Welcome to our five-part series
celebrating the 35th anniversary of the 1981 National League East Champion
Montreal Expos, the only time in the club’s history that the team made the
postseason. For a team as talented as the Expos were in the late 1970s and early
to mid 1980s, it’s hard to believe that the team didn’t accomplish more.
However, we are not here to lament what didn’t happen but rather to have a look
back at the team that got Montrealers talking about something other than the
Canadiens. Enjoy.
The 1981 Expos
Part I: Beginnings and Near Misses
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| Expos' catcher Gary Carter |
The city of Montreal had a
history in baseball long before the Expos came around in 1969. The Montreal
Royals were a minor league organization, playing in the International League
from 1897-1917, then again from 1928-1960. The Major League team they are most
known for being associated with is the Brooklyn Dodgers, having been the MLB
club’s top farm team from 1928 until 1960 (Brooklyn moved to Los Angeles in
1958). But they were also associated with Philadelphia Athletics (1933-34) and
the Pittsburgh Pirates (1937-38).
The Royals are best remembered
for being the first professional team Jackie Robinson played for in 1946 before
he joined the Dodgers the following year.
Due to poor attendance, the
Dodgers ended their relationship with the Royals after the 1960 season. The
Minnesota Twins took control of the team and moved it to Syracuse, New York,
and re-named the club the Chiefs. (The Syracuse Chiefs would later become the
main AAA team of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1978-2008. They are now associated
with the Washington Nationals).
After several years without
professional baseball in the city, Montreal was granted one of four expansion
teams that would begin play for the 1969 season. Their expansion cousins were
the San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots (who played one
season in Seattle before becoming the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970). The Expos
were named after the Expo 67 World’s Fair held in Montreal in 1967, commemorating
Canada’s 100th birthday.
The Expos’ first ball park was
Jarry Park Stadium, which was renovated from a capacity of 3000 to 28,456 prior
to the first MLB season in 1969. The ballpark was rather dreary, as the cold
Montreal weather in April and late September made watching baseball a miserable
experience at times. But the team played there until the end of 1976 and moved
to the brand new Olympic Stadium in time for the 1977 season. The new stadium
had been built for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games, and unfortunately would eventually
turn into the city’s white elephant, with the stadium’s costs not being fully
paid until November of 2006, two years after the Expos played their final game
there.
However, the Big Owe, as it
would be called both affectionately and disdainfully, would provide some of the
best baseball in the Major Leagues. The Expos struggled initially, as they went
through the inevitable growing pains in building a contending team in the
National League. They lost 110 games their inaugural season and never finished
with a winning record in their first ten years.
But in 1979, they finally had
put together a good enough team, through the draft primarily, to challenge for
the N.L. East title. Young stars who had suffered through the growing pains,
like catcher Gary Carter, outfielder Andre Dawson and pitcher Steve Rogers,
were starting to come into their own as All-Star calibre players, and the
results showed on the field.
Having never won more the 79
games in their first ten years, the 1979 Expos exploded for 95 wins, and held
first place for all but one day from the end of May right through to the
beginning of August. In September, they battled with the Pittsburgh Pirates,
and held a half-game lead with five games to play. Unfortunately, they lost
four of those games and finished in second place, two games behind the Pirates.
In 1980, the Expos made another
charge at the division title, with their main challenge coming from the
Philadelphia Phillies. The two teams traded turns at the top of the division
for all of August and September with Montreal never being more than two games
behind, but never more than two ahead. The
two teams were tied with identical records and would play each for the final
three games of the season, the series being played at Olympic Stadium. The
Phillies won the division when they took the first two games of the series.
Montreal won the final game, but still finished one game out of first place.
But after being so close for two
season, much more was expected for 1981.
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