Montreal Expos

ARTICLE CONTENTS:  |  Links to Other Sites
The first Canadian team admitted to BASEBALL's National League, the Expos began playing in 1969 at Jarry Park in Montréal's north end. The team's principal owner, Charles Bronfman, hired John McHale to oversee the club's operation. The Expos moved to Olympic Stadium in 1977, and in 1979 achieved their first winning season with a record of 96-65, finishing 2 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. Memorable moments in the team's history include Bill Stoneman's "no-hitters" in 1969 and 1972, the Expos winning the National League's Eastern division pennant in 1981, and the selection of Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Al Oliver, Tim Raines and Steve Rogers to play in both the 1982 and 1983 All-Star games. Between 1979 and 1983 the Expos attracted over 2 million fans annually, except for the strike-shortened 1981 season, and in that 5-year period earned the best overall winning percentage (.548) in the National League. The team remained competitive through the late 1980s and early 1990s, relying on young players to replace the aging stars and their large salaries. Attendance dropped substantially and placed additional financial pressure on the team. Bronfman sold the team to a consortium of Québec businessmen with government support in 1991 after rejecting several offers from buyers who would have moved the team out of Montréal. The Expos continue to be one of the least successful teams on the field and at the box office in the major leagues. Encumbered with having to play at the inconvenient and impersonal Olympic Stadium, and with ever decreasing fan support, their future in Montréal was bleak. Efforts to reinvigorate the team failed. In 2004 the team was relocated to Washington, DC, and renamed the Washington Nationals.

Author WILLIAM HUMBER


Links to Other Sites
Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter dies at 57
A CBC News story about the passing of former Montreal Expos star and Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter.

Franchise Timeline
An illustrated timeline for the Washington Nationals baseball team that covers the period when the franchise was based in Montreal (the Montreal Expos). Click on the menu at the left to advance the timeline. A Major League Baseball website.

0
0
Absolutely free, with over 40,000 articles in French and English, The Canadian Encyclopedia is the ultimate online resource for all things Canadian, from history, sports, arts, science, technology, and much, much more. Get started at www.TheCanadianEncyclopedia.com
Feature Articles
Hockey: Canada's Game

That hockey is “our game” is incontestable. We invented it. We dominated it for so long and to such a degree that we could cobble together teams of amateurs, servicemen and semi-pros and beat the best the rest of the world had to offer...

INSIDE TCE

Gallery
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Interactive Resources
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
Canucklehead
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
Timeline
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
100 Greatest Events
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.