Montreal Expos

The Montreal Expos (French: Les Expos de Montréal) were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1969 until 2004. After the 2004 season, the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals. more...

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The Nationals retained all the Expos' records, player contracts, and minor league affiliates, as well as their spring training complex in Viera, Florida.

Franchise history

Creation of the franchise

In 1960 Montreal lost its International League team, the Montreal Royals (an affiliate of the former Brooklyn Dodgers). The move to get a new team for the city was the result of the seven-year-long effort of councilman Jerry Snyder of Snowdon. On December 2, 1967 he presented a bid for a Montreal franchise to Major League Baseball's team owners that was accepted on May 27, 1968. After prominent Montreal businessman Jean-Louis Lévesque withdrew his support, Snyder convinced Charles Bronfman, a major shareholder in the world-wide Seagram distilling empire, to lend his considerable weight to the project and provide the funding guarantees required. Bronfman purchased the majority of the shares and was Chairman of the Board of Directors. The other investors and founding directors included Vice-Chairmen Lorne Webster and Paul Beaudry, plus Sidney Maislin, Hugh G. Hallward, Charlemagne Beaudry (Paul's brother), and team President and Executive Director, John McHale.

As is the case with every expansion franchise, the Expos had to find a suitable place to play. Delorimier Stadium, the former home of the Montreal Royals, was rejected as too small, even for temporary use. Team officials initially settled on the Autostade, but city officials balked at the cost of adding a dome (thought necessary because of Montreal's often cold temperatures in April and September) and 12,000 seats. By August 1968, the league was threatening to withdraw the franchise. Then, National League president Warren Giles and Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau visited Jarry Park, a 3,000-seat ballfield in the city's northwest corner. They finally decided that it could be a suitable temporary facility. Within six months, the park was transformed into a 28,500-seat makeshift facility, saving the franchise.

Social impact of the Expos

Montreal in the 1960s was seeing its international profile being raised considerably. The 1967 World's Fair, called Expo 67 was a success, and the city soon won the bid for the 1976 Summer Olympics. The city also opened a new subway system, the Montreal Metro. This string of achievements was capped by the winning of one of the four expansion franchises awarded by Major League Baseball for 1969..

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