Baseball is back in Montreal tonight and so is this guy..

[Richard]

 

For the first time since his departure in 2003, Vlad returns to Olympic Stadium, where he will be honored by the people of Montreal in a pregame ceremony. A hero returns home.

 

 

[Blarg]

Do  not let him throw out the first pitch!

[Blarg]

The A's should move to Montreal. The stadium is nicer than Oakland and Claude just may move back home and have Billy Beane to complain about 24/7.

 

[Richard]

Do not let him throw out the first pitch!

Felipe Alou is done for.

[Angel Oracle]

Just as long as Don Baylor wasn't receiving the first pitch, speaking of which I assume that won't be allowed ever again?

[Blarg]

Watch the Baylor interview from the Angelswin fanfest, he addressees that question.

[Blarg]

He should.

[nando714]

He's going in as an Expo.

As he should

[Taylor]

I'm surprised Olympic Stadium hasn't been demolished.

[Angelsfirst]

Watching the "timeless Dodgers" replay of the game where Gagne gets the saves record. Vlad just took a 20 year old Edwin Jackson deep to dead center on a line. Still the most entertaining player I've ever seen. God he was a beast!!

[Tank]

so when is this game and who's playing in it? will the nationals be the home team?

[Richard]

so when is this game and who's playing in it? will the nationals be the home team?

 

Blue Jays and Reds are playing tonight and tomorrow in Montreal. Reported 90,000+ seats have been sold.

[Tank]

thank you.

[disarcina]

not a bad choice for the Oakland A's -- they aren't getting anywhere with the Commissioner's office and MLB.

 

Bud Selig insisted he was going to deal with this before he left office -- oh well.

 

Meanwhile, SF Giants have (this season) moved their AAA team from Fresno (where the Giants have a huge fan base and the Fresno Giants/ Grizzlies were very popular with a nice ballpark and GREAT fan base/ following) to Sacramento (former AAA home of the Oakland A's since the inception of the River Cats ballpark some 20 years ago) -- one school of thought is that the SF Giants moved their AAA team to Sacramento (well it does make logistical sense and is closer and there's also a large SF Giants fan base in Sacramento) from a very successful situation in Fresno just to PRVENT the possibility that the Oakland A's would look to Sacramento as  their new home if no Bay Area (anywhere -- Peninsula, East Bay etc.) venue could be found (or more like it -- STOPPED by the OBJECTION of the SF Giants re territorial rights issue)..........

 

Montreal has to be just as good as Oakland and whatever the condition of Olympic Stadium (which I also thought was either torn down or about to be torn down) it can't be any worse than the Oakland Coliseum.........even call 'em the Montreal Expos again..........

[disarcina]

Good for Vlad -- nice to see him get some recognition back in Montreal.

 

It's really a shame that some of his best years when he was arguably one of the best, if not THE best, ballplayers in MLB, occurred in Montreal (not because there's anything wrong with Montreal) because the Expos weren't competitive and were so far north and East didn't get the coverage nationally and certainly not on the West Coast.

 

A lot of baseball fans didn't really get the see a lot of Vlad during some of his best years.

 

Vlad always played ball with a good attitude and a smile on his face --- he helped make the game even more 'international' -- his stats for his era is as good as any player who played during his era.

 

He belongs in the Hall of Fame -- and YES - as much as it would be nice to have a Halo in there with a Halo cap -- Vlad should go in as a Montreal Expo.  To do otherwise just wouldn't sit right with the facts and with a lot of folks.

[HaloMagic]

The A's will build a stadium in Oakland long before they consider a move to Montreal.

[Blarg]

I was joking about Montreal. Manfred will want no part in realignment of the divisions to put another team on the east coast.

Edited April 3, 2015 by notti

[Richard]

http://t.co/bnHmipkSpG

 

 

Thunderous ovation for Vlad. 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2015 by Richard

[disarcina]

"Oakland will build a stadium in Oakland before moving to Montreal."

 

that may be so but there's no financing to get that accomplished -- Redevelopment agencies have pretty much been eliminated in California as a financing mechanism and if there's no thing certain about new ballparks almost anywhere in California -- they won't be built with public money / public financing.

 

the A's owners don't have the money to build a new park.

 

the Oakland Coliseum Commission is a multi-agency entity and almost lost the A's last year -- not over a new ballpark but just over extending the current lease with some new 'tenant improvement' conditions which would give the A's some rental concessions/ credit for making some (rather minimal) capital improvements........the Oakland City council approved the new lease and then the Coliseum Commission deadlocked on it and delayed approval (the Coliseum Commission includes two Oakland city council members who voted against the lease at the Commission level AFTER they voted to approve it at the city council level and send it to the Coliseum Commission -- these folks must be taking notes/ guidance from the city of Anaheim)........it was the only thing that seemed to get Bud Selig to move on the issue -- if you recall -- he sent a letter to the city and the commission saying he would approve an A's move (to where wasn't stated) to another venue IF the lease was not approved before opening day last year.........  so these are the folks who need to cooperate on building a new ballpark -- the same folks who have already lost the NBA Warriors who are moving (back) to San Francisco next year in a new arena in the City and who will lose the GOLDEN STATE moniker for the San Francisco Warriors -- is Nate Thurmond still around? perhaps he can participate in the first game tip off.......then the Raiders are almost good as gone to LA -- so the A's are the only game left in town and I would not bet against the Oakland city council and the Oakland Coliseum Commission from bungling that up to the point where 90,000 folks attending an MLB exhibition game in Montreal looks pretty good........might take the A's about three home stands of games and then some to reach that attendance figure.

[HaloMagic]

A's ownership has expressed time and time again they will seek no public funding. They are going to finance the stadium on their own. They had a plan for Fremont and for San Jose. Neither involved public funding.

The A's owners are the 4th or so richest in all of baseball. Principal owner John Fisher is worth about $3bn, double what Arte is worth. They have plenty of money.

Edited April 4, 2015 by HaloMagic

[Amazing Larry]

http://t.co/bnHmipkSpG

 

 

Thunderous ovation for Vlad. 

 

 

 

That was awesome to watch. Thanks for posting.

[Ohtaniland]

Pretty sure they would give the parking lot to Arte...

 

[disarcina]

well, the Fremont proposal -- which got bogged down in local neighborhood opposition -- did involve millions of dollars in public transit/ road improvements -- I think they needed a new freeway off-ramp/ interchange or something and that was to funded through public sources........in the end, the neighborhood opposition killed the project -- especially those who were going to be displaced/ inconvenienced by the road improvements necessary to provide access to the ballpark -- I believe there was also talk of expanding the capacity of the Fremont BART station.

 

Opponents threatened to tie the project up in court for years over environmental concerns -- not sure who gave up first, the A's ownership or the City of Fremont City Council.