic and baseball knowledge were greatly appreciated by Expos Management and the listening audience. The sacrifices made by Mitch and yourself are commendable. I can assure you that I will do my utmost to renew our agreement with Team 990 in a timely fashion. To that effect, I have already initiated conversations with Lee (Hambleton) and I hope that he can be in a position to fast forward a deal with us. The station did a remarkable job at representing the team and their promotional activities.
Again thanks for everything and I will keep you informed of our status for 2004 as soon as it is confirmed.
Claude
It sure would be nice to finally enjoy a winter by having a deal done early instead of suffering right up to opening day and sometimes beyond as was pretty much the case over the previous four years.
It would also finally afford the radio station a full winter to retain advertising inventory and fill the broadcasts up completely in that area. And It would give them one less excuse not to give me a raise -though they always seemed to find a way.
On December 16, this email arrived:
Dear Elliott,
THE TEAM 990 and the MONTREAL EXPOS will issue a Press Release at 3:00pm this afternoon announcing that an agreement has been reached to broadcast Expos baseball for a fourth consecutive year.
THE TEAM 990’s first broadcast is scheduled for Tuesday, April 6 as the EXPOS will open the 2004 season against the Florida Marlins at Pro Player Stadium, starting at 1:05pm.
I hope you are going to be with us for another great season of baseball!
I don’t know how I can reach you by telephone and I’m not really certain if you are picking-up your e-mails but I would appreciate your contacting me by either telephone or e-mail.
Thanks and regards,
Lee
I called and of course asked for a raise.
Guess what – not a chance.
“You know Elliott this is still going to be a tough sell,” said Lee who added, “Being that it’s going to be the final year of baseball in Montreal.”
I mentioned that it was the fourth consecutive final year of baseball in Montreal and maybe it was time to stop using that as an excuse. I said I would gladly accept the previous year’s offer if he could guarantee a ten thousand dollar raise should baseball somehow find a way to return to Montreal in 2005.
He wouldn’t go there either.
I wasn’t happy, as usual.
I figured since I wasn’t going to get my way I would at least make him feel uncomfortable for at least a little while. Hell, it would make me feel a little better without enriching the bottom line.
Then he called back and said he could find a way with a sponsor or two to pay me $2000 for post game reports.
It was the middle of December and I knew I would be getting a pay check until at least October. I also agreed to handle the Morning Show on the station through February and most of March, taking all of us up to a week before Opening Day.
Yes, that’s right, still no spring training.
Made no sense to me and I gently pointed out that since we would open the season in Florida that they would have to send me there anyway sooner or later. Here was a cheap way to broadcast some spring training games. The total cost would be a few days in a hotel, meal money, car rental and long distance charges.
But I was not in the mood for arguing.
I was happy I had an early deal and was determined to stay that way, looking forward to another season of Expos baseball.
Besides, we had booked the family flight to Florida since everyone was invited along for the season’s first trip to Puerto Rico which would follow the opening series against the Marlins.
March came slowly and spring training games had started when the powers that be finally came to their senses.
There would be a spring training week after all.
Lee asked what it would take money wise and I told him.
Hotel, car, and meal money. I told him I was no longer in an arguing mood. That he should let me know if they could afford those things and I’d gladly go and if not I’d go the following week, but to please let me know as soon as possible since I needed to make arrangements for my family.
In the meantime, Major League Baseball had set up another wonderful season of travel for their favourite co-owned unit.
Play baseball and see the world.
The Expos would spend only three days of the first 27 in Montreal. They did however, get some guarantees to go along with another ridiculous schedule. They would play all 22 “home” games in Puerto Rico before the all star game.
I guess they decided to kill them early this time.
Expos players were consulted but basically faced an ultimatum, so they grabbed what they could. They would also receive 500 dollars a day meal money, more than seven times the regular amount.
