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Ishii
Long before the Expedition ever played a game, had a practice, or even had a roster, there were two pieces in place. The first was the owner, Gabrielle Charrier, of France.
He was 61 years of age at the time, and having an architectural empire across Europe was no longer enough to keep his active mind challenged. He wanted a team. Forgoing any affilitation with football, he opted for the fledgling Francais Baseball League even if it would take him out of his native country France. French speaking Canada was the next best available franchise. He settled in Chicoutimi-Jonquiere. Only recently did he move the franchise to Ottawa. He claimed that 'finances' dictated the move.
Mr. Charrier has a strong desire to be the best. In everything. Some elements of the press described his first move as practically a 'financial bribe', as he lured the highly successful Japanese manager to Canada to take over the reins of the Expedition.
Takuya Ishii has been described as the 'Lombardi' of french baseball. His overbearing style has players, at times, in the 'silent revolt' mode, but, rarely do you ever here a spoken complaint. Ishii has often been quoted as saying, "losing is not an option".
Before boarding the plane to France, he held a closed door meeting to address his teams 'thoughtless play' in game 2 of the Herons/Expedition series. No quotes were available from the press. But, it's known that the meeting lasted 8 minutes and only one person spoke the entire time.
It will be interesting to see how the Expedition players react to the private words of their skipper in game 3, and, for the remainder of the series.
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