This Day In Baseball
History: April 14, 1969
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| Fan favourite Rusty Staub: "Le Grande Orange" |
It was on this date in 1969,
that the first regular season Major League Baseball game to be played outside
of the United States took place at Jarry Park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal
Expos played host to the St. Louis Cardinals on a Monday afternoon, with the
first pitch taking place at 1:50 P.M.
The Expos, in their inaugural
season, had played their first six games on the road, losing two out of three
at Shea Stadium to the New York Mets, followed by another two losses out of
three at Wrigley Field to the Chicago Cubs.
Some of the notable players in
the Cardinals’ lineup that afternoon were Lou Brock (who would be the all-time
stolen base king until Rickey Henderson came along), Curt Flood (whose refusal
to play for the Phillies after being traded later in the year would be the
first step towards abandoning the reserve clause and granting players free
agency), Joe Torre (who would manage the Yankees to four World Championships
from 1996-2000), and Tim McCarver (one of the best known baseball television
analysts from 1980-2013).
The only players of note on the
Montreal roster were shortstop Maury Wills (former All-Star and MVP with the
Dodgers) and Rusty Staub (an All-Star with the Astros in 1967 and 1968). The
starting pitcher for the Expos was Larry Jaster.
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| Jarry Park, the Expos' first stadium |
After the Dodgers went scoreless
in their half of the first, the Expos exploded for three runs in the bottom
half on a three run home run by left-fielder Mack Jones. Centre fielder Don
Bosch, who had led off the inning with a single for Montreal, scored the
first-ever MLB run in Canada.
Montreal struck for two more in
the second on a two-run triple by Jones and one in the third on an RBI single
by Jaster to build a 6-0 Montreal lead that evaporated in the fourth. A grand
slam home run by Cardinal shortstop Dal Maxvill and a three-run shot by Torre
gave St. Louis a 7-6 lead, chasing Jaster from the game.
A wild pitch scored Maury Wills
in the bottom of the fourth to even the game at seven, and then the scoring
abruptly stopped. Only one more run was scored in the game and it was by the
Expos in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by relief pitcher Dan
McGinn who would pitch 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball in relief of Jaster.
McGinn would only surrender three hits and one walk in picking up the win.
It would be a long first season
for the Expos as they would finish with a record of 52 wins and 110 losses, 48
games behind the first place—and eventual World Series Champion—New York Mets.
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