Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams died today... and if you are a fan of the Red Sox, A's or Padres, you should toast him tonight.
Dick Williams was more than a great manager. He was more than someone who took three different teams to the World Series.
He raised teams from the dead.
It's hard to believe this now, but there was a time when the Boston Red Sox were a dead franchise with poor attendance and non contenders. They had losing seasons every year from 1959 to 1966, including 100 losses in 1965.
Dick Williams took over the club and they went to their first World Series in 19 years. And the Red Sox were revived. You can trace the love for Fenway and the romance of Red Sox Nation to the magical summer of 1967.
When he went to the A's, they hadn't been relevant since Connie Mack was manager. They never had a winning season in Kansas City and the 1971 A's was the franchise's first October since 1931.
He inherited a talented team but he made them an All Time team. The A's won back to back titles under Williams and they went on to win a third title.
In 1977 after a failed turn with the Angels, Williams took over an Expos team that never had a winning season in their first 8 years of existence. By 1979 they were a 95 win club with future Hall of Famers Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Tony Perez at the core. A non factor franchise became a legit pennant contender and the Expos had their greatest years and drew their most fans.
Then he took over the Padres, another nondescript franchise with no history nor success. Between the Padres first season in 1969 and Williams arrival in 1982, the Padres had a grand total of one winning season and never finished above 4th place.
By his third season, the Padres were a 90 win team and won the 1984 NL West title, then stunned the heavily favored Cubs to give San Diego their first World Series appearance.
Later he took over the Mariners, another hopeless franchise. For a while it looked like he was going to do the same thing there with talented players like Mark Langston, Mike Moore, Jim Presley, Alvin Davis, Harold Reynolds, Danny Tartabull and Phil Bradley on the roster. But alas it didn't work out in the Pacific Northwest.
If only he stuck around for two more seasons in time for the arrival of Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson in 1989!
He was a Hall of Famer and one of the great managers of all time.
And you can certainly NOT say he took easy jobs.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Williams.
On a side note, we both appear in the great movie "Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey" and in fact we both appear in this trailer for the film. My vague connection to an All Time great manager.
He wanted to! Frank McCourt is a Boston guy and he wanted to buy the Sox from the John Harrington and the Yawkey family.
Instead John Henry and company took over in 2002 and won two more World Series titles in the first 7 years of his ownership than the Yawkeys did in nearly 70 years.
Meanwhile McCourt took over the Dodgers... and now they need to be taken over by baseball. Not loaned money like the spend crazy Diamondbacks. Not bailed out like the Madoff sucker Mets.
Nope. TAKEN OVER! It's Bud Selig saying "We are taking your toys away."
When has this happened before? Well, kind of once when nobody wanted to buy the Expos and Bud Selig wanted to make sure John Henry moved from the Marlins to the marquee franchise Red Sox and Jeffrey Loria could take over the Marlins.
The Expos were part of baseball and run in a disgraceful manner, yet still managed to put winning products on the field in 2002 and 2003.
That was a different scenario. The Expos were devastated financially after the strike and couldn't draw small crowds to Stade Olympique. They had no TV deal and desperately needed to move. Everyone knew they had to move to Washington DC (the only place that had a big league ready park) but they also needed to appease Peter Angelos and the Orioles. So while that was being hashed out, MLB owned the Expos and destroyed a once wonderfully quirky franchise.
This new situation is different. This isn't an expansion team gone wrong. This isn't a team that needs to be relocated.
This is the FREAKING LOS ANGELES DODGERS! If there is any team in baseball that should be a big spending colossus like the Yankees it should be the Dodgers! The play in Los Angeles! They have a terrific stadium... a steady fan base... money... tradition... stars want to play in L.A.
It can be argued that Frank McCourt is the worst owner in the history of American sports. In 2004 he bought the Dodgers... one of the glamor franchises in baseball. And in 8 years it was transformed into such a catastrophe that the league had to pull and Expos.
IMAGINE this with the Red Sox! Imagine there is no 2004... no 2007... the Curse is alive... this obscene divorce hanging over the team... the experience of going to the ballpark is WORSE... and it is so bad that baseball needed to take over.
It could have happened. And Bud Selig made sure the Sox were sold to John Henry.
It's not often I say this, but MAN am I thankful for Bud Selig's decision.
So now baseball owns the Dodgers, which means there will be a new owner soon. Why not me?
On this Valentine's Day, let's honor a REAL Valentine... namely former Expos star outfielder Ellis Valentine.
