Expos scrapbook

[Chicoutimi CP]

From the Expos Historical Society's web site :

«For the first time in its history, Major League Baseball will own a team after acquiring the Montreal Expos from Jeffrey Loria. Loria sells the Expos for $120 million then buys the Florida Marlins of John Henry for $158.5 million with the difference being made up with a loan from MLB.» And, of course, let's not forget that the Expos will also name Frank Robinson as manager, Tony Tavares as president of the club with Omar Minaya becoming the major leagues' first Hispanic general manager.

What a sad day it was

[Augustin_"Gus"]

The question is: Have they Expos been forgotten, almost four years after they're departure. I'd like to suggest the following answer:

A popular networking website wich I won't mention by name (let's just say that it has something to do with having your face in some sort of a book...) has a new feature where you can become a fan of, athletes, artists, sports teams etc. And I saw last week that you can become a fan of the Expos; so I did (for the purpose of the site, cause I've been a fan of the Expos for a while. I didn't just become one). At that point, it was on February 12th, there were about 500 registered Expos fans. Last time I checked, yesterday (11 days later), we have gone over the 4000 fans mark. 300 people register every day. You log on, and you come back an hour later and 20 people have joined in. It's good to see something like that. Let's hope it keeps growing.

[Chicoutimi CP]

Sent to me by the SABR of Montreal. A little long, but still interesting even from an Arizona fan perspective.

=================================================
Vazquez contributing for W. Sox

Kevin Murphy
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 24, 2008 06:36 PM
Remember Javier Vazquez?

His stay with the Diamondbacks was short, and the emergence of center fielder Chris Young, one of three players the Diamondbacks acquired from the White Sox for Vazquez in December 2005, has made memories even shorter.

But more than two years later, it still might be too early to know what team got the better end of the deal.

Under the tutelage of White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper, who made a couple of adjustments to Vazquez's mechanics, the veteran right-hander has continued to be a workhorse - and he just might develop into the staff ace.

"Chris Young is a heck of a player," Cooper said. "But we needed Javy, and we had to sacrifice Chris Young. To get something good you have to give something good."

Diamondbacks fans aren't complaining - and neither should White Sox fans. Vazquez, who came to the White Sox for Young and pitchers Orlando Hernandez and Luis Vizcaino (neither is with the Diamondbacks anymore), turned in a 15-8 record in 2007 with a 3.74 ERA and 213 strikeouts, which ranked sixth in the majors.

With his typical endurance (216 2/3 innings in '07) and control (50 walks), Vazquez might be poised to reach the 20-win mark, a feat he has yet to accomplish in 10 big-league seasons. (He won 16 games in 2001 with the Montreal Expos.)

If Vazquez continues to strengthen as his career ages, he can thank a casual conversation he had with Cooper in the middle of the 2006 season that encouraged him to make mechanical adjustments.

"He feels good about it," Cooper said. "I give him an awful lot of credit. I remember we were talking about it - myself, him and the trainer. We just threw it out there. He said, 'Well, hell, I'm not Greg Maddux. . . . I want to get better.' I said, 'All right, let's go to work.' "

The changes, which Cooper calls "fairly big adjustments" for a pitcher so far into his career, involved lining up Vazquez's feet and eliminating a tilt in his upper body.

"I was comfortable last year," said Vazquez, who this season begins the first of a three-year, $34.5 million extension. "I thought it was something I could do, and that's why we started working on that.

"I don't have any Cy Youngs or any MVPs, so I have to work hard on that."

Cooper only regrets not approaching Vazquez earlier about it. Because Vazquez was a veteran, Cooper kept a looser leash.

But after Vazquez hit a rough patch in the first half of the 2006 season, his first with the White Sox, Cooper suggested the changes.

It didn't take long for the adjustments to click. Vazquez led the White Sox last year in victories, innings pitched and strikeouts.

Vazquez certainly has the respect of White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who was leaning toward naming Vazquez the Opening Day starter against the AL Central rival Indians on March 31. But in order to break up left-handers Mark Buehrle and John Danks in the rotation, Buehrle got the call.

Vazquez, No. 2 in the rotation, starts the home opener April 7 against the Twins.

"He brings an awful lot to the table prior to this," Cooper said. "He was far from being a poor pitcher. This is a guy that strikes out a lot of guys, and he's got good stuff. He's a prepared guy. You don't have to worry about Javy."