I often wondered how big the smiles would would have been on the faces of the hotel people if they could see the stacks of money that were handed out in cold hard cash in envelopes to the players on the plane before arriving.
Did I mention that the ‘El San Juan Hotel’ had a casino on the main floor?
With Omar Minaya as general manager there were always questions about the make up of his teams in Montreal vis a vis the percentage of Latin players. Certainly if your best players are Vladimir Guerrero, Jose Vidro, Livan Hernandez, Orlando Cabrera and Javier Vazquez than those names are beyond reproach. Especially as those players were around before he got there but at other rimes there were more than just whispers.
The previous season in Atlanta when Bartolo Colon made his debut, the Expos had fielded a starting line up in which catcher Michael Barrett was the only non-Latino:
Jose Macias in center field, Jose Vidro the second baseman, right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, Wil Cordero started in left field, Fernando Tatis at third base, Andres Galarraga at first, the shortstop was Orlando Cabrera, Barrett behind the plate and Colon on the mound.
Joe Vitiello arrived after another fine minor league season and delivered some key hits off the bench in some tough spots down the stretch the previous season. I often asked him in jest who he had pissed off during his career not to get another opportunity before his Expo call up. Vitiello had just 100 big league at bats in the previous five years and none in the last three.
He was a first round draft choice by the Kansas City Royals (seventh overall).
Those top guys usually went to the head of the class whether they deserved to or not, so it was surprising to me that he had accumulated only 517 at bats with the Royals in three big league seasons. He had struck out quite a bit as a young player but he had 20 homers and shown a penchant for reaching base with 60 walks.
But Vitiello would wallow in the minors while having some fine seasons there. Expos players seemed to really like him. At age 33 he was given limited opportunities, less than some thought he deserved again after better than sterling numbers in his 76 at bats
He batted .342, with an on base percentage of .407 and slugging percentage of .539.
What was there not to like?
Still the Expos did not invite him to spring training. In fact no other major league team did either. Finally his agent called Minaya and begged for a spring training look and it was granted.
Meanwhile, Luis Lopez had been brought in to compete as the right-handed bat off the bench. THE Luis Lopez who at the age of 30 had 119 career at bats and none in the previous two years.
Andy Fox, a left-handed hitter, was also brought along to compete for a bench job. As spring training was coming to a close it was apparent that one job would come down to Lopez or Vitiello.
In my mind there was no doubt.
Vitiello had beaten him out not to mention that Joe had had a great run with THIS team the previous season. Vitiello was getting jittery and voiced his opinion to me.
“If I don’t make the team I’ll be upset but if it’s Luis Lopez that beat’s me out, I’ll blow a gasket”
On the last day of spring training, the final two cuts were made.
Left-handed hitter Matt Cepicky had a tremendous spring but the depth chart was against him. He broke down when he got the news. And it was Vitiello who consoled him while soaking up those tears in his uniform. A uniform he had no more use for and no time yet to blow a gasket in after losing out in his battle with Luis Lopez.
Lopez lasted 11 games managing four singles in 26 at bats without a drawing a walk.
Andy Fox lasted longer but hit just .093 before his release.
Combined the two bench guys managed just eight hits 69 at bats without drawing a walk between them.
Maybe Vitiello would have been called up to the Expos if he agreed to stay with the organization in the minors, maybe not. He would never find out, released after blowing his gasket in the form of some fine language hurled in the direction of all those who had sealed his fate.
At some point early in the season during one of Frank Robinson’s office meetings I asked him how that decision came about.
How was it that Luis Lopez made the team and Vitiello did not.
Frank pointed upstairs and replied
“Why don’t you ask them?”
After that ran on our pre-game show, a copy of the tape was quickly demanded by team President Tony Tavares.
The 2004 Expos baseball season started poorly at 2-11 and never got much better. And they bookended the year with a 3-11 finish to complete a 95 loss campaign.
