 Let's remember the Montreal Expos' first game, which happened 55 years ago this week | | | On April 8, 1969, the Montreal Expos took on the New York Mets at Shea Stadium in the first official Major League Baseball game by a team based in Canada.
Expos nostalgia remains strong across the country, despite (or maybe because of) the fact that it's now been 20 years since the team moved to Washington. Every once in a while, overly optimistic fans will get excited about the prospect of an Expos revival, but the possibility seems to be getting more and more remote.
A few years ago, the Tampa Bay Rays pursued a quixotic plan to split their home games between Florida and Montreal before MLB, predictably, quashed the idea in 2022. Recently, commissioner Rob Manfred said he wants to add two expansion teams before stepping down in five years. But the Canadian city with the best chance to land one is reportedly Vancouver, not Montreal.
Barring an improbable series of events, it seems we'll have to make do with our Expos memories. So here's a look back at that inaugural game, which had a lot of neat storylines.
It ended in dramatic fashion.
Montreal led 11-6 with two out in the ninth that day at Shea before Don Shaw gave up an RBI single followed by a three-run homer by Duffy Dyer. Carroll Sembera came out of the bullpen and promptly gave up a single and a walk to put the tying run on second. But he settled down to strike out Rod Gaspar to end the game and give the Expos an 11-10 win in their first-ever game.
Montreal reliever Dan McGinn had a crazy day.
He was pretty bad on the mound, giving up three runs on three hits and two walks in 2 1/3 innings. But he also hit the first home run in Expos history — a fourth-inning solo shot in his only trip to the plate.
Adding to the improbability of a relief pitcher hitting the first homer in franchise history, it came against the great Tom Seaver. And it turned out to be the only homer of McGinn’s big-league career, which lasted five years.
McGinn is the answer to another trivia question.
He was the winning pitcher in the Expos’ first home game. That happened six days later, when Montreal beat St. Louis 8-7 at Jarry Park Stadium.
Speaking of Jarry Park…
Parc Jarry, en francais, was the Expos’ home from their inaugural season until they moved into Olympic Stadium for the 1977 season (following the ‘76 Olympics). That was supposed to happen much earlier, but construction delays with the notoriously expensive Big Owe kept the Expos at their modest temporary home for longer than expected.
Jarry Park Stadium was originally a 3,000-seat venue that was upgraded to about 28,000 after Montreal landed an expansion franchise. But it was still the smallest stadium in baseball and it remained pretty bare bones. There was only one deck, and no seating in centre- or right-field. In fact, Jarry’s best-known quirk was out beyond the chain-link fence in right — a municipal swimming pool. It sat close enough that big power hitters like Pittsburgh’s Willie Stargell and San Francisco’s Willie McCovey smacked home runs into the water.
If you’re interested in more Jarry Park stories, I suggest this piece by Rory Costello on the SABR website. Here's a CBC News story about the Expos' first home game, and some neat archival footage from that day.
Seaver turned out alright.
The Mets right-hander was the National League rookie of the year in 1967 and an all-star his first two seasons. But he hadn’t quite made the leap to superstardom when he took the mound against Montreal for the ‘69 opener.
You wouldn’t know it that day — he lasted only five innings and gave up four runs on six hits and three walks — but Seaver was on his way to a huge season. He wound up winning a major-league-high 25 games (with only seven losses) and posted a 2.21 ERA to win his first of three Cy Young Awards and finish second in NL MVP voting.
By the time his 20-year career ended with the doomed ‘86 Red Sox, Seaver had racked up 311 wins, which ranks 18th all-time. He was such an obvious hall of famer that 98.84 per cent of voters named him on their ballots in 1992. At the time, that was the highest percentage ever.
The ‘69 Mets went on to great things too.
Largely because no one expected much from them (a feeling confirmed by their sloppy start against the Expos) they became one of the most beloved baseball teams of all time.
For the first seven years of their existence, the Mets finished either ninth or 10th in the 10-team NL. But in ‘69, they captivated fans by placing first with a 100-62 record and then rolling to a stunning World Series title while losing only one playoff game. The team became such a sensation that it has two nicknames: The Miracle Mets and the Amazin’ Mets.
The Expos would never reach those heights.
That ‘69 team finished an expansion-typical 52-110, and Montreal missed the playoffs in each of its first 12 years — despite winning 95 and 90 games in 1979 and ‘80.