The star out of Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, he went to Montreal to form a remarkably talented outfield with Warren Cromartie and future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson. Valentine became an All Star with 20 home run power, double digit stolen bases and a rifle for an arm that helped him win a Gold Glove.
He was hit in the face by a pitch in 1980, resulting in that bad ass face guard seen on his 1981 Topps card above.
Sadly that was when his career began to take its down turn. In 1981 he was dealt to the Mets. But soon more injuries and drug issues derailed him. He played his last big league game in 1985 and was broke not long after that.
But Valentine put his pride on the shelf and built himself back up, kicked the drug habit and now counsels young players in Southern California about how to avoid his pitfalls.
He founded the A.V. Light Foundation in Lancaster, California to counsel families and is involved with B.A.D., an anti drug organization for baseball players.
Valentine's days as a baseball superstar may have been limited but his life is worth celebrating as he has become a positive figure in many people's lives. And as Jackie Robinson said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."
But let's not forget... he was a hell of a player. Take a look at his throwing arm. Look, but don't try to run on him!
Doesn't Tony look a little ticked off here? Maybe a little unhappy with his situation? He's not playing, has an expression of indifference and annoyance intertwined.
Maybe that was apt. This picture was taken during the 1977 season. The year before he was clinching his second straight World Series title with the Big Red Machine. Sure his stats dipped a little bit in 1976, but they won the World Series crushing the Yankees.
They looked unstoppable. And a year later he was sitting in Montreal.
At the time the Expos had never had a .500 season, let alone be the consensus pick to win the Division. And that season they moved into the behemoth that was Olympic Stadium.
He was a Spanish speaking Cuban learning English shipped from the best American team to a Canadian team in a city that speaks French.
No wonder he looks out of sorts. He's not even wearing his cap.
Probably he didn't want to wear it. Instead he's looking out thinking "Really? I was traded for Dale Murray and Woodie Fryman?"
In my last piece for The Hardball Times, I wrote about how Tampa Bay used to be an ideal spot for THREATENING to move your team. There was a baseball stadium just sitting there and the good folks of Minnesota, Texas, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco all built new ball parks to keep their teams from the Sun Coast.
Now that the Rays are playing in Tampa Bay, they can't wait to get out of the very stadium that so many other owners were coveting.
Now most teams have either new stadiums or recently renovated ones. Once the Marlins move into their new digs in 2012, the Rays and the A's will be the only ones left playing it a dud of a ballpark.
There is talk about building a place in Fremont or San Jose for the A's, but California barely has enough money to pay their policemen, firefighters and teachers. Where is the dough to build a ballpark in the expensive Silicon Valley?
And the Rays proposed new ballpark (or Jabba's Sail Barge) will go up against a proposed railroad extension in Florida. Good luck having a ballpark beat improved transportation.
But as I wrote in a post from 2009, it is harder for a baseball team to relocate than any other sports team. If you want to move the 49ers to Fayetteville, Arkansas, there's a place for them to play tomorrow.
A baseball team would have a hard time finding a place where they can play a major league game that is just sitting there.
Or would they have a hard time?
What is the biggest American or Canadian city to NOT have a Major League team?
That would be Montreal! And guess what they have?
A BASEBALL STADIUM THAT IS JUST SITTING THERE!
OK, it's not exactly Wrigley Field. It's Stade Olympique... the Olympic Stadium from the 1976 Games. It's the big ugly eye sore sitting on the outskirts of one of the most beautiful cities in North America.
It's the money pit that sits empty and reminds everyone in Quebec that the Olympic Games were a financial disaster there and that the Expos couldn't stay.
It is the travesty in architecture that had the crane that was supposed to lower a roof on the stadium not work and an ugly canvas roof put on instead... all the while their neighbors in Toronto had figured out how to make a retractable roof.
The giant behemouth of a ballpark that looks less like a place to see a baseball game and more like the Starship Enterprise from The Next Generation after they did the saucer separation!
I've been to a game in that park.
It was awful and ugly and empty.
So why the hell am I suggesting to put a team back in there?
Well it is hard to make the case that the A's and the Rays would be hurt if they played in an empty ugly eye sore of a stadium.
Guess what? They both are playing in empty ugly eye sore stadiums already!
