An impassioned Mayor Denis Coderre pledged Friday to inject $11 million over three years into improving baseball facilities in Montreal.
“My role is to be responsible and make sure that all those kinds who want to play have the capacity to play,” said Coderre, who once served as Federal Minister for Sports.
Coderre invoked the memory of Gary Carter and the 1994 Expos but also said that the investment is for the future.
“This is not nostalgia, baseball is part of our DNA,” he said.
It’s a reversal of sorts for Montreal policy-makers, as previous administrations appeared to prioritize other sports over baseball.
Mayor Pierre Bourque, in 2000, for example, irritated many baseball enthusiasts with a plan to turn 35 baseball diamonds into soccer fields.
There are currently about 160 baseball diamonds in Montreal which will be spruced up and upgraded.
The inevitable subject of a possible return of major league baseball to Montreal was discussed and Coderre said that growing the sport among young people is the best approach to growing a new generation of fans.
“If we build it they will come. The Field of Dreams works,” he said, referencing a famous baseball film.
