November 23, 2003 [LINK]
Continued limbo for Expos?
Where have we heard this before?
Major League Baseball's relocation committee has turned its focus to finding a permanent home for the Expos by the 2005 season, said Bob DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer, when the committee met after a joint owners' meeting here on Thursday. (SOURCE: Expos Web site)
Translation: "Forget what we said last year, and the year before that." Washington, Northern Virginia, Portland, and Monterrey, Mexico are all still (supposedly) in the running for the Expos franchise, but MLB officials refuse to commit to any transfer until a generous, iron-clad stadium financing provision is in place -- preferably with a cherry on top. Nothing new here. What this latest announcement means is that MLB officials are on the verge of having the orphan Expos team play another year in both Montreal and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The players are sick and tired of getting jerked around, but the team's total payroll will be cut if they play all their games in Montreal next year, in which case they would probably lose free agent superstar Vladimir Guerrero. That would be a huge shame.
A guy named Chris Haack expressed interest in diagrams of baseball stadiums in their football configuration. I just might "tackle" such a project, perhaps after I finish the remaining baseball stadium pages early next year. For some older stadiums, however (e.g., Tiger, Forbes, Fenway), I simply don't have enough information or photos to make accurate placements of the football gridirons. If anyone knows of good historical football sources, photographic or otherwise, please let me know. In the mean time, take a look at the new Baseball AND Football Stadiums page.