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Montréal Expos

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THE MONTREAL EXPOS
Montreal Expos
Founded: 1969 (Expansion Team)
Relocated: 2005 (to Washington, D.C.)
Stadium: Jarry Park, Montreal (1969–1976)
Olympic Stadium, Montreal (1977–2004)
Hiram Bithorn Stadium (San Juan, Puerto Rico) (2003-2004)
Uniform Colors: blue and red
Logo Design: A stylized M for Montreal, also forming a red E for Expos,a white L for League, and a B for baseball, coming together as "Expos League Baseball." Also rumored to be C B for majority owner Charles Bronfman. (More common amongst Canadian fans)
Mascot: Souki (1978), Youppi (1979-2004) [link]
Theme Song: Les Expos sont là by Marc Gélinas
Division Titles won: 1981
National League Championships: None
World Series Championships: None

Geographical Rival: New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies (Toronto Blue Jays in interleague)

The Montreal Expos (French: Les Expos de Montréal) were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1969 to 2004. After the 2004 season, the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals. The Nationals retain all the Expos records, contracts, spring training sites, and minor league affiliates.

Contents

Franchise history

Creation of the franchise

In 1960, Montreal lost its International League team, the Montreal Royals (an affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers). The move to get a new team for the city was led by Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau and councilman Jerry Snyder of Snowdon. They worked to create the Expos in conjunction with Montreal's 1967 World's Fair, Expo 67 (hence the team name). The first owner was Charles Bronfman of the Seagrams whisky empire.

The Expos debuted in the Major Leagues in 1969, two years after Expo 67. This marked the first time in its long history that MLB had expanded outside the United States.

Social impact of the Expos

Quebec was a deeply Catholic, agrarian society. In the 1960s, socio-economic changes under the Quiet Revolution saw massive social upheavals and improvement of the status of French Canadians. The arrival of Expo 67, the new Metro subway and the Expos allowed Montreal and Quebec to see itself as international and "major league." This new-found pride and sense of "Quebecois" identity led to many social changes in the province, including giving rise to the Quebec nationalist and sovereigntist movements, and the presence of the Expos franchise paralleled these developments.

In 1977, Toronto received its own MLB franchise, the Blue Jays. In 1978, a national title between the Expos and the Blue Jays, called the Pearson Cup (after Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson), was created. This was meant to be Canada's "baseball cup" and a fundraiser for amateur baseball in Canada. Pearson Cup games were played from 1978 to 1986; each team won three times, and there were two ties.

In 1997, MLB revived this rivalry as part of interleague play.

The team

The Montreal Expos franchise joined the National League in 1969, along with the San Diego Padres. Their home stadium was Jarry Park. The Expos suffered through 10 straight losing seasons under their first manager, Gene Mauch (1969–1975) and three other managers (including a 52–110 debut season in 1969, tying the Padres for the majors' worst record that year). In 1979 they posted their first winning record with a 95–65 record, under manager Dick Williams. They would post five consecutive winning seasons, and reach their only post season in the split season of 1981. In the 1981 playoffs, the Expos defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 3–2 in the divisional series, but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 3–2 in the National League Championship Series. Montreal was led through these years by a core group of young players, including catcher Gary Carter, outfielders Tim Raines and Andre Dawson, third baseman Larry Parrish and pitchers Steve Rogers and Bill Gullickson. In spite of the team's talent and promise during the early 1980s, the Expos frequently did not perform up to expectations, and stalwarts such as Carter and Dawson would depart by the middle of the decade.

The Expos had several mediocre years in the mid 1980s under manager Buck Rodgers, but steadily rebuilt in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this period, Expos pitcher Dennis Martinez distinguished himself by throwing a perfect game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 28, 1991. Under manager Felipe Alou, who took the position midway through the 1992 season, Montreal finished second in the National League East in both 1992 and 1993.

The 1994 season: hope and disappointment

1994 proved to be heartbreaking for the Expos. With a very talented group of players, including outfielders Larry Walker, Moisés Alou and Marquis Grissom and pitchers Ken Hill, John Wetteland and a young Pedro Martínez, the Expos had the best record in Major League Baseball, 74–40 when the players' strike forced the end of the season on August 12, 1994. They were six games ahead of the second place Braves and were on pace to win 105 games. (The New York Yankees had the second-best record in the majors, at 70–44.)

The strike hurt the team's campaigns for a new stadium, and a local conglomerate failed to invest the necessary funds, making it impossible for ownership (such as Jean Coutu and Stephen Bronfman) to retain the talented players on the team. (Coutu and Bronfman had the resources to buy the team outright and also build new a "retro" stadium downtown. (Mitch Melnick, CKGM Team 990 and Pat Hickey, Montreal Gazette).) This conglomerate unsuccessfully launched a lawsuit against Major League Baseball years later.

In 1995, Claude Brochu and Jacques Ménard ordered then-general manager Kevin Malone to release the team's major stars. Many of the leading players said, in retrospect, that they would have been willing to take pay-cuts in order to return in 1995 and compete once again for the World Series. On ESPN, Larry Walker asked rhetorically, "I was willing to take a cut to keep the team together, but I was never offered a contract. Where did the money go? We may never know." This major overhaul damaged the franchise and offended its temperamental fan base.

