Friday, August 01, 2014
Rewriting history
John Thorn has an account over the years (part 1, part 2). I was mostly struck by the fact that alot of effort is being made as to how to count something I don't care about (batting average). So, I have no interest in the end result, but I am interested in the thought process.
And of course, my Expos. There are many considerations as to what constitutes a "continuity" of teams for purposes of calling it a "franchise" (or whatever you want to call it). You can of course come up with any definition you want and call it whatever you want. And there are occasions in which it makes sense to consider the Nationals and Expos in the same sphere, and there are other occasions in which it doesn't.
The NJ Devils for example came by way of relocation (Colorado Rockies, who themselves came from KC Scouts). But on their history page of team captains, their history starts in 1982. And its common (as in ALL THE TIME) here in NJ, when celebrating various historical landmarks for the Devils, to behave as if they were a new franchise that started in 1982.
The Montreal Alouettes stopped playing in the CFL for a long time. If you look at their team history page, they don't make a distinction. As their wiki page describe it:
After their collapse in 1982 a Montreal CFL team was immediately reestablished, playing first as the Montreal Concordes (1982–1985) and for a single year as the Alouettes once more (1986). A second folding in 1987 led to a nine-year hiatus of CFL football in the city. The current Alouettes franchise is a 1996 relocation of the Baltimore Stallions, the lone success story of CFL's American expansion. The CFL considers all clubs that have played in Montreal as one franchise in their league records but do not recognize the Baltimore franchise, or its records, as part of the official team history.
So, a very interesting decision. The NHL would have something similar with the Winnipeg Jets, who relocated to Phoenix. But some 15 years later, came back to the NHL via Atlanta. And BEFORE the NHL, they were in the WHA (which had 4 teams merge into the NHL, including the Jets). I don't know how the fans of Winnipeg sees their history. But I presume that it's Dale Hawerchuk that is hugely celebrated, and not Kovalchuk.
If I were to try to encapsulate this, it seems that the primary focus is the continuity of fandom. Expos fans did not transfer their allegiance to the Nationals. Likely a good share went to the Jays, and some splattered to the Yankees, Mets, or Redsox (basically, geographical allegiance). When Brooklyn Dodgers moved to LA, likely their fandom DID follow them.
You can talk about continuity of ownership, of players, of name change, of geographical location (e.g., Islanders moving from Long Island to Brooklyn or Nets moving from NJ to Brooklyn would be different from cross-country moves), of politics (the league steps in to decide or otherwise agrees with the owners, such as in the NFL). All those things count. But it seems that continuity of fandom would be the largest, but not sole, determinant.
Expos, 1969-2004, RIP. There's no other way that a resident of Quebec would see it. And if they rise from the dead, we'll see what happens. Especially if they get a different name.
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