What could have been…
The first episode features Elliott Price, about a year after we reconnected professionally at CIQC Radio 600. I had jumped from CJAD in the early spring of 1993. (“I could see you moving south but not to that fucking barn down the street” is how Ted Blackman reacted when I told him I’d be heading to work on McGill College Avenue to start a new afternoon drive show that would eventually morph into Melnick:No Limit after the station moved to Verdun.)
Elliott worked the morning show at the time with Joe Cannon and Expos games when Dave Van Horne slid over to the television booth. His most recent partner had been the loveable Bobby Winkles. He was about to start working with somebody who is still very much involved in baseball in Canada.
The show was taped at the tail end of spring training. We were still dealing with the emotional aftermath of the trade of DeLino DeShields. I was more confident in the ability of the skinny righthander GM Dan Duquette acquired in the trade than Garber was. But he was more confident in the Expos ability to move past the Atlanta Braves. Between the three of us, we couldn’t have foreseen how the ’94 season would play out, let alone end. Not before it started anyway.
I have no idea what Garber was wearing. He might have grabbed it off his shower curtain. I still have the Raiders jacket.
Longtime Expos fans surely remember Manush. He was the taxi driving, baseball junkie and longtime season ticket holder who’s seat was strategically located above the Expos dugout at Olympic Stadium. When Manush erupted, fans in the left field bleachers could hear him. So Imagine how the players felt when they moved from their dugout to the field and back again. He was also Elliott’s dad.
Manush nailed the one prediction that Montreal baseball fans didn’t want to consider in 1994.
With many more episodes in the vault (including a two-parter featuring DeShields and his pal Marquis Grissom) enjoy these two from over 25 years ago.
Time waits for no one.