[Augustin_"Gus"]

I guess that was to be expected, with our former GM in office with the Mets. But we might just be headed for an Expos reunion at Shea Stadium this summer. The Mets have just signed Claudio Vargas to a minor league contract. He will eventually make his way to New Orleans (AAA) where he will join Tony Armas and Fernando Tatis (who just will not die apparently). So, should there be a lot of injuries to the Mets pitching staff, and that seems to be the case, we could have Pedro, Vargas and Armas on the mound for the Mets, pitching to Brian Schneider, with Endy Chavez in left, Ryan Church ready to step in when called upon. And who knows, maybe Tatis could unseat David Wright as the team's regular third baseman.

Now, that's a game I would wear my Expos jersey to.

[Chicoutimi CP]

Catcher Gary Carter, back with the Montreal Expos, joined Bob Boone and Carlton Fisk in the exclusive 2,000 games caught club.

(From Baseball-Reference Bullpen - Footnote : Since then, only Ivan Rodriguez became a member of that very select club last year.)

[Augustin_"Gus"]

Well, the Expos reunion at Shea might happen after all. Vargas and Tatis are both with the big club right now. Tatis leads the majors with a ,1000 BA since his recall.

In my list, I forgot to mention Moises Alou who's with the club. So you could have a starting lineup made of 6 former Expos for the Metropolitans.

Ryan Church seems to be on the verge of realizing the potential the Expos organization always saw in him. ,309 BA, 8 HR, 30 RBI's, ,530 SLG...

[Chicoutimi CP]

From Baseball-Reference Bullpen

« The Montreal Expos, hoping to add the last piece to a playoff contender, trade Brian Holman, Gene Harris, and 6' 10" Randy Johnson to the Seattle Mariners for Mark Langston. Mike Campbell goes to Montreal in July to complete the trade. »

COMMENT : Langston did a good job, 12-9 2.39 ... But the collapse in August and September doomed that trade and for many years, the Expos justified their lack of action at trade deadline by alienating fans with stuff like « we got Langston in 1989 and we still didn't win, so it's ok not to make any move. »

[Augustin_"Gus"]

The downfall of the Expos was due, in large part, to that simple fact: For most of the team's existence, the management, from the owners all the way down, wasn't much for doing things. They were a lot better at finding excuses not to do anything. "We can't deal for players cause it didn't work with Langston. We can't get free agents cause were small market. We can't keep our good players, we can't build a stadium, we can't invest more money..." An endless series of excuses.

[Chicoutimi CP]

(From Baseball-Reference Bullpen)

« Pedro Martinez of the Montreal Expos pitched nine perfect innings against San Diego before giving up a leadoff double to Bip Roberts in the 10th inning of the Expos' 1 - 0 win. Martinez became the second pitcher in history, after Harvey Haddix, to have a perfect game broken up in extra innings. »

[tinseltown]

The downfall of the Expos was due, in large part, to that simple fact: For most of the team's existence, the management, from the owners all the way down, wasn't much for doing things.

The apparent problem with the group that bought the team from Bronfman was that they did it to "save baseball", and did not seem to want to invest in the Expos. After all, if you look at it coldly from a purely financial point of view, if they had held on to the team a bit longer, it could have been them turning a big profit by selling to the Washington group -- but of course they would have then been the bad guys who let the team get away. I wrote a letter to Claude Brochu after he announced the new ballpark scheme, asking him to convince the owners to invest more money in the team, and his reply (which seems to have been tailored to my letter and not just a form letter) was that we were beyond that point, and the future of the team rested on the new park.

As much as some like to blame Omar Minaya for trading away the store, including Grady Sizemore, I cannot fault him, since at that point, there were no real owners to set long term direction, so "win now" was the only reasonable goal, and after years of GMs basically phoning it in after they had balanced the budget at the start of the season, it was refreshing to see Minaya avoid the excuses of past GMs and find creative ways to make deals happen, in spite of the restrictions placed upon the Expos by the other 29 MLB team owners.

[Chicoutimi CP]

Anyone remembers this charming guy?

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/marlins...mson_0601.html

A bit long to read, but it seems the guy's still as likeable as ever.

