Portland, Ore. ? For six years, Lynn Lashbrook has been on a crusade to bring major league baseball to Oregon. In the Montreal Expos, he sees his best chance yet.

“Nobody really believes it can happen,” Lashbrook said. “But you and I both know the Expos have to go somewhere.”

Major league baseball, which operates the Expos on behalf of the other 29 teams, isn’t sure whether the team will remain in Montreal after this season.

A move is an option, with Washington, D.C., the leading candidate. Charlotte, N.C.; Las Vegas; and Portland also are possibilities, and an investor group said this week it wants to buy the franchise and move it Puerto Rico.

“I’m embarrassed that we’re bigger than Kansas City and we don’t have a major league team,” said Lashbrook, president of the Oregon Baseball Campaign, which hopes to bring the Expos to the City of Roses.

Commissioner Bud Selig said back in January that Washington was a “prime candidate,” for relocation. But Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos doesn’t want another team in his area.

Expos president Tony Tavares doesn’t know where the team will wind up.

“It’s a very difficult situation to be in,” he said. “To be the leader of a group of people who every day want to know what the future holds for them.”

John McHale, executive vice president of administration in the commissioner’s office, is studying the alternatives for Selig and his staff.

Portland supporters cite the availability of an interim stadium, PGE Park, the commuter-friendly downtown home of the Triple-A Portland Beavers. The ballpark seats more than 25,000 and features 38 luxury boxes.

The Portland metropolitan area has 2.3 million people, the largest metro area with just one pro sports franchise the NBA’s Trail Blazers.

“Our city was made for baseball,” Lashbrook said. “We’re a pedestrian city. They’d sell out every game. You could grab a latte and walk less than three blocks to a baseball game.”

Oldest major leaguer dies: Ray Hayworth, who was the oldest surviving major league player, died Wednesday at age 98 in High Point, N.C.

Hayworth, who worked in baseball for more than 50 years, spent 15 seasons in the majors as a catcher, almost all of it with the Detroit Tigers.

Hayworth came to the majors in 1926 and was a member of Detroit’s World Series teams in 1934 and 1935.

White Sox waiting: The Chicago White Sox will not address Frank Thomas’ future with the team until after the season.

Thomas, whose strong play in September has helped bring up his numbers after a disappointing season, could become a free agent if the team invokes a diminished skills clause in his contract. That clause would reduce his base pay to $250,000 and defer most of his $10 million salary.