For decades Montreal's impatience with the never-ending winter was calmed by the soothing tonic of spring training, seen in TV reports beamed into our home
We knew that young hopefuls basking in the Florida sunshine would soon bring that ingenious weather our way.
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Spring in Montreal is enormous. Orgasmic. Life-affirming. Wild. Dangerous. Unpredictable.
There's no better place to spend a spring. "In Montreal spring is like an autopsy. Everyone wants to see the inside of the frozen mammoth," or "Beware of what comes out of Montreal, especially during winter," said Lenny Cohen.
And an essential part of that spring was the fantastic vision of physically-vigorous competitive entertainers whose whimsical world saw them attain financial viability by what they could do with a leather ball in something delightfully dubbed Grapefruit League action.
As much as people might like hockey or football, their training camps can't compare. (I think the NHL pre-season is called "the Withered Leaf league," and football's is "The Summer Solstice circuit", you're welcome - Chimples)
How many times did I dream of one day going down one day and snooping around Expos camp for real, perhaps with future kids. But watching on TV was just good enough.
Lest you think that the spring training summerlust was a recent contrivance that began with the Expos: note that media was reporting on the baseball spring training as far back as 1931 and perhaps earlier. In the 1930s the Royals did spring training in Texas. in 33 they brought a Montreal player named Gladu down, the first Montreal kid invited to camp.
Spring training, a time for hope, renewal, faith. All taken away when the team moved.
We knew that young hopefuls basking in the Florida sunshine would soon bring that ingenious weather our way.
Spring in Montreal is enormous. Orgasmic. Life-affirming. Wild. Dangerous. Unpredictable.
There's no better place to spend a spring. "In Montreal spring is like an autopsy. Everyone wants to see the inside of the frozen mammoth," or "Beware of what comes out of Montreal, especially during winter," said Lenny Cohen.
And an essential part of that spring was the fantastic vision of physically-vigorous competitive entertainers whose whimsical world saw them attain financial viability by what they could do with a leather ball in something delightfully dubbed Grapefruit League action.
As much as people might like hockey or football, their training camps can't compare. (I think the NHL pre-season is called "the Withered Leaf league," and football's is "The Summer Solstice circuit", you're welcome - Chimples)
How many times did I dream of one day going down one day and snooping around Expos camp for real, perhaps with future kids. But watching on TV was just good enough.
Lest you think that the spring training summerlust was a recent contrivance that began with the Expos: note that media was reporting on the baseball spring training as far back as 1931 and perhaps earlier. In the 1930s the Royals did spring training in Texas. in 33 they brought a Montreal player named Gladu down, the first Montreal kid invited to camp.
Spring training, a time for hope, renewal, faith. All taken away when the team moved.