[Chicoutimi CP]

The 2008 season is almost three months old and that means it is about to reach the halfway mark. I thought it would be fun to mention a few interesting numbers some Expos compiled after 81 games in some seasons of the team history. I’ll go with the most obvious categories:

Most wins by the team: 49 in 1994.
Least wins by the team: 26 in 1969 and 1976.
Most wins by a pitcher: Charlie Lea, 13 in 1984.
Most losses by a pitcher: Bill Stoneman, 12 in 1969.
Best ERA: Pedro Martinez, 1.54 in 1997.
Most saves: Jeff Reardon, 22 in 1985 and Rocky Biddle, 22 in 2003.
Most hits: Jose Vidro, 118 in 2000.
Most runs: Marquis Grisson, 72 in 1994.
Most home runs: Henry Rodriguez, 25 in 1996.
Most RBIs: Vladimir Guerrero, 75 in 2000.
Best batting average: Jose Vidro, .378 in 2000.
Best on-base percentage: Vladimir Guerrero, .439 in 2000.
Best slugging average: Vladimir Guerrero, .704 in 2000.

Source: Baseball-Reference.com Play Index.

[Chicoutimi CP]

1997 - The Expos retire Andre Dawson's uniform No. 10 prior to the game with Atlanta. Once the festivities are over, the Braves defeat Montreal, 5-3, with Chipper Jones' 3rd-inning grand slam the big blow.

2001 - The Expos beat the Marlins, 9-6. Montreal 3B Geoff Blum becomes the fifth Expo to homer from both sides of the plate in the contest. -Other Expos to switch-hit home runs in a game were Tim Raines (7/16/1988), Bret Barberie (8/02/1991), F.P. Santangelo (6/07/1997), and Jose Vidro (7/03/2000).-

Source : Baseball-Reference Bullpen.

[Chicoutimi CP]

Well, the Expos reunion at Shea might happen after all.

We're getting one step closer : Armas got called up and won his first game as a Met July 1st.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bo...00807010.shtml

[Chicoutimi CP]

From Baseball-Reference Bullpen:

« 1973 - The Expos take two in a doubleheader with the Astros, 12-8 and 14-6 at Parc Jarry. In the first game, John Boccabella hits two home runs in the 6th inning for Montreal. »

Other Expos who will hit 2 home runs in an inning: Andre Dawson @ Atlanta 7/30/78, @ Chicago 9/24/85, and Mike Lansing @ San Francisco 5/7/97.

[Chicoutimi CP]

He got his 2000th career hit yesterday. Great achievement. 553 of those were with Expos. He ranks 24th for Montreal in that category. Sent to me by the SABR Montreal chapter.


Grudzielanek aims to reach milestone
07/12/2008 1:00 AM ET
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com

KANSAS CITY -- Royals second baseman Mark Grudzielanek is eagerly anticipating his 2,000th hit.

"Absolutely, why wouldn't I?" Grudzielanek said. "Not many people have done that. Being in the game as long as I have and the success I've had over the years, it's definitely an awesome accomplishment, personally. Not many people can say that."

After going hitless in the series opener against the Seattle Mariners, he goes into Saturday night's game just two hits shy of the milestone. He would be the 18th active player and the 251st in history to reach 2,000.

It's been a long time since his first hit in the Majors, so long that Grudzielanek is fuzzy on the details.

"I have no ... I think it was a pinch-hit," he said. "I'm not sure about that. I can't remember that far back, I really can't. They asked me [about it] and I said, 'I think it was [against Mike] Remlinger,' but I wasn't even sure until they told me."

He was partially right. The hit did come off New York Mets left-hander Remlinger -- a double to center field -- when Grudzielanek was a rookie with the Montreal Expos.

But he wasn't a pinch-hitter. He entered the game during the top of the 10th inning, during a Mets' four-run rally, replacing Wil Cordero at shortstop. Grudzielanek can't remember why.

He whacked his double in the bottom half of the 10th, a scoreless inning as the Expos lost, 5-1, at Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

That was 13 years and almost 2,000 hits ago.

"That's a lot of hits. I'm flabbergasted I've been in the game this long. I'm thankful. It's an accomplishment ... It's cherished," he said. "There's not a whole lot of guys out there with that many hits, and that play that long and put up those kind of numbers. So I'm proud of it."

Grudzielanek, 38, couldn't remember getting souvenir balls from any of his other milestone hits, including No. 1,000 on June 5, 2001, against Arizona's Robert Ellis when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I want to make sure I grab this 2,000th hit. I want that ball, that's for sure," he said.