The A's play in what used to be the Oakland Coliseum. I used to go to games there a lot. It was a nice place to watch baseball. Now, after the Raiders parked an aircraft carrier into center field, it is a dump. And I went to a playoff game in that dump in 2003. There were at least 20,000 empty seats. During the 2006 playoffs when the A's made it all the way to the ALCS, they had an embarrassing tarp covering the entire upper deck to create the illusion of a bigger crowd.
The Rays play in the park that, as I covered in my Hardball Times piece, was obsolete before the Devil Rays played their first game. It took a month of playing there before people began to suggest "maybe they need a new place."
So how could playing in ANOTHER dump hurt the team.
There are some advantages to Montreal... besides its size.
Of course they love the Canadiens (probably more than they love being Canadians). But remember there was a point in the early 1980s that the Expos drew some of the biggest crowds in the National League.
Somewhere there is a fanbase that could get excited about baseball. And they could get excited about a team that wants to STAY in Montreal.
Yes, the 1994 strike forever scarred the fanbase and made it irreparable. But guess what? That was 16 years ago! There are 20 somethings in Quebec with no memory of Moises Alou, Larry Walker et al being robbed of a chance to bring a pennant to a French speaking people.
They don't remember the team being dismantled. They don't remember the Brochu ownership and the Loria group buying the team and the travesty of the contraction threat and MLB owning the team and bleeding them dry until Peter Angelos allowed a team to play in Washington.
Those aren't even blurry memories. For the young fans a new ball club in Montreal would be a fun novelty at first, and if they can play well, perhaps they would regain the popularity of the early 1980s.
As for older fans who do remember the wealth spring of great talent that played in Montreal.
Read my Home Grown vs Acquired post for the Expos. They had a HELL of a lot of great players.
Gary Carter and Andre Dawson wear the Expos cap on their Hall of Fame plaques. Tim Raines might be joining them.
Older fans with a new team might be reminded of the fun of following such a talented group instead of grinding their teeth over the strike related fiascos.
I've seen dormant Cleveland, Seattle and San Francisco fan bases, bitter over management, bad baseball and bad ballparks, become rejuvenated with a turn around, new management and a new direction.
Those fans not only were happy to have a winner, but thrilled to either be excited about baseball again or for the first time in their lives. Imagine a place like Montreal being awakened.
And, with the Blue Jays good but not exactly a powerhouse (and no longer the 4 million fans a season franchise), Montreal could once again be Canada's team.
How can that be worse than the other team in the Bay Area? Or the team that needs to give tickets away in Florida?
And who knows? If baseball can catch on in Montreal without the specter of moving, maybe that once rumored to be built downtown ballpark could become a reality.
Now of the two teams, the A's make the most sense.
As bad a stadium situation that the Rays have, they have decent television ratings and might be able to develop a base. And who knows? They might just build that stadium with a sail.
The A's? Many of their games aren't televised, their fan base is dwindling, the Giants own the Bay Area and if there is going to be a new stadium built in the South Bay, it will be to keep the 49ers from moving.
They can move from a 400,000 person city that shares its fanbase with the current World Series Champion to a city of 1.6 million that could have a true sports renaissance.
And the name could be altered to "Les Athletiques de Montreal."
The Texas Rangers are going to the World Series. Those words look strange being typed out.
I honestly thought they would never make it in their history. But here they are.
And I am thinking about Washington for several reasons.
The Rangers WERE the second version of the Washington Senators before they moved to Arlington.
The team currently in Washington, the Nationals, are one of only two franchises to never had made the World Series.
The other also plays in Washington... Washington State. The Mariners.
The Nationals got to within one game of the 1981 World Series when they were the Montreal Expos.
The Mariners made it to three ALCS berths and getting to Game 6 in 1995 and 2000.
But alas no pennants.
So you are on notice, Mariners and Nationals. Everyone else has made it in BUT you. All of the original franchises have won at least one World Series.
The Nationals franchise has been around since 1969. The Mariners showed up in 1977.
The Expansion of 1961 and 1962 gave baseball the Mets (who won the 1969 and 1986 World Series and the 1973 and 2000 pennants) the Astros franchise (who won the 2005 pennant), the Angels franchise (who won the 2002 World Series) and now the Texas Rangers.
The expansion of 1969 gave us the Nationals franchise, the Padres (winners of the 1984 and 1998 pennants), the Royals (winner of the 1985 World Series and the 1980 pennant) and the Brewers franchise (winner of the 1982 pennant.)
The 1977 expansion introduced the Blue Jays (winner of the 1992 and 1993 World Series) and the Mariners.