Not much memorable but there was the free agent signing of Carl Everett to replace Vladimir in right field. After our first spring training broadcast, the new outfielder agreed to join us in the booth for our post game show.
I was shocked to see lumps of fat hanging over the side of his uniform pants. He had clearly come to camp out of shape. Everett’s two year deal pegged him at a modest three million plus another at four million after he had earned more than nine million dollars the previous year. It’s amazing how injuries can stack up when you’re not in shape though it was a freak accident that took him out for an extended period. He landed on his shoulder on the turf in Puerto Rico and missed a great deal of time. After all the horror stories that followed him around his whole career, I never found him to be any sort of problem to deal with. But he should have come into camp in better shape. That Minaya could wrangle pitchers Jon Rauch and Gary Majewski from the White Sox in mid-July for him I thought to be a touch of magic. Not to mention getting that contract off the books for 2005.
Of course Everett would come to Sox camp in better shape after manager Ozzie Guillen warned him he wouldn’t play if he didn’t. I’m sure you know by now that things worked out just fine for Carl, Ozzie and the Sox.
The same couldn’t be said for the often injured Nick Johnson who was often injured, starting and finishing the year on the disabled list. His issues began with a spring training lumbar problem and finished with a bouncing ball that went off his face to end his season.
Jose Vidro’s career would be in jeopardy with a knee problem though his bank account would be just fine after signing a lucrative long term deal despite the knowledge of that wonky knee. He had been an unbelievably consistent hitter on the verge of being a perennial batting title contender. But the better Jose got, the more dour he became. Friendly and quiet when he arrived in the majors, you were now lucky to get a hello out of him even if you greeted him that way first. I’m not sure why that happened.
Closer Rocky Biddle was offered and accepted arbitration even though it seemed clear he wouldn’t measure up to his contract. Not surprisingly he had a miserable year.
It’s always the case when a general manager trades away a key player. He then feels the need to justify the players coming back in the deal.
The Colon trade had cost three top minor leaguers and the two of the three names that came back failed miserably in Orlando ‘El Duque’ Hernandez who never threw a pitch for the team and infielder Jeff Liefer who was a great guy but not a great talent.
That left Rocky.
Biddle fell into the closer’s role after a nondescript career beginning with the White Sox. Chicago couldn’t figure out where he would fit in and coming out of spring training in 2003 neither did the Expos. It looked like spot starter, middle or long relief.
Biddle’s first season with the Expos began in Atlanta and with the closer’s role still up in the air, he was the first out of the shoot to get a shot. He converted the save and was on his way. As the season progressed Biddle racked up the saves but became less and less effective. Before the all star game he had 22 saves with a 3.97 earned run average. After the break he saved just 12 games while his E.R.A. ballooned to 5.81.
He certainly had become unreliable in the closer’s role and the team had drafted Chad Cordero with the first pick the previous season and the kid had already made it to the big team. Still, it was decided to offer Rocky arbitration which he of course accepted.
On a team with limited resources it seemed silly to have Rocky jump from his 2003 salary of 320,000 dollars all the way to just under two million. It seemed to me that the money could have been better spent.
For some reason, nobody asked for my opinion.
Orlando Cabrera managed to escape just in time, at the trade deadline, and I was excited for him when his season culminated with a world series win with Boston. Orlando is fun to be around, always playing the joker and I thank him for keeping me up to date on stuff I wouldn’t have otherwise known.
So many of the guys had to go through such nonsense trying to be big league players in Montreal where the constant questions were like nowhere else and it hit them in every city. Even the announcers’ phones rang off the hook to join sports radio hosts to answer those same questions.
“Where will the team be next year?”
“How can they keep playing up there in Montreal?”
“Isn’t it dreadful to play in an empty stadium all the time?”
It wasn’t ALL dreadful.
Rookie Termel Sledge somehow managed to keep his head and his big league job after starting the season with one hit in his first 35 at bats and hit .292 the rest of the way.