The Expos finally broke through in the weird ‘81 season, where a June-July players’ strike resulted in baseball's decision to divide the season into halves. Montreal won the second-half NL East title to earn its first-ever post-season spot, then beat Philadelphia three games to two in the first round. The NL Championship Series against the Dodgers also went to a deciding fifth game that’s known in Montreal as Blue Monday — both for the day of the week it happened on, and the fact that Rick Monday hit the go-ahead homer for L.A. in the top of the ninth inning.
Even more sadly, that was the Expos’ last playoff appearance. The legendary 1994 team — featuring future Hall of Famers Larry Walker and Pedro Martinez and MVP-calibre outfielder Moises Alou — had the best record in baseball in mid-August when a players’ strike led to the cancellation of the rest of the regular season and the playoffs. Baseball in Montreal was never the same after that, and the Expos left after the 2004 season to become the Washington Nationals. In 2019, the franchise finally won its first World Series. | | |  | Montreal's Jarry Park (note the swimming pool). | | | Quickly… | | | Tiger Woods broke another Masters record.
Twenty-seven years after becoming the youngest player to win the green jacket, and doing so by the largest margin of victory ever, Woods made the cut for the 24th straight time at Augusta, overtaking Gary Player and Fred Couples for the record. Tiger finished his second round at one shot over par for the tournament — three shots clear of the projected cut line.
First-round leader Bryson DeChambeau, one of the stars of the LIV Golf tour, was still on top at our publish time at 7-under. Canada's Corey Conners and Adam Hadwin were on track to advance to the weekend, while Nick Taylor and 2003 champion Mike Weir will not make the cut. Here's an updated leaderboard.
Taylor and Hadwin lead the chase for the two spots Canada is likely to get for this summer's Olympic men's tournament in Paris. But Conners is only three spots behind Hadwin in the world rankings, which will decide who goes to the Olympics following the U.S. Open in June. | | | What else to watch this weekend | | | Some other events featuring Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes to keep an eye on:
Women's hockey world championship: Canada's 5-1 victory over Sweden in yesterday's elimination game set up a semifinal matchup with the Czech Republic on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET in Utica, N.Y. The Czechs have won two consecutive bronze medals. Olympic champion Canada is looking to reclaim the world title after losing to the rival United States in last year's final in Brampton, Ont. The Americans face Finland on Saturday afternoon. The final goes Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. Read more about the Canadian team here.
Canadian Swimming Open: Teenage sensation Summer McIntosh earned her second win of the Toronto meet last night, defeating fellow Canadian stars Maggie Mac Neil and Penny Oleksiak in a stacked women's 100m freestyle final. That followed Wednesday's victory in the 200m freestyle, where McIntosh swam the fastest time in the world this year. The Canadian Open, a tuneup for next month's Olympic trials, continues through Saturday. Tonight, McIntosh takes on the reigning Olympic champion Mac Neil in the 100m butterfly final at 6:54 p.m. ET. On Saturday, McIntosh is slated for the 200m medley and 50m freestyle, the latter against Mac Neil. Watch every final on both days live from 6-9 p.m. ET on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBCSports.ca. Check results here.
Grand Slam of Curling season finale: The Players' Championship in Toronto includes six-time Brier winner Brad Gushue and Sweden's Nik Edin, who beat Gushue last week for his record seventh men's world title. The women's tournament features recently crowned world champion Rachel Homan and six-time Scotties winner Jennifer Jones, who is playing her final event before retiring from four-person curling (she'll continue in mixed doubles). Jones is one of the curlers involved with a new Grand Slam ownership group that is promising to "blow up" the series when it takes control next season. The playoffs begin Saturday and the finals are on Sunday.
Paralympic wheelchair basketball qualifier: Canada is among eight countries competing for the final four spots in this summer's Paralympic men's event at a last-chance qualifying tournament in France. After losing their opener today to the Netherlands, Canada will face France on Saturday at noon ET and Iran on Sunday at 7:15 a.m. ET to close out the preliminary round, which determines the rankings for Monday's knockout games. The four winners of those matchups qualify for the Paralympic Games in Paris. Watch all of Canada's games live on CBC Sports' streaming platforms.
Track cycling Nations Cup: This week's tour stop in the Toronto area is the last chance for athletes to qualify for the Olympics. Top Canadians competing on the velodrome in Milton, Ont., include 2021 Olympic women's sprint champion Kelsey Mitchell, keirin bronze medallist Lauriane Genest and 2022 men's scratch race world champ Dylan Bibic. CBC Sports' live coverage begins tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET and continues through Sunday. See the full streaming schedule here. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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