The Triple Play TV: 'Montreal Expos history (1969-2004)'

Source:Triple Play TV- MLB trivia question of the day: who's this Montreal Expos pitcher? If you get the answer right, then we'll both know who he is. The stakes could. be a lot higher.

The Expos for the most part were never marketed well in Montreal or the broader Province of Quebec. They seemed to believe that fans would automatically come to their games if they just won or were competitive. Apparently not being aware that Montreal was really never a baseball market and is a big city of over 1M people. In a market of over 3M people with plenty of things to do besides just baseball. And that there were other sporting events to go to besides baseball and not just Canadians hockey but CFL football and pro soccer.  Other pro sports have done well in Montreal because these are sports that Quebecers grow up with, enjoy playing and watching. But that wasn't the only problem with the Expos. 

The Expos started off playing in a real ballpark in Jarry Field. But then in the late 1970s move to the huge Montreal Olympic Stadium. Which by that point with its 65-70,000 seats was a football stadium that the Montreal Alouettes played in as well. And  pro soccer was being played there. Big mistake on the Expos management part. 

The Expos needed to market their club better and actually explain baseball to Montreal, which is not Toronto. A big market near Detroit and other Major League Baseball cities where Toronto already liked and enjoyed baseball before it got there. Montreal was new to baseball in 1969 and Montreal Olympic Stadium was simply too big with the fans being too far away from the games and not enough people wanting to go there to watch baseball. And these are the main reasons why the Expos left Montreal for Washington.  

From Triple Play TV 

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Bill Lee: Who Killed the Montreal Expos?

Source:Montreal Gazette- former Montreal Expos pitcher Bill Lee.

"Former Montreal Expos pitcher Bill Lee reminisces about his time in Montreal." 

From the Montreal Gazette 

"Former Montreal Expos pitcher Bill Lee reminisces about his time in Montreal." 

Source:Montreal Gazette- former Montreal Expos pitcher Bill Lee.

From the Montreal Gazette 

To put it simply, what killed the Montreal Expos was lack of support. Lack of support from the fans by the late 1990s they were drawing 5-10K fans a game for their home games. And Expos fans might say that the team wasn’t very good, but when you're only drawing 5-10K fans a game and you do not even have local media contracts like TV and radio, its hard to have the resources to put good teams on the field.  

But even with the lack of support from the City of Montreal and the Province of Quebec, Montreal was a solid, but never a great baseball market in the late 1970s and 1980s and to a certain extent in the 1990s. But by the late 1990s when you are only seven thousand fans a game with is a AAA minor league crowd, you aren’t going to have the resources to compete with the big clubs that are consistent winners who are drawing thirty thousand a game or more like the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves. (To use as examples)

Then you throw in the fact that the Expos were basically stuck playing their home games in a football stadium that was built for the 1976 Summer Olympics, that held sixty five thousand fans after moving from a baseball park in Jarry Field, you are now playing in a big stadium where people do not want to go to watch baseball. But would go to watch Canadian football and rock concerts. 

But not a very good baseball environment where the seats were far away and where people in Montreal had better things to do. And you add that baseball is probably the third or fourth most popular sport in Montreal behind hockey of course, but football and even soccer. The Expos weren’t built to last at least in Montreal Olympic Stadium. Had they ever gotten a real ballpark that seated 35-40 thousand fans and had a management that was committed to winning and staying in Montreal and spending money, but spending money wisely, the Expos are probably still in business today. 

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on Blogger. 

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CBS Sports: MLB 1993-World Series-Game 6-Philadelphia Phillies @ Toronto Blue Jays: Joe Carter's HR

Source:Dominick Clafin- "Touch em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life!" From Canadian sportscaster Tom Cheek, who called the 1993 MLB World Series for Canada.

Source:The Daily Times 

"This is the highlight video of the 1993 World Series game 6 where joe carter hit the game winning homer to win their second straight World Series." 

From Dominick Clafin 

"Here it is! The epic World Series-ending Game 6 matchup between the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Philadelphia Phillies.

With the Blue Jays down 6-5 in the bottom of the 9th, Joe Carter hits a World Series-winning 3-Run Homerun! One of the most incredible moments in baseball history!

Series MVP: Paul Molitor

Music: "Hearts of Courage" by Two Steps From Hell."

Source:Sky Domed- "Touch em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life!" From Canadian sportscaster Tom Cheek, who called the 1993 MLB World Series for Canada.

From Sky Domed

This is what game 6 of this World Series was all about: the Phillies playing for their season and just for the opportunity to get to game 7 to have another opportunity to win the 1993 World Series. The Blues Jays, playing to defend their 1993 MLB World Series Championship. And win this World Series so they don’t have to play a game 7 and risk losing this World Series. And that is what made this game so great. Because the Phillies had to win it and did their best to do so.

JS Milla: MLB 1981- 'The Montreal Expos Win A Playoff Series!'

Source:JS Milla- The Montreal Expos, winning their only playoff series ever.

"Let's say it now:  The Montreal Expos were winners.  True, they never won a pennant, and they never got to play in the Serie Mondiale thanks to an errant fastball in 1981 and a called (player's) strike in 1994.  But the Expos won a heckuva lot of games in the 80s and even the 90s.  And they even won a playoff series---the 1981 National League Division Series---thanks to some terrific pitching from Steve "Cy" Rogers, who beat Steve "Lefty" Carlton twice in one week, giving up one run in 17 2/3 innings of work.  

If Major League Baseball had introduced the modern wildcard playoff format in the 1970s, you would have seen half-a-dozen additional playoff appearances from the Expos...and perhaps more celebrations like this one from October 11, 1981." 

From JS Milla

The Montreal Expos winning a playoff series in the expanded MLB playoff format in 1981. The Montreal Expos were winners in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, and to a certain extent in the early 1990s. And this guy is right that if the wildcard was around back then and you have 5 teams from each league make the playoffs every year. the Expos would've made several more playoff appearances in the 1980s. 

But that could be said for a lot of other MLB franchises: the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, etc. So I don't think that alone makes the Expos special. 

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