Tony Batista charmed all after starting the season in a horrible slump following a spring training bout with chicken pox. He hit 32 homers, more than any Expos third baseman ever and drove in 110 runs. But then couldn’t find a Major League contract so he headed to Japan.
He also helped defuse a possible powder keg the night of Montreal’s final Olympic stadium home game.
The official announcement that there would no longer be a franchise in Montreal had come down earlier in the day along with the news that Washington would indeed be the destination. In the early going some fans started tossing stuff on the field eventually halting play while the umpires contemplated their next move, warning that a forfeit of Montreal’s final game was possible.
When they panned to Tony mid-game in the dugout he started running all the way to the end of it to give high fives to each and every teammate along the way. He then emerged from the dugout with hands to the sky to the chants of “Tony, Tony, Tony’ from the crowd.
Brad Wilkerson came into his own with 32 homers, 106 walks and 112 runs scored. How he managed to put up those numbers while striking out 150 times is beyond me. He is a savvy observer of the game and if he ever could have played a full season in left field without being shuttled from there to centerfield and to first base, I think he would have won a Gold Glove.
Juan Rivera finished the year with two monster months but didn’t convince management so he would eventually be packaged by Washington to the Angels to get Jose Guillen.
Pitcher Livan Hernandez was a delight to watch every time he was on the field, leading the league in innings pitched but saddled with an 11-15 record that did him a disservice. He was deserving of a Gold Glove and a Silver Bat as the best fielding and best hitting pitcher in the National League. Quite simply, statistics aside, there wasn’t another pitcher active at the time who could make the plays Livan could. It was a treat to watch him size up the situation in a cool manner and always make the right choice and play in a split second. He was the best fielder ever to take the mound as a member of the Montreal Expos.
in the booth, Mitch Melnick was unavailable for several games late in the season and team President Tony Taveras agreed to sit in and was fun to work with.
I asked him point blank:
“If the team moves and you are still in the same position, what are my chances of still being in the same position?”
And he replied:
“If I’m in charge, The job is yours”
It hurts that you forgot that one Mr. Tavares.
The fun for my 2004 season was on the golf course not at the ballpark. Invited into the manager’s and coaches inner circle was a treat. The interaction of this group was a site to behold. You wouldn’t think that this gang from all over would fit but they did.
Hitting Coach Tom McCraw, pitching coach Randy St Claire, bench coach Eddie Rodriguez, bullpen coach Bob Natal, roving coach Claude Raymond, and manager Frank were all nuts. And fun to be around. That goes for third base coach Manny Acta as well but he didn’t play golf.
That they left fellow Canadian Raymond behind when they whisked off to Florida, I thought a big time shame. While he wasn’t officially a full time coach, he fit in like one.
I only beat the group in golf once while playing skins. It was about time, I told Brad Wilkerson about it:
“I kicked their asses today,” I bragged.
It didn’t take long to hear about it.
“In my office!” Frank ordered.
“Hey Mac!” he bellowed for Tom McCraw,
“Elliott says he kicked our asses, what are we gonna do about this?”
I interjected.
“No Frank, I said after all the losses, I FINALLY kicked your asses.”
He would hear nothing of it and warned me my ass was now his.
I loved being around these people. After improving my game that off season, I was looking forward to kicking their asses a little more often in 2005.
The end of the season was unbelievably sad.
At the last home game in Montreal the announcement was made that the move would be made to Washington. It was tough to look into the faces of the office staff that day, some of the clubhouse staff and many fans that I had known since I was a kid. Many had come one last time after staying away for a very long time. It was apparent they would never be coming back.
The last game of the season in New York was incredibly tough.
I had to record the final goodbye knowing full well I would never get through it live. My brother had come to sit in the booth for the game that I worked with Mitch Melnick who is also a born and raised Montrealer brought up on Expos baseball.
As the post game words rolled, so too did the tears out of all six eyes in that booth.
-To be continued