The final decade

After 1994, the Expos lost most of their star players through free agency and trades, and had poor records nearly every season, except for a second-place finish in 1996, and respectable seasons in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, the Expos were 67–95 after losing superstar Vladimir Guerrero to free agency during the previous off-season.

Montreal is often cited as an example of a small-market team, unable to compete with teams in bigger markets such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and therefore no longer a viable competitor. This is not really accurate, given just how large Montreal is. It is commensurate in size to the Seattle metro area and larger than that of Cleveland, and by pure city population, it is the 7th largest city in the US and Canada. Jeffrey Loria, the last owner prior to the team's purchase by Major League Baseball, made some personnel moves, however the future of the franchise in Montreal never appeared strong. Loria also proposed the construction of a new ballpark in downtown Montreal, to be called Labatt Park; the park was never built. Attendance in the 2001 season was usually fewer than 10,000 people per game. On November 7, 2001, Commissioner Bud Selig announced that major league baseball would undergo a contraction of two teams, after a 28–2 vote by the owners. Montreal was one of the dissenting franchises.

On February 14, 2002, after a 30–0 vote, Major League Baseball formed a Delaware partnership (Expos Baseball, LP) to buy the Expos for US$120,000,000 with the intent of eliminating the franchise along with the Minnesota Twins. When legal maneuvers prevented the Twins from being shuttered, a collective bargaining agreement followed between MLB and its players association, which prohibited "contraction" through 2006, so the Expos survived. Major League Baseball named Frank Robinson manager and Omar Minaya as vice-president and general manager.

In 2003, the team played 22 of its home games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, despite having the highest percentage attendance increase in 2002 (from 7,935 per game to 10,025) and placing second in the National League East. Despite being a considerably smaller facility (it seats approximately 19,000) than Montreal's Olympic Stadium, San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium regularly outdrew the attendance in Montreal. Thanks in part to the San Juan games, the Expos were able to draw over a million fans at home in 2003 for the first time since 1998.

Led by Vladimir Guerrero, the 2003 Expos were part of a spirited seven-team Wild Card hunt. On August 28, they found themselves in a five-way tie for the lead with Philadelphia, Florida, St. Louis, and Houston. However, MLB, led by Bud Selig, in what ESPN's Peter Gammons called "a conflict of interest," decided that it could not afford an extra $50,000 to call up players from its minor leagues. The budget was some $35 million. All teams have this right around the end of August. This doomed any hopes of reviving the franchise. Omar Minaya, the General Manager, later said, "Baseball handed down a decree.” They would not be allowed to call up players from the minors on Sept. 1 like every other team in the game, as it was deemed too expensive. They would have to make do with what they had. The heart went out of the Expos that day. "It was a message to the players," Minaya said. "It was a momentum killer." He also stated: "They're a tough group of guys. You cannot ever forget 2003; they were as good as the Marlins, who won the World Series. But nobody knows this because nobody saw Montreal in 2003. What killed us was not getting the call-ups."[link]

Orlando Cabrera, who had been the Expos' shortstop, cited that development as a reason he didn't want to remain with the team. [link]

Fan attendance dropped off, and the Expos went 12–15, finishing eight games out of the Wild Card.

The Players' Union initially rejected continuing the San Juan arrangement for the 2004 season, but later relented. Meanwhile, MLB actively looked for a relocation site. Some of the choices included Washington, D.C.; San Juan; Monterrey, Mexico; Portland, Oregon; Northern Virginia; and Norfolk, Virginia. During the decision-making process, Selig added Las Vegas, Nevada, to the list of potential Expos homes.

On September 29, 2004, MLB officially announced that the Expos franchise would move to Washington, D.C., in 2005. Later that night, the Expos played what would be their last game in Montreal, a loss to the Florida Marlins before more than 31,000 fans. The move was approved by the owners of the other teams in a 29–1 vote on December 3 (Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos cast the sole "nay" vote). On November 15, 2004, arbitrators struck down a lawsuit by the former team owners against MLB and former majority owner Jeffrey Loria, ending the legal fight to keep the Expos in Montreal.

For the history of the franchise after its move to Washington, see Washington Nationals.

Historic games

Despite his historical significance as the first black manager in each league, Robinson was elected to the Hall as a player, not a manager. He never played for the Expos.

See also

Retired numbers

The Montreal Canadiens honored the Expos with a commemorative banner in 2005.
Enlarge
The Montreal Canadiens honored the Expos with a commemorative banner in 2005.

Note: The Washington Nationals did not retain these numbers (except for #42) as retired after the franchise moved in 2004. On October 18, 2005, the Montreal Canadiens honored the departed team by raising an Expos commemorative banner, which lists the retired numbers, to the rafters of the Bell Centre.



Some notable 




An Expos jersey and cap lain in tribute

Enlarge

An Expos jersey and cap lain in tribute








External links





















 





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