Article content continued

We tried to make ourselves as comfortable as possible in Montreal. Sometimes, however, when we felt we needed a taste of home during the season, we’d drive over the border into New York to fill our trunk with American groceries, even though that meant we had to pay a duty on them upon our return to Canada. It was worth every penny in my mind. Having grown up in the American South, Virginia and I enjoyed traditional southern cooking. The supermarket shelves in Plattsburgh, New York, weren’t exactly stocked with soul food ingredients, but we found a number of items that just weren’t available in Montreal grocery stories. I’m told you can get some pretty good soul food in Montreal these days, but back then, that wasn’t the case.

But all of that was okay. The people of Montreal didn’t have to conform to our way of doing things. They had their own customs and a wonderful sense of community. Over the course of time, I learned the essentials like bonjour and merci beaucoup. I felt it was only right to respect the culture I was living in. All I asked in return was that Montrealers continue to support and take pride in the Expos.

I played in Montreal for 12 seasons and, practical considerations aside, I found it difficult to leave the city where I had come of age and become a man. I thought about all the good times I had in Montreal. I also remembered the bad times and the effect they had on shaping my life in a positive way. In my heart, I will always be an Expo. Every time I see that distinctive red-white-and-blue Expos logo, I feel stirrings from the past. As of 2017, I am still the franchise record-holder for runs, triples, walks, and stolen bases. I rank second in games played to Tim Wallach. At some point, those records will probably get claimed by members of the Washington Nationals, the organization the Expos became in 2005 when Major League Baseball determined Montreal could no longer support a team.