By Rick Grantham
How would you feel if you are among the lowest in standings? In almost half a century since their inception, the Montreal Expos has never appeared in a World Series. This is because they have never won a National League pennant. While the Yankees are counting their World Series titles, the Expos are still hoping to win the National League championship.
They are one of the four teams in the Major League Baseball who have not been in the World Series. However, this does not mean that the team never experienced glory since their formation. In fact, they won their only Division title in 1981. They also had good seasons in the early 1990s. However, everything changed after the strike of the baseball players in 1994. Expos experienced several losses in terms of valuable players, support, and finances.
The year 2004 was the last season of the Expos in Montreal. Before the 2005 series began, the team moved to Washington. When they moved there, the team changed their entire name to Washington Nationals.
This is the third Washington based major league baseball team. The first team was the Washington Senators. They moved to Minnesota in 1961 and changed their name to Minnesota Twins. The next Washington Senators team served the state for ten years. That was from 1961 to 1971. However, due to financial concerns, they moved to Texas and became the Texas Rangers. This left the state with no major league baseball team for more than three decades.
Changing the name to Nationals was not a walk in the park. Several deliberations took place before they could agree on what name to use. Many wanted to use the Senators but the Rangers still has the right to the name. They ultimately agreed to use the Nationals.
Before the nationals could move in, they needed a ballpark. This has given birth to a new controversy. The issue evolved in financial matters. This almost caused the cancellation of the transfer of the team. However, Washington and Major League Baseball found a sound financial arrangement that they can agree on.
Finally, the team moved to Washington amidst protest of Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos. He claimed that the act would surely threaten the income of the Orioles if there were another major league baseball team in the area. In order to achieve an agreement, Orioles acquired the broadcasting rights of the Nationals games.
The Washington Nationals had a great start in 2005. Halfway through the season, they were the number one team in the East Division of the National League. However, they were not able to sustain this as they dropped to the bottom of the team standings.
Changes took place in 2006 when the team finally found an owner. Ted Lerner won the bidding. However, the team performance is still poor. This led to the replacement of the team manager, Frank Robinson.
The 2007 season was a different story. Almost everything is in place. Although they had a rough start, they were able to improve as the season progressed. This gave their fans a reason to be optimistic in the ensuing years.
Rick Grantham is an expert on sports equipment, specially on Washington Nationals Merchandise for more information on Major League Baseball Logo Merchandise, visit BooYah Village.
Source:www.isnare.com |