The 1993 expansions brought the Marlins (winner of the 1997 and 2003 World Series) and the Rockies (winner of the 2007 pennant) to the show.
And finally the 1998 expansion sparked the Diamondbacks (winner of the 2001 World Series) and the Rays franchise (winner of the 2008 pennant.)
Put together a pennant winner and get off this board. If the Rangers can do it in the sweltering heat, then your team can do it.
The Mariners went into the season with some optimism and some solid talent... but a slow start took them out of the race early and not even the presence of Ken Griffey Jr. could turn things around.
So Seattle took their left handed ace who was in his walk year and traded him off. It seemed like New York, looking for another October run, was the likely landing spot, but instead sent him to a team that had never won a pennant before and despite financial troubles was going all in.
The Mariners fell apart after the trade but some good solid talent came back giving them some optimism for the future.
Meanwhile the ace flourished at first, but then came back down to earth.
Which Mariners team am I talking about? This year's team? Or the 1989 team?
Which left handed ace am I talking about? Cliff Lee? Mark Langston?
In 1989 there was some optimism with the arrival of manager Jim Lefebvre and rookie Ken Griffey Jr. And a quick glance sees there was some talent on that team.
An infield of Jim Presley at third, Harold Reynolds at second and Alvin Davis at first is nothing to sneeze at. And oh yeah, they had a young shortstop named Omar Vizquel.
Griffey anchored the outfield that had Hac Man Leonard and a young Jay Buhner.
Plus pitchers who had some success in their careers like Billy Swift, Erik Hanson, Scott Bankhead and Mike Jackson were all on the staff.
But they fell into 5th place well behind the A's when it was clear that Mark Langston, their best pitcher and a legit #1 starter, wasn't coming back.
The Mets looked like the likely landing spot as they had tons of young pitching talent they seemed ready to move. (They ultimately would trade Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani and David West that summer to the Twins for Frank Viola... a move that helped clinch a World Series for Minnesota, not New York.)
Instead they found a partner with the Expos who were jammed packed with talent and had their eyes set on unseating the Mets.
Langston dominated the Padres in his first start, striking out 13 and giving up 1 earned run over 8 innings.
He began his Expos career with a 10-3 record and people declaring him the second coming of Steve Carlton. The Expos were in first by the All Star break and at the height of Langston's winning ways, the Expos built up a 3 1/2 game lead and remained in first place by themselves as late as August 4.
When Langston threw a complete game shutout on July 25th against Philadelphia, the Expos were riding a 6 game winning streak and matched their 3 1/2 game lead for the widest margin of the year.
Then the roof caved in.
The Expos lost 40 of their last 62 games. Langston lost 6 of his last 8 decisions and the Expos, who seemed to have everything in line to win the National League East for the first time in a non Strike Shortened season, finished the year at .500, 4th place and 12 games behind the Cubs.
Langston left Montreal for the Angels. Meanwhile one of the players in the haul from Montreal became a more fearsome pitcher than Langston ever was... future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson who did indeed lead the Mariners to their first ever post season berths.
Which brings us to 2010.
The bookends of Ken Griffey's career has him see aces dealt from the Mariners. Cliff Lee is sent not to the Yankees but to the Rangers, who like the Expos, are pushing their chips to the center of the table.
Like Langston, Lee came out smoking but has slowed down considerably.
Now with an 8 1/2 game lead heading into the last day of August, it is safe to say the Rangers aren't going away. But can Lee turn things around to help deliver a pennant?
And there seems to be little doubt that, like Langston in Quebec, his stay there is temporary.
I wonder who in the haul back be the future Hall of Famer? I've got my eye on you, Justin Smoak.
By the way... there's another part to this analogy of the Mariners dealing ace left handed starters.
Remember when the Mariners had to deal Randy Johnson when HE was facing free agency?
Once again they found an unlikely trading partner looking to finally win a pennant (The Astros)... the ace pitched well but fell short of a pennant (Johnson lost to the Padres twice in the Division Series)... and left town (to the Diamondbacks)... and the Mariners got back a nice haul (Freddy Garcia and Carlos Guillen were big parts of the 2000 and 2001 playoff teams.)
What I am saying is... the Mariners are good at this whole "trading a left handed ace away" thing.
Andre Dawson dusted off the Expos beach ball cap one more time and was honored by the crowd in Washington DC tonight. The Hall of Famer got emotional watching the tribute to his career and the crowd was respectful and cheered.
