Since 2015, Perry Giannias has organized the Expo Fest event, which raises funds for brain cancer research, while keeping alive the memory of the heyday of the Montreal Expos.
This year, pitcher Dan Schatzeder and wide receiver Michael Barrett were his guests. It was a great opportunity to tell them about the ongoing efforts to bring baseball back to Montreal.
Schatzeder made two stays with the Expos: from 1977 to 1979, then from 1983 to 1985. Barrett, him, was receiver with the Expos during the balls years of Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Vidro.
Years have passed, but the two men remain convinced that a team in the metropolis can have its place in the sun in Major Baseball.
“The fans wanted a competitive team. When it did, they were there. I experienced it at the end of the 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons with Guerrero and Vidro, ”recalls Barrett.
“Shared custody is a good idea to find a way back into the Majors. Montreal needs to show people that the city loves baseball. It would be a good start to have a full team thereafter, ”believes Schatzeder for his part.
“This is our option which is available now,” Giannias also maintains. “That’s what’s on the table and we have to take it. Forty games from late June to early October, in an outdoor stadium, that’s what baseball should be. We don’t know that. ”
Both Schatzeder and Barrett are open to the possibility of shared custody.
“I would have liked to have played with a team that plays in two cities. Young players just want a chance to play. The veterans would be more reluctant, but the players would be charmed by the city of Montreal, ”said Schatzeder.
Barrett, however, has bitter memories when “our zamours” shared their home between Montreal and Puerto Rico.
“We lived this reality with Puerto Rico and it was not pleasant for us. We never felt we were completely comfortable at home. ”
Michael Barrett played with the Expos between 1998 and 2003 and the former catcher believes baseball fans across North America remember the 1994 Expos first, rather than the later years after. fire sales.
