March 12, 2020

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

WEST PALM BEACH -- Prior to Major League Baseball’s announcement that they were cancelling the remainder of spring training games due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus, thousands of fans gathered here today to see the 2019 World Series champions and the team that people either love or hate, the New York Yankees.

Many Nationals fans showed their love for their team by wearing team jerseys and hats and we could see many Yankees fans decked out. We could only find two fans in Expos attire, one from Montreal, the other from Ottawa.

I was able to see Nationals manager and former Expos OF Dave Martinez very briefly for a firm handshake but I couldn't secure a 1-on-1 chat with him. He had to go and watch some of his pitchers strut their stuff and generally speaking, any reporter wanting to interview a player or Martinez needed to get a PR person to set up an interview because the clubhouses had been cut off to the media several days ago.

Down on the field inside a rope, I could see Yankees GM Brian Cashman talking to some people who were friends. A woman much older than me chatting with Cashman motioned to Cashman that this reporter wanted to talk with him and there was no team PR person around.

Cashman graciously consented to an interview and I first asked him about the scheduled games in Montreal on March 23-24 between the Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays that have since been cancelled.

One question led to another and I was keen to ask Cashman about his favourite Expos player of all time.

"I would have to say Razor Shines,'' Cashman said, smiling.

"Really, eh?'' I responded.

"I used to spend a lot of time watching the Expos play in spring training years ago and I liked Razor Shines. I don't think he played much in the major leagues (68 games with Montreal from 1983-87) and they had some many great players like Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Tim Raines.

"I love Montreal. I love Toronto. I love your national anthem. It's my favourite anthem. The U.S. anthem is great but I love your anthem. I love Canada. I'd love to buy a lake house in Canada for the summer but it's tough because I have this this job.''