But most of them were there to see Stephen Strasburg.
You see Strasburg plays for Washington... Dawson never did. In fact Dawson never played a big league game that counted IN Washington.
He played the bulk of his career for the Expos... who moved from Montreal to Washington.
The tributes have been many for The Hawk. The Marlins (his current employer) has honored him already and in August he will have his own day at Wrigley Field. (Hopefully they will retire his #8 there.)
But he went into the Hall of Fame as an Expo and became a superstar in Montreal.
Yeah his knees were banged up there and he became a national figure when he moved to Wrigley... but that doesn't excuse the fact that he should take his bows in front of the French Canadian fans whom he played his guts out for.
And there is a way to do it.
Montreal doesn't have a baseball team anymore... and it is sad because that team produced a lot of great players and as I have said before, I miss the Expos.
But they DO have a hockey team. And that hockey team has a crazed following. And it is safe to say if you are a Canadien fan of a certain age, you probably have fond memories of the Expos of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
When the Canadiens start their season, they should do the right thing.
They should bring out the Hawk and have him do that strange honorary first puck drop before one of their first games.
It would be the fitting farewell to his year long victory lap and closure to his Expos career that ended in collusion after the 1986 season.
Andre Dawson finally got into the Hall of Fame and today was enshrined. It took 9 ballots (and no doubt some anti Steroid sentiment put Dawson and Jim Rice over the top) but he's in... and he's in with an Expos hat on his plaque.
Now I am not sure if he wanted that hat... maybe he wanted a Cubs hat (or a Marlins hat as he is currently an employee of the Marlins) but he joins his former Montreal teammate Gary Carter with that weird ass M logo.
The Expos are sadly no more. They haven't played a game in Montreal since 2004. But there is still a Hall of Famer out there who should have the Expos cap on his plaque.
Tim Raines belongs in the Hall and don't make the poor guy squirm.
He didn't make it in his first two ballots, but that's enough. His numbers won't change and they are good enough to be in.
He got base, created more runs and used his speed better over a stretch of time longer than a decade better than anyone not named Rickey Henderson.
Put his stats up next to any player in the 1980s and he'll hold his own.
Take into consideration that he cleaned up his drug past and became a key veteran contributor to the 1993 AL West Champion White Sox and the 1996 and 1998 World Champion Yankees and you have the intangibles along with the numbers.
I am going to paraphrase John Travolta and say LET HIM IN.
Andre Dawson is now in the Hall of Fame and he will be forever linked to heroes and legends of Cooperstown… like Eddie Murray.
Now why of all of the Hall of Famers did I pick Steady Eddie?
It’s simple, really.
Andre Dawson was the Rookie of the Year in 1977 for the National League. Eddie Murray was the American League Rookie of the Year the same year.
So often the Rookie of the Year is given to a flash in the pan (did someone say Joe Charboneau? Marty Cordova? Pat Listach?) or players who start off looking like superstars but flame out (Fred Lynn, Mark Fidrych, Fernando Valenzuela, Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Nomar Garciaparra).
But that got me thinking… several Hall of Famers have won the Rookie of the Year… but how often has the Rookie of the Year in both leagues given to a future Hall of Famer.
Now let me preface this by saying I am talking about people CURRENTLY elected to the Hall of Fame. No doubt Derek Jeter, Mike Piazza and Albert Pujols will all get it… but they aren’t in yet, so I’m not bringing them into the discussion.
Now as I type this, I don’t know the answer… so let’s find out!
For the first few seasons there was only one award… but in the 1950s, both leagues awarded a rookie.
And looking up on Baseball Reference, the greatest website in the world, I see it has happened only two times before.
So we’ve had it happen in the 1950s and the 1960s and 1970s.
It won’t happen with players from the 1980s.
The National League winners are filled with players who started off brilliantly but were derailed by injuries or drugs.
The American League Rookie of the Year winners from the 1980s yielded a single Hall of Famer, Cal Ripken, a few flashes in the pan (like Charboneau and Ron Kittle) and of course Canseco and McGwire.
The 1990s have Derek Jeter in the American League winning in 1996… but it is safe to say Todd Hollandsworth, the NL winner that year, doesn’t have a realistic shot.
So when will there be a fourth set of Hall of Fame Rookie of the Years from the same year?
It’s looking like 2001… Ichiro and Pujols both broke in… and as of this writing, they both seem like locks.
(It’s too early to tell for 2009 winners Andrew Bailey and Chris Coghlan!)
