It’s official: Washington, D.C., after a 33-year drought and over the loud protestations of Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, is once again going to have a baseball team. The long, slow, agonizing death march of the Montreal Expos is just about over, and now more than the team’s stats are headed south.
(Side note: Is anyone else wryly amused by the thought of the Expos moving from French-speaking Montreal to the land of "freedom fries"?)
I'm a lifelong National League gal. The New York Mets and I were born the same year, 40 miles apart - and despite their tragicomic history, I continue to love them, no matter how much they disappoint me (and lately, folks, that's been plenty). Since I relocated to the D.C. area, I've had to settle for interleague play to get my NL fix. So for me, this is almost as thrilling as the day I shook hands with Willie Mays at a meet-and-greet event.
OK, it's nowhere near that thrilling - I may be a Mets fan, but I'm not completely out of my mind.
But the thought of a National League team in D.C. - or a baseball team, period - is still pretty darn cool.
(A shout-out to baseball geeks: today's the 50th anniversary of that original Web Gem known as The Catch.)
My diehard American Leaguer hubby (who complains loudly at the sight of a National League pitcher with a bat in his hand, but is otherwise perfect) informs me that D.C. was also thisclose to getting the Padres back in the early ‘70s. Deal announced, press conference held, confetti thrown. The Padres, you might have heard, still call San Diego home.
And in 1995, the nation’s capital was ready to roll out the red carpet for the Astros – until Houston’s voters approved a new stadium and Major League Baseball put the kibosh on the move.
So it’s little wonder that long-time Washingtonians are a wee bit skeptical about getting a team, even if it's the woebegone (and now GM-less) Expos.
The aforementioned Angelos has been determined (translation: using threats and intimidation) to keep the 'Spos out of D.C. because he perceives them as a threat to his Orioles (who, I should note, have lived in fourth place in the AL East for so long they might as well hang curtains in the window). So MLB will have to fork over some serious goodies to fend off an Angelos lawsuit - and there are a couple of other bumps that could still knock this thing off the rails, like a lawsuit by the Expos' former owners and the small matter of getting a $440 million stadium deal approved by the D.C. Council.
Which is why I understand the Washington Post's excellent sports columnist and baseball swami, Thomas Boswell, when he says he'll believe D.C. has a baseball team after they play their second game in the District.
Speaking of Boswell, he makes a fine suggestion in today's column for how Angelos can bow gracefully out of the cockfight he started:
It's worth pointing out, however, that both the O's and the Whatchamacallems are going to have to actually win more games than they lose before that "some day" dawns. Until then, baseball fans along the B-W Parkway are going to have to settle for not one but TWO teams that can't break .500. Call it an embarrassment of riches, emphasis on "embarrassment."Angelos's choice now is whether to end the battle with class. Oh, Peter can do it. His intelligence and sense of self-interest are so sharp that for once he may see the wisdom of good grace. Besides, he can seek his own counsel as to his legal standing: He has no case. For once, Angelos needs to get with baseball's program, not just his own.
Here's a proper script -- a gift from someone who's enjoyed your team for 30 years:
"I've fought for the interests of my franchise and my partners as hard as I can. Anyone would do the same. But the best interests of baseball come before any one team. Moving the Expos to Washington provides the greatest economic good to the whole sport and returns baseball to a great city and neighbor. I am satisfied with the settlement my fellow owners have given the Orioles. It will help us field competitive teams in the future. I hope our loyal fans from Washington will still support the Orioles. We wish good luck to the Senators or Nats or whatever you infernally persistent people decide to call your team. And, some day, I hope we get to beat your brains out in the first Baltimore-Washington Parkway World Series."
Still... d'ya think it's too early to put in for vacation time on Opening Day 2005?
