ExposFest | To put an end to the Doritos!

The Expos’ comeback project may have fallen through, but things are shaking up in Laval this Sunday afternoon for Expos Fest.

Guillaume Lefrancois
The Press

Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colón are among the biggest names in the event. The line is long at the table of Colón, a rather reserved type but an amateur, Piero, makes smile.

“My cousin owned a liquor store in Cleveland, and Bartolo would always pick up the same order,” Piero tells us, a bit amused, afterwards.

Moreover, the contact with the amateurs remains relatively cold. “He’s super nice,” says Mercedes, who serves as an interpreter for the legendary right-hander, a member of the Expos in 2002.

“He is still quite serious. The fact of not speaking English, it makes him go back a little. He’s uncomfortable because he can’t respond easily. But he’s great. »

We move to Bryn Smith’s table. The autograph session draws to a close, the queue shrinks, and little Cole shows up at the pitcher’s table with the now white beard.

Smith takes five minutes to actually teach him different ways to grip the ball. “If you want to make money, you have to learn that throw. It’s the ball-palm [palm ball]. I was the only one throwing it back in time! »

Our man is now 66 years old and he has the teaching in him. “I was a local coach for a long time, but not anymore. I am involved in promoting the construction of fields, in order to keep young people active. I get involved as much as I can! »

The famous interview

If it’s not clear here yet, Smith is an eminently friendly and warm guy. Even a question that would irritate many players makes him smile: the question of Doritos.

This “controversy” has come back into the news in recent months when Jeff Petry’s wife returned to live in the United States due to health constraints, not without criticizing Canadian health care in the process.

This story thus reminded the wisest of the interview that Smith had granted to Sports Illustratedwhich appeared in the July 31, 1989, issue. The Expos were turning heads and occupying the 1^er rank of their division.

In short, the journalist Peter Gammons recalled that the Expos knew such success despite a problem of attractiveness of Montreal to the players.

Patti, Bryn Smith’s wife, therefore says that the organization of the Expos is “incredible for the families of the players”. Then, the couple launches into a rather funny enumeration of the sources of irritation, in particular having to go to Plattsburgh to get Doritos, as well as the brown sauce that comes with the fries, rather than ketchup. “When you order a Coke, they never put ice. And when you ask for it, they tell you in French that you’re stupid because it makes you more Coke when there’s no ice cream. »

In conclusion, Smith recalls, however, that he is ready to live with Coke without ice “to play on a team like ours”.

“There was nothing wrong with playing in Montreal. We loved it here. People treated us well, Smith insists. It was just a joke, not a criticism. Here’s my biggest problem: I like Doritos, and you can’t find any here. Unfortunately, it was misinterpreted. But back then, people were looking for the negative. »

Smith laughs about it today, especially when he thinks back to what awaited him when the team returned to Montreal.

“When the article came out, we were on the road in Chicago. When we got back, there were two 50 lb bags of ice in my locker, Doritos everywhere, in my pants, and probably 50 bottles of ketchup. It was like a temple! I still have the photo. Tim Raines was my locker neighbor, he said, “What is that?” I started signing ketchup bottles and giving them away. »

Despite this imbroglio, he has fond memories of Montreal. He remembers having lived in L’Île-des-Sœurs, then in Dorval, where “we rented Bill Gullickson’s house after he left”. By participating in Expos Fest, it’s an opportunity to reconnect with your memories.

“I always look forward to this type of event. Twice I tried to enter the Olympic Stadium, but it was impossible. I took the metro from the city center, as I did at the time to go to matches. I parked at the Atwater metro and took the metro. It was simple, easy, quiet and clean. »

Love for Montreal

Smith played nine seasons in Montreal, from 1981 to 1989. The Expos had the best two years in box office history during his tenure: 2.3 million spectators in 1982 and 1983. After a trough, he saw attendance rise to 1.8 million in 1987 and 1989.

“We had good teams,” he recalls. If there had been a fourth ace in time, we would have been in the playoffs every year! It was so hard to get into the playoffs, and it was often close. But I have good memories. »

We understand here that he believes in the Montreal market. But this edition of Expos Fest was held in a particular context, a few weeks after baseball’s most recent project to return to Montreal was dead and buried.

“We have to maintain the flame, keep pushing. But I understand it’s disappointing. A stadium downtown would be great. I tell people not to lose hope and maybe a miracle will happen. »

penultimate edition

It is the indefatigable Perry Giannias who organizes Expos Fest as always. And it was clear: this 2022 edition is the penultimate of the event, which took a two-year break due to the pandemic. Basically, his goal was to raise $1 million for research into diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a form of brain cancer that claimed Catherine, Perry’s niece, when she was 5 years old. “We are going to reach the million next year, that was our goal and that will be it, we are going to retire. We don’t want to end this in COVID-19, we want to do something good, it will be the million dollar gala. It’s the same cancer that afflicts the son of former Canadiens forward Ryan White, and as far as we know, it’s incurable. “We wanted to raise $1 million in the hope that one day parents won’t have to be told their child is going to die,” he says. Her foundation, Kat D DIPG, donates the money to the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation.