I had noticed an increase in traffic to federalbaseball.com in the last few days so I decided to look around and see where the visits to the site were coming from and what if anything the people out there had to say in response to some recent posts.
Eastwindupchronicle.com, a site which offers, "A Journal of Sports, Art, Politics, and Culture from the Pacific Rim" picked up on the recent federalbaseball.com post entitled, "Why Does DC Hate The QC Past Of The Nationals?", in which I had pondered the origins of what appears to be a healthy disdain by DC fans for the Washington franchise's history in Montreal, or as I wrote:
"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?"
The writer Shinsano, at eastwindupchronicle.com, who quoted this section of the federalbaseball.com post offered his own commentary on the simmering fued between Ex-Expos-Fans and the DC Faithful, writing:
"...Kind of an interesting question. I can remember as a
kid, seeing Chritsy Matthewson's name on the wall at
Candlestick Park with the old New York Giants logo, and
thinking that it kind of made sense even though it was on
the other side of the country.
"Personally, my guess is that it soley(sic) has to do with the
marketing of the team, and that part of that includes the
fact that the team was from Canada. Toward the end the
Expos were such a terribly run franchise, playing games in
San Juan and to 2,000 fans in the most nationalistic corner
of North America. I can see why the Nationals wouldn't
want to pretend as though there was any continuity.
"That said, ignoring the careers of these two great players
is terrible. I wouldn't be surprised to see this changed
down the road once the Nationals franchise is firmly in
place. If Dawson makes the Hall of Fame in the near future
I bet the Nationals will be falling over themselves to
acknowledge it."
Shinsano provides some good points, and I agree that not everyone might see something worth celebrating and remembering in the franchise's past. The 2,000 fan estimate is generous. (I went with 1,500 in the original post). I hope the Nationals do take a moment to recognize the Hall of Fame inductions if Dawson or Raines is ever elected. But that was actually the germ of an idea that led to the original federalbaseball.com post...
What other Expos will ever be considered for the Hall of Fame? If Vladimir Guerrero maintains the pace of what I believe will clearly be a H.o.F. career, will he enter the Hall as an Expo? The Ironman Tim Wallach? El Presidente Dennis Martinez spent eight seasons in Montreal, and completed the 13th perfect game in MLB history as an Expos' starter on July 28, 1991 against the Los Angeles Dodgers? (But Martinez's career started in Baltimore, which could cause a whole 'nother Mid-Atlantic brouhaha).
(ed. note- Thanks to Shinsano for the response to federalbaseball.com's original post, and here's a link to see what eastwindupchronicle's readers had to say...)
http://eastwindupchronicle.com/why-do-the-nationals-ignore-the-expos/
Harballtimes.com, which seems to collect links to baseball stories to make it easy for their readers to sift through the blogosphere also provided a link to federalbaseball.com, titling it wittily:
"What happens in Canada, stays in Canada - Do Nationals
fans know where their latest team came from?"
...and simply providing a link to the federabaseball.com article that they reference...
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/tht-daily-j-j-abrams-eat-our-dust/
Alan Cutler of 1530homer.com's "Cutman's Blog" on 1530 Homer: The Sports Animal, a Cincinnati-based sportsblog site which traffics in Bengals and Reds news, featured a link to the recent federalbaseball.com post entitled, "Is Ryan Wagner, The Washington Nationals' "Sinker Machine", Repaired?" in which I featured a Jim Bowden quote from a Bill Ladson article on washington.nationals.mlb.com, which seemed to blame the Reds for messing with Ryan Wagner's delivery. Mr. Cutler's response:
"...No one questions that Ryan Wagner had a big time arm.
And, forget for a moment that he rubbed some of his
teammates the wrong way when he came up to the big
show. That doesn't matter because if he was lights out,
those same folks who quietly complained would have shut
their mouths.....
But, check this out. Now with (Jim Bowden)* in Washington,
does it sound like he blames the Reds Coaches for messing
him up?"
The * there is because Mr. Cutler refers to former Reds and current Nationals GM Jim Bowden as "Leatherpants"? I hope this isn't some sort of politically-incorrect insult that I'm unknowingly reprinting...But I just had to ask if anyone knows the derivation of this nickname? Here's hoping it's not truly tasteless...
...and here's a link to Alan Cutler's "Cutman's Blog" at 1530 Homer:(which doesn't allow direct links to specific posts, so the 1/18/07 entry is the one with the link to federalbaseball.com):
http://www.1530homer.com/pages/onair_alancutler.html
And here's the federalbaseball.com post Mr. Cutler's referencing:
http://www.federalbaseball.com/story/2008/1/17/14556/2004
Finally, while searching around the web, I came across something I've been looking for for quite a while...
http://blog.letteddywin.com/2007/12/
Which is, yes, you guessed it, an anonymously written site by a blogger who goes by the handle, "Presidents Race" and is dedicated to covering the titular Presidents Races that take place during Washington Nationals home games. Big Head Teddy Roosevelt has yet to win a race, if you didn't know, and if you've never seen one check these out...
http://blog.letteddywin.com/presidents-race-videos-washington-nationals/