Somewhere out there... there's a card post that talks about Bartolo Colon getting released from the Atlanta Braves and within the reader comments, someone mentioned something about him being the last remaining former Montreal Expos player in the MLB.
That single comment planted a seed in the back of my mind that has slowly blossomed into this post.
As most of you know, I have been an avid Oakland A's fan since I was a wee little boy... and a San Diego Padres fan since the mid 80's. But deep down inside, I've always had a soft spot for the Montreal Expos and their rich team history, bright team colors, and iconic logo.
A few years ago, I started a small Montreal Expos collection and over the years with the help of fellow bloggers, COMC, and eBay... it's grown exponentially. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to organize my team binder, but in the meantime... I thought I'd show off my all-time Montreal Expos roster and some of my favorite cards of those players.
Catcher: Gary Carter
Expos Highlights: 7x MLB All-Star, 3x Gold Glove Awards, 3x Silver Slugger Awards, Expos All-Time WAR Leader, and one of three players wearing an Expos hat at Cooperstown.
First Base: Andres Gallaraga
Expos Highlights: 1x MLB All-Star, 2x Gold Glove Awards, and the owner of a Silver Slugger Award.
Second Base: Jose Vidro
Expos Highlights: 3x MLB All-Star, 1x Silver Slugger Awards, and 2nd highest career batting average in franchise history (tied with Tim Raines).
Shortstop: Orlando Cabrera
Expos Highlights: 2x Montreal Expos Player of the Year, 1x Gold Glove Awards, and most games played at shortstop in Expos franchise history.
Third Base: Tim Wallach
Expos Highlights: 5x MLB All-Star, 3x Gold Glove Awards, 2x Silver Slugger Awards, and the Expos franchise leader for games played, RBI's, total bases, and hits.
Left Field: Tim Raines
Expos Highlights: 7x MLB All-Star, 4x NL stolen base leader, 1x Silver Slugger Awards, 1x NL batting champion, Expos All-Time Offensive WAR Leader, and one of three players wearing an Expos hat at Cooperstown.
Center Field: Andre Dawson
Expos Highlights: 1977 NL Rookie of the Year, 3x MLB All-Star, 6x Gold Glove Awards, 3x Silver Slugger Awards, and one of three players wearing an Expos hat at Cooperstown.
Right Field: Vladimir Guerrero
Expos Highlights: 4x MLB All-Star, 3x Silver Slugger Awards, and the Expos franchise leader for batting average, home runs, and slugging percentage.
Starting Pitcher: Steve Rogers
Expos Highlights: 5x MLB All-Star, 1982 NL ERA leader, and the Expos franchise leader for wins, strikeouts, and shutouts.
Closer: Jeff Reardon
Expos Highlights: 2x MLB All-Star, 1985 NL saves leader, and the Expos franchise leader for saves.
In the Dugout:
In the Bullpen:
In the Dugout:
I realize that there might be some players who I've left off my all-time roster. Unfortunately, I based this post on the cards I currently have sitting in my collection. Although I do enjoy collecting Montreal Expos, I have to admit that sometimes this collection gets lost in the shuffle which means that I don't add to it nearly as often as other team collections.
However there is one card I'm hoping to add sooner than later. Stay tuned.
In the meantime...
Who are some of your favorite Montreal Expos of all-time?
Happy Thursday and sayonara!
13 comments:
Those are some killer cards! I cant argue with your all-time team, either. Rogers, Carter, and Dawson were gone before I became a baseball fan so my favorite Expos are the early to mid 90's guys - Pedro, El Presidente, Delino Deshields, Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker, and Mark Grudzielanek. When Grudz got 200 hits in his first full season my friends and I thought he was going to be a superstar. Didn't quite work out that way, but I still followed him for a few years.
Rusty Staub, Gary Carter, Hubie Brooks and Ken Singleton off the top of my head... I might also like some Expos who *didn't* play for the Mets. :-)
My favorite Expo Le Grand Orange,if the N.L. had a DH it would be him on the all time Expo starters.
Mack Jones!
Pedro...for obvious reasons.
I was lucky enough to be able to watch some Expos games on TV when I'd visit my relatives in Buffalo. Ellis Valentine was an early favorite. Loved his cards. Larry Parrish, Al Oliver, Ron LeFlore (for one season), Warren Cromartie.
Also got to cover some Expos games at Olympic Stadium. Tim Burke was a favorite after he casually talked to me on the field before a game.
I was lucky enough to see Vlad once. He is probably my favorite one. But, so many big names went through. Imagine if they had held onto those hall of famers and the team that could have been
What an incredible team! Always loved their unis
The comment would have been mine.. lol Bartolo is the final player to have been in Expos uniforms..
As for favourite Expos...
Larry Walker.. Pedro Martinez. I remember watching the near no-hitter against the Padres on TV.. Matt Stairs, though more for what he did afterwards..
First, that is a phenomenal collection of Expos cards. I would have to say my favorite Expos are Dawson, Galarraga, and Larry Walker. Pedro was pretty cool.
Archi Cianfrocco, mainly since he has such an awesome name.
I have a bunch of duplicates from the 1993 Donruss 25th Anniversary set that was put out by McDonalds. If you want some of them let me know..
chris - i really, really felt bad about leaving walker out of the starting lineup. he was such an awesome hitter. i totally bought into grudz. i too thought he was going to be a superstar.
shlabotnikreport - singleton was there a little before my time, but it looks like he had some solid numbers while in montreal
sg488 - you're right. his numbers in montreal were outstanding. some of his best years were with the expos.
commish - lol. had to look him up. he was a little before my time, but he seemed to be a solid ballplayer. 133 career home runs
swing and a pop-up - oh man... that has to be one of the worst trades in their (expos) franchise history.
night owl - didn't realize valentine played with the expos. always remember him with the mets. i'll definitely need to see if he has any expos autographs. nice call on parrish, oliver, cromartie, and burke. all four guys had some solid years in montreal.
sport card collectors - they had a good shot in 1994. we'll always wonder, "what if?"
collecting cutch - yeah... one of my all-time favorites.
mike matson - thank you for inspiring this post! didn't even realize stairs played in montreal. i remember him well from his days in oakland though. thanks for the offer on those cards. it's great set. i actually have that set targeted on eBay. as soon as an affordable copy come around, i'll snag it. thanks anyways.
snorting bull - thanks. it's been a work in progress.
adam kaningher - wow another guy i didn't realize played with the expos. i remember him with san diego though.
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