Could Eric Gagne Bring Baseball Back to Montreal? (Probably Not.)

When we last saw Eric Gagne, he was not in high esteem. But that was just Eric Gagne the baseball player. As Walkoff Walk notes, he might be trying on a different cap before too long.

⇥At a charity event in Quebec City, Gagne was asked if he would lead an investment team to help Montreal get a professional baseball team. ⇥His response, translated from his native French-Canadian tongue:⇥“I know baseball but I’m not a businessman and there are other things involved that I don’t want to deal with. I know how to lead a good team. I know there’s a lot of people and potential in Montreal but can’t say much more than that. I’d need to know more about the business side of things...but yes I would be interested.“Though it’s clearly not at the stages of figuring out how Gagne would go about making this happen (he obviously needs deep-pocketed partners, for one), the bitter end of the Expos debacle may make it difficult to ever get there. I ran this by baseball writer and Expos diehard Jonah Keri, and he said, “Montreal is the Chernobyl of baseball. The stuff that Bud Selig and Jeffrey Loria and everyone else pulled off make it a baseball wasteland for decades, if not forever.” So, yeah, that sounds promising, huh?

That’s not a knock on Montreal, one of North America’s more culturally interesting cities, or Gagne and his optimism. But the powers that be bungled their last shot at this so badly that the next chance might not be worth taking. Former Expos fans might be just as happy to not have a team: Worrying about the Damoclean sword of contraction or a move hanging over a beloved franchise sort of ruins the possibility of a long-term commitment.

(HT: Walkoff Walk.)

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