Royals manager Trey Hillman had Grudzielanek, who hit .371 (33-for-89) in his previous 22 games, in the No. 5 spot on Friday night.

"It's tremendous, not only for him as a professional, but it's a bright spot for the Kansas City Royals and the position that we're in," Hillman said. "We're not where we want to be in the race -- hopefully, that'll improve -- but meantime, we've got something pretty cool happening to one of our veteran players."

After this, will it be on to 3,000 for Grudzielanek? He just laughed.

"Holy cow, I don't know if my family would let me do that," Grudzielanek said.

[Augustin_"Gus"]

Yeah, hats off to the G-Man for 2000 hits. I certainly wouldn't have bet on his chances of reaching such a mileston when he broke in with the Spos.

A career ,290 hitter, 934 runs, 625 RBI's, All-star selection in 96 with the Expos. Not the kind of numbers that give you the key to the VIP restroom at Cooperstown, but still. You are having a very fine career in baseball when you get to 2000 hits.

His best season hits wise, 201 in 96. They had that great double-play combination going with Mike Lansing at second.

[Chicoutimi CP]

In a game in which Cardinal first baseman Albert Pujols becomes the first player in history to hit at least 30 homers in each of his first four big league seasons, Tony Batista goes deep twice, knotting the score in the ninth and winning the game in the 12th. The Expos third baseman's 199th and 200th career blasts helps Montreal beat the St. Louis in extra innings, 10-6.

Source : Baseball-Reference Bullpen.

[Chicoutimi CP]

Sent to me by the Montreal's SABR chapter: This comes from ESPN, a retrospective of the Expos on the anniversary of the 1994 strike...Keep the Kleenex handy!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3531010

[Chicoutimi CP]

As the previous post, also sent to me by SABR's Montreal chapter. A bit long, but interesting.

Veteran Cormier feels like a kid again

Bob Duff
Canwest News Service

Monday, August 11, 2008

BEIJING - Rheal Cormier was at a crossroads in his baseball career.

There was nothing left to prove and yet, he still felt that he had something more to give.
Only there were no takers. Not in the big leagues.

The Olympic Games, however, proved to be a different matter.

Cast adrift by the Cincinnati Reds in May of 2007 after pitching 683 major-league games, Cormier of Moncton, N.B., has gone back to his past in the hopes that it might somehow provide him a future in baseball.

At 41, he's the oldest player on the Canadian Olympic baseball team. In fact, he's the oldest player in the Olympic baseball tournament, which starts Wednesday when Canada faces China.

A big-league hurler from 1991-2007, Cormier feared baseball might be done for him, until he was contacted by Canadian Olympic head coach Greg Hamilton.

"When I ended up not playing this year, Greg, through Denis Boucher the (Canadian) pitching coach, talked to me to see if I might consider playing," Cormier said. "They made the connection that way.

"Then Greg called and wanted to see if I was interested in working out and joining the team. At the time, I told him I would get back to him.

"I talked to my family and my (two) kids and my wife felt it was a good opportunity to come and represent my country in the Olympics."

So here he is in China, a crafty southpaw working in the Canadian bullpen alongside players young enough to be his sons.

"I still feel young hanging around with these guys," Cormier said.

The left-hander with No. 37 on his back and the Maple Leaf on his chest was born April 23, 1967, about a week before the Maple Leafs last won the Stanley Cup.
Now that's a long time ago.

Being able to turn to a veteran like Cormier in a tight spot figures to make Canadian manager Terry Puhl's life a little easier.

"You don't have to always be concerned about Cormier," Puhl said. "He's going to pitch to the right guy. He's been around. That's why he pitched at the major-league level."

This is where it all started for Cormier, part of the Canadian team at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, launching him toward a pro career. He made his major-league debut Aug. 15, 1991 for the St. Louis Cardinals and spent the better part of the next two decades in the show, including a two-season stint with the Montreal Expos from 1996-97, fashioning a 71-64 record with a 4.21 earned-run average.

When Cormier broke into the big leagues, Canadian major leaguers were an anomaly. While still not abundant, Canadians are far more plentiful in the big leagues today.

During Cormier's tenure, a Canadian was named MVP (Justin Morneau) in the American League and Canadians won the Cy Young Award (Eric Gagne) and batting title (Larry Walker) in the National League.

"It's nice to see," Cormier said. "Canada has produced a lot of good players in the past and I think we have a lot of good players coming up."

