This column originally ran in The Standard-Times on Oct. 1, 2004.

By Nick Tavares

With the playoffs on the horizon, Major League Baseball finally reached one of its long-standing goals -- to kill baseball in Montreal.

The team will play in Washington, D.C., and with the first pitch thrown in April of 2005 one of the saddest chapters in baseball's history will become an ugly memory.

For the last 10 years, Montreal has been at the bottom of the majors in attendance, a sign that commissioner Bud Selig has taken to mean that Montreal can't support baseball.

But that's a lie.

Montreal can and has supported baseball. After being awarded a franchise in 1969, Montreal was quickly the hottest draw of the summer.

By 1979, their first great year, the Expos finished just two games behind the eventual World Series champs Pittsburgh. With a core of Gary Carter behind the plate, Andre Dawson in the outfield and Larry Parrish at third, they remained in contention throughout the '80s, winning the second-half division title in the strike-shortened 1981 season.

And most importantly, at least from the commissioner's point of view, they drew at least 1.5 million fans a year from 1979-1985, topping the 2 million mark three times.

In the early 1990s, the team was usually still close to contention with respectable attendance, but 1994 proved to be both the highest point in the franchise's history -- and the beginning of the end.

That was the year the strike killed Montreal's shot at a World Series title. Old owner Claude Brochu did nothing to help save the team. New owner Jefferey Loria hammered the final nail.

Loria, a New York City art dealer, kept up the efforts of his predecessor and stripped the team. By 1999, Ken Hill, Pedro Martinez, John Wetteland, Jeff Fassero, Kirk Rueter, Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom, Darrin Fletcher, Cliff Floyd, Moises Alou and Rondell White were all lost to trades or free agency in an attempt to gut payroll in a bid for a new stadium -- or a new city. Loria wouldn't even negotiate a local TV deal for the club in 1999. It was the movie "Major League" come to life.

All the while, commissioner Selig and the rest of the owners stood by and let Loria destroy what was once a successful (and popular) club.

Selig and Major League Baseball took control of the Expos in 2002 after Loria jumped ship to Florida and have done their best to assure that the Expos would become a memory.

Since the takeover, Vladimir Guerrero, Javier Vazquez, Cliff Floyd (again) and Orlando Cabrera have all left for greener pastures. Selig wouldn't even allow the team to make September call-ups last season.

This entire saga could have taken place in Milwaukee, were it not already in the control of the Selig family. Under the right circumstances, Pittsburgh, Oakland, Minnesota, Colorado, Kansas City, Anaheim, Tampa Bay, Florida and Cincinnati could all tank as well.

But they haven't. Montreal has.

If this were just a team moving for lack of support, it could be excused. But baseball did nothing to prevent the methodical slaying of this franchise. So the fans (and there are many of them in Montreal) decided to stop giving their hard-earned money to MLB for tickets.

So Loria got a new team in Florida.

Washington got its third team in 44 years.

Baseball got a new city, new stadium and a new wad of cash.

Montreal gets the shaft.

And with that, baseball got what it really wanted.

Nick Tavares is a columnist for The Standard-Times. Email him at ntavares@s-t.com

This story appeared on Page C1 of The Standard-Times on October 1, 2004.