I have 17 of these Home Grown vs Acquired rosters left. I'm not quite at the half way point and February is right around the corner!
The Angels post got a great response, even if they were tired of my picking on them for their name changes!
Well let's look at the Washington Nationals... a team that from 1969 to 2004 were known as the Montreal Expos. And since 2005 they have one .500 season and three lousy seasons.
While one .500 season is more than the Pirates can claim since 1992, it would be impossible to populate two quality 25 man rosters using only Washington players. The Nationals have a hard enough time putting together ONE 25 man roster!
So this post is more of an honor of the Expos than it is for the Nats. I've already expressed how much I miss the Expos and this post is one last salute.
As always the rules for the rosters can be found here.
So brush up on your French and learn the street names in Washington (and figure out if you are in the North, South, East or West part of town!)
When Gary Carter was elected to the Hall of Fame, he wanted his plaque to have a Mets cap on it. Granted he had 7 All Star seasons in Montreal including an MVP runner up season in 1980, three Gold Gloves, and RBI title and two All Star Game MVPs. However he had his greatest moment of glory, the 1986 World Championship, as a member of the Mets.
But the Hall of Fame office now decides which cap goes on which plaque after the whole Dave Winfield exchanging the plaque for a job fiasco.
Normally I'd say let the players decide, but I am happy with the Hall of Fame's decision. There will be many players in the Hall with Mets caps on. But there may never be another player with that unusual "M" Expos logo.
It's worth being the lone Expo in the Hall, Gary. And no I am not bitter about the 1986 World Series.
The Big Cat (Le Grand Chat) was huge in frame, nimble on the field and hit for average and power. He came up with the Expos in the mid 1980s, became an All Star, a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner and was a fan favorite.
He took advantage of the thin air in Denver to pad his stats, went to Atlanta and continued to hit and then beat cancer in time for his second tour with the Expos in 2002.
Do you know what else he can do?
Paint! He does oil painting. Folks, the man can do it all.
DeShields looked like a superstar in the making. The former first round draft pick finished second to David Justice in the Rookie of the Year vote in 1990 and played a dynamic brand of baseball.
He hit for a high average and stole bases left and right. Granted he struck out way too much, but he looked like he could even improve into a bigger star.
The Dodgers certainly coveted him and felt it was worth dealing a talented young pitcher for him after the 1993 season. The Dodgers got their man but he had his best years in Montreal.
The young pitcher the Expos got was named Pedro Martinez. His best years were ahead of him.
The late 1990s and early 2000s were a new golden age of great shortstops. And while everyone applauded A-Rod, Nomar, Vizquel, Jeter, Tejada and Renteria, one of the best ones played in obscurity north of the border.
Cabrera could hit. In 2003 he was second among NL short stops in batting average and slugging. He had some pop, three times getting double digits in home runs. He was durable, twice playing in all 162 games. But most importantly he could field.
Even playing without much coverage, he won the NL Gold Glove in 2001. When MLB refused to allow the Expos to recall minor league reinforcements for the 2003 stretch drive, Cabrera expressed his angry and wanted out of Montreal. Midway through 2004, he found himself in Boston in time for the Curse breaking stretch run and he is anonymous no more!
Bill James once called Tim Wallach a "Poor Man's Brooks Robinson." OK, a very poor man maybe, but he has a point.
For years Wallach put up All Star numbers and piled up the Gold Gloves and even got a top 5 MVP finish in 1987, and yet he was unknown to everyone except die hard baseball fans.
His Baseball-Reference page compares him to Ron Cey.
So the guy has been compared to Brooks Robinson and Ron Cey. Not bad company if you are a third baseman!
Say it with me folks... TIM RAINES BELONGS IN THE HALL OF FAME!
And say this with me too... HE SHOULD BE ELECTED NEXT YEAR!
I don't like this "Not a First Ballot Hall of Famer" garbage. You are a Hall of Famer or you are not. Tim is. He was the National League's best lead off hitter for a decade. He was a batting champ, a four time stolen base champ, and led the league multiple times in runs, times on base and later won a few World Series rings.
And his performance on May 2, 1987 when he came back after collusion kept him off the roster for the first month was a glorious middle finger to the owners. With no spring training he went 4-5 including the single that sparked the game tying rally in the 9th against the Mets and a grand slam in the 10th to win it.
And while you are voting for Tim Raines, stick his teammate Andre Dawson in the Hall too.