Including some of the guys he'll team with here in Beijing. Catcher-infielder Brett Lawrie, 19, was the Milwaukee Brewers' 2008 first-round draft pick in June. Seven of Cormier's teammates own big-league playing experience. Sixteen on the roster play in the farm system of a major-league club.

"We have a good bunch of guys from different backgrounds," Cormier said. "We are building together.

"The guys are pulling for each other and trying to get ready for these games coming up."

Cormier hopes these Games might lead to more games for him, believing that a strong Olympic performance could pique the interest of a major-league team looking to add pitching depth for the September stretch drive.

"I thought this would be a good stepping stone," he said. "Pitch in this again and see what it leads to. We'll see what happens, but if this is the last shot that I get, it's fine. I'm totally content with how my career's gone, but if there's an opportunity to catch on with a team, I'd take it.

"I'm going to try and play for as long as I can."

Bob Duff is in Beijing as part of the Canwest News Service Olympic Team

[Augustin_"Gus"]

On this day in 1989, form the AP

1989 - Dave Dravecky of the San Francisco Giants, in his second start after coming back from cancer surgery on his pitching arm, broke his arm but earned the win in a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Expos. Dravecky entered the sixth inning with a three-hit shutout. He gave up a leadoff home run to Damaso Garcia and hit Andres Galarraga with a pitch. After throwing a wild pitch to Tim Raines, he collapsed to the ground and clutched his left arm in agony.

Now, if memory serves me well, he didn't quite collapsed after pitching to Raines as much as he collapsed while pitching to Tim. Afternoon game at the Stadium, I think, not televised. They only had an overhead shot where you could see Dravecky go down while finishing his pitch... Unpleasant.

[Chicoutimi CP]

From Baseball-Reference Bullpen :

1970 - In a 5-3 Montreal win over the Astros, Bob Bailey hits one of the longest home runs in Astrodome history.

1977 - At Montreal, the Phillies win their 13th straight, a 20th century club record, beating the Expos, 7 - 5. Warren Brusstar is the winner over Joe Kerrigan.

1987 - Tim Raines goes 5-for-5 and hits for the cycle to lead the Expos to a 10-7 win over Pittsburgh. It was the third time an Expo hit for the cycle. Tim Foli and Chris Speier had also accomplished the feat in 1976 and 1978.

[Chicoutimi CP]

*** The most first inning runs allowed by an Expo pitcher during a season was 31, by Steve Rogers in 1974 over 38 starts. The least: Pedro Martinez, 1 ER in 31 starts, in 1997. Unbelievable!

*** As a follow up to Post 225’s fifth item, in 1985, Bryn Smith got the highest run support ever given to a starter (30 games started or more) by the Expos offense in a season: 5.47 runs per game. The Expos scored 4 runs or more in 20 of Smith’s 32 starts that year.

*** Surprisingly, the Expos had a slightly better record with Mike Fitzgerald as a starting catcher than with Gary Carter: they were .542 (257-217-1) with Fitz, compared to .528 (681-609-1) with The Kid. The best starting record belongs to Darren Fletcher with .555 (288-231).

*** Graig Nettles is the oldest Expo batter to ever hit a home run: on April 16th 1988, he was 43 years and 240 days old when he hit his final career HR (no 390) at the Big O against the Phillies. Gary Carter was the youngest, at 20 years and 173 days old, on September 28th, 1974 when he knocked his first career round-tripper at Parc Jarry versus Philadelphia.

*** During his franchise record-setting season of 133 runs in 1983, Tim Raines scored on 96 hits (46 singles, 22 doubles, 6 triples, 11 home runs by teammates plus his own 11 home runs), 20 sacrifice flies, 6 errors, 3 wild pitches and 8 ground outs. Andre Dawson drove him home the most often, with 55 of his 113 RBIs.

Source: Baseball-Reference.com Play Index and Retrosheet event files.

[Chicoutimi CP]

November 29th, 1990 - A consortium of Canadian investors led by Montreal Expos president Claude Brochu agrees to buy the club from Charles Bronfman for a reported $85 million, assuring that the team will remain in Montréal, QC.

[Homestead Gray]

Anyone remembers this charming guy?

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/marlins...mson_0601.html

A bit long to read, but it seems the guy's still as likeable as ever.

This guy was a contributing factor to the end of baseball in Montreal. As Bill Lee called on a video on youtube "Samsom that pr**k"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRbwU...e=channel_page