1/15/08 Why Does DC Hate The QC Past Of The Nationals?

by Patrick Reddington on Jan 16, 2008 12:07 AM EST in News

In mlb.com's Bill Ladson's recent, "Mailbag: Who is Opening Day starter?" column at washington.nationals.mlb.com, a Washington Nationals fan from Florida wrote in to ask Mr. Ladson:

"Do you realize that Washington fans don't care about
Andre Dawson and Tim Raines? They never played for the
Washington Nationals. You'll never see their names on the
Washington "Ring of Fame."

Mr. Ladson replied:

"Yes, I realize that Dawson and Raines never played in
Washington, but the Nationals came from Montreal, so it's
fitting that these players are featured on the Nationals
site."

This isn't the first time that disdain for the franchise's Montreal past has been voiced amongst the DC baseball fans at washington.nationals.mlb.com and here at federalbaseball.com. In fact, 7 of the 23 votes cast in response to a poll regarding the Hall of Fame voting on Dawson and Raines chose the option, "Don't Care About Montreal Players," instead of voting in support of, or to deny, either player entry into the Hall of Fame.

Which has me wondering...

Did any DC fans become Minnesota Twins fans the first time the Senators left? How about the second time, when the Senators became the Texas Rangers? I know a few Montreal fans remain from the 1,500 strong or so I used to see at the Stade Olympique who are still wearing Expos caps at Nationals' games leaguewide and in DC. Should these fans, who have become Nationals' fans, be deprived of the history with which they've grown up?

The Nationals themselves have made no attempt to recognize the franchise's days in Montreal, while fully embracing DC's baseball history. If Washington doesn't recognize the "Montreal years" of the franchise, will the Expos' players and their accomplishments be relegated solely to the record books?

But the most important question...Why all the hate for Montreal, Quebec, Canada?

*DC Hates The QC Links*

mlb.com's Bill Ladson's article, "Mailbag: Who is Opening Day starter?", at washington.nationals.mlb.com:

http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080113&content_id=2344845&vkey=ne ws_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was

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Wiping the record book clean

Does the Nats record book include stats from their Montreal days or was the slate wiped clean in 2005?

You can go either way on this. Having grown up a Rangers fan (though fully on board with the Nats now), I know that the Rangers' individual and team records only go back to 1972. It's as if the franchise didn't exist prior to moving to Arlington.

by novahorn on Jan 17, 2008 9:53 PM EST reply actions

I never...

...bought the Nationals team yearbook/media guide to see if there was any mention of the Expos' history, but there was nothing in RFK Stadium, and I don't believe there are any plans to include anything in the new Nationals stadium to remind fans where these Nationals came from, and it's a shame, who wouldn't want to say that their franchise produced...Vladimir Guerrero, Orlando Cabrera, Grady Sizemore, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and John Wetteland...etc....(just to name a few)...

When the Expos first moved to DC and became the Nationals, then-Team President Tony Tavares was quoted in a Bill Ladson article at washington.nationals.mlb.com, in response to the question:

"Any chance that records held by the Senators will be
added to the Nationals' record book?"

To which Mr. Tavares responded:

"... In our media guide, we're talking about having a page
of records from the old Senators, a page of records from
the Expos and a blank page writing our own records in
Washington. This is a new team. The record is going
forward here. We'll start with that."

...mlb.com's Bill Ladson is currently the only one keeping the Expos' history alive, but he gets pounded by DC fans just about every time he tries...

...thanks for reading.

by Patrick Reddington on Jan 18, 2008 12:18 PM EST reply actions