He won 6 of his 8 Gold Gloves and 3 of his 4 Silver Sluggers in Montreal.
Twice he was the MVP runner up while wearing an Expos uniform.
He is the only player in franchise history with 200 homers and 200 stolen bases. He was the Rookie of the Year in 1977 and set team records in home runs and RBI.
Throw in the fact that he was an MVP in Chicago and is in the 400 home run/300 stolen base club. Who else is on that club? Only Barry Bonds and Willie Mays. Good company to be in.
So he didn't walk as much as you'd like?
He had Al Oliver, Gary Carter and Tim Wallach batting behind him! Were pitchers supposed to put him on?
Insanity. Put Dawson in. Have a great day with Tim Raines and Andre Dawson in Cooperstown and tell you Sabermetic Jihadists to lighten up!
Little league and high school coaches around the country must cringe if they find out the kids they are coaching idolize Vladimir Guerrero.
Not that he's a bad guy. Far from it! He seems as classy and as humble a superstar as you could imagine.
But in this day and age when patience at the plate is preached and a knowledge of the strike zone is preached, Vlad spits in the face of all of that!
His strike zone seems to be from his eyes to 10 feet beneath the ground. From his ribs to 45 feet off of the plate. If the ball leaves the pitchers hands, he's going to take a hack at it.
It wouldn't surprise me if he takes a hack at a pick off to first.
Yet despite being a power hitter with a huge swing, he never struck out 100 times in his career, including his 7+ seasons in Montreal. Throw in the 40 home run seasons, the 30+ stolen base seasons, two top 3 finishes in batting and the gun for an arm, he is the complete player.
But kids... when you watch him remember, "Don't try this at home."
A Native of British Columbia, Walker seemed destined to lead the Expos into the post season and keep the World Series in Canada after two straight years in Toronto.
He was a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award winner in Montreal and had a knack for hitting the big homer. Alas the dream of a World Series in 1994 was killed by the strike and Walker left Montreal to join Galarraga in the thin air of Denver.
Ah if only labor peace could have been found. Canada would have a national baseball hero!
In his 13 years with the Expos, Rogers made the All Star team 5 times and finished in the top 5 in the Cy Young voting three times. He is the franchise's career leader in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched.
But his greatest achievement came in the 1981 playoffs. The strike caused a new round of playoffs to determine the division champion and the Expos had to face off with the defending World Champion Phillies. In game 1, Rogers started against ace Steve Carlton. Despite giving up 10 hits and 2 walks, Rogers got the win letting up only 1 run over 8 2/3 innings.
When the series went the full 5 games, it was again Rogers vs. Carlton in the finale at Philadelphia. Rogers broke a scoreless tie himself with a 2 run single and then went the distance with a 6 hit shutout to clinch the only series the franchise has won in their first 40 seasons.
Some Expos players were born in Canada. But how many played for the French speaking fans were born in France?
A 16 game winner in 1982 and an All Star in 1983, his best career moment happened in 1981. On May 10th he threw a no hitter against the Giants.
His next start on May 16, also against the Giants, he finally let up a hit in the 3rd, but threw a complete game shut out for good measure. He then threw 7 shut out innings in his next start and let up 1 run in 7 his next start. That's 1 run in a thirty two inning stretch.
I wonder if they were following his game along the Champs Elysses.
On September 10, 1980 the Expos were playing the Cubs while they had a slim 1/2 game lead over the Phillies for the division title. Manager Dick Williams gave the ball to rookie Bill Gullickson, who had thrown a complete game shut out in his previous outing. How could he top that?
Gullickson struck out the Cubs lead off hitter Ivan DeJesus. He then struck out 2 in the second.
The strikeouts kept piling up and after Gary Carter and Warren Cromartie hit back to back homers, Gullickson had the lead. He struck out two of the three he faced in the 9th, finishing with 18 which at the time was a record for rookies.
The Expos would eventually lose the division lead to the Phillies... but you can't blame Gullickson, who would finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting that year and have a solid career in the bigs and in Japan.
Scott Sanderson must know he pitched in the wrong time. He was a solid if not spectacular pitcher who had a 16 win season for the Expos in 1980 and eventually made the All Star team.
He made good money during his career, but with seeing what even mediocre pitchers make on the open market, I am sure he could grind his teeth in frustration.
Or you can DO SOMETHING about it.
Scott Sanderson is now an agent. And I am guessing the 10% of some of his clients beats the $800,000 he used to make as a pitcher in the bigs!
Vasquez had a few good seasons and one terrific one for Montreal. In 2001 he won 16 games, led the league in shutouts and was among the league leaders in strikeouts. Mind you he did that for a 94 loss Expos team.
The Expos reaped the rewards of those good seasons and the Yankees, Diamondbacks and White Sox made him tens of millions of dollars.
Now the Braves signed him to a big contract. How big? Let's just say 10% of it would more than pay for his agent's bills.
Urbina's post career saga is so bizarre, scary and tragic that it isn't worth going into detail about it. He's in prison for the next 14 years which I guess is what happens when you after people with a machete and try to pour gas on them.
As a player he was an All Star with the Expos and in 1999 he led the National League with 41 saves. Mind you the Expos only won 68 games that year, so he saved more than 60% of their wins.
Baseball-Reference doesn't list him as retired yet. I think it is safe to say he has pitched his last game.
Can you imagine what family barbecues were like for Mel Rojas growing up? When I had family BBQs my aunts and uncles and cousins would come over and inevitably there would be a whiffle ball game.
Well Rojas' uncles include Felipe, Matty and Jesus Alou. Rojas' cousins includes Moises Alou. Four major leaguers, including 3 All Stars would be over there to play whiffle ball.
Well Mel Rojas would be able to hold his own no doubt. He was a reliable set up man, going 7-1 with a 1.43 ERA over 100 2/3 innings in 1992. When John Wetteland was dealt to the Yankees he took over the closers role and had back to back 30 save seasons. And on May 11th, 1994, he finished a game with a nine pitch, three strikeout performance over the Mets.
Dan Schatzeder was one of those pitchers who could always find a job because he was talented, he was left handed and he could do whatever job you needed.
You need him in the rotation? OK. He won 5 straight starts down the stretch in 1979 and on September 15, 1979 pitched the first 10 innings of the Expos 11 inning 2-1 victory over the Cardinals.
And on August 9, 1984 he threw a 10 inning shut out against the first place Cubs.
You need him to close out a game? On May 19, 1979 he pitched 4 innings of 1 hit ball to close out a game against the Phillies. Need him to help save the bullpen? How about June 10, 1983 when he came in the game in the 11th and threw 4 no hit innings of relief?
He could do anything and he did it over 15 seasons, including two stints with the Expos and a World Series title with the Twins.
And over those 15 years he seemed to always be in every pack of baseball cards I ever bought!
Dale Murray had one of those seasons in 1975 that relievers just don't have any more. He won 15 games, 9th in the league, all in relief. He logged 111 1/3 innings and picked up 9 saves along the way. He didn't strike out many, but didn't walk many either and didn't allow a home run all season.
And there was no pattern for what kind of outings he'd have. Sometimes he'd throw 2/3 of an inning for a save. Sometimes he'd pitch 5 innings for the win.
These days an agent would demand that a role be defined for him These days the GM would put him on a pitch count.
Instead they just wore a reliever's arm down to the bone... AND THEY LIKED IT!
He came up as an Expo but moved to DC and had a breakout season in 2005. He saved 47 and won 2 of the Nationals 81 wins. He logged a 1.82 ERA over 74 1/3 innings and along with Livan Hernandez would become the first All Stars to represent Washington since Frank Howard in 1971.
Who would have imagined it? In the Washington National entry, I would include a Washington National!!!
The Expos had losing seasons their first 10 years. But in 1979 their talented team came together to win 95 games and were in first place with 5 games left.
The big star on their turn around season was Parrish who hit .307 with 30 homers and a .909 OPS. He would play two more seasons in Montreal before the emergence of Tim Wallach made him expendable and it was off to Texas.
But the first time the pennant race ever went north of the border, it was behind his leadership!
When the Expos stared down contraction and were owned by the 29 other teams, they put together two improbable Wild Card runs. Jose Vidro was one of the big reasons for their stunning winning seasons.
He was three time All Star and won the Silver Slugger in 2003.
And on April 14, 2005, at the first regular season game played in Washington since 1971, it was Vidro who doubled and scored the first run. It would be the run that put the Nats ahead for good that day.
There will be many more game winning runs scored for the Nats at home... but Vidro will always have the first.
Grissom was the Gold Glove winning keystone of the Expos outrageously talented outfield in the early 1990s. He had Moises Alou in left and Larry Walker in left. Meanwhile Grissom picked up some MVP votes in three straight seasons and led the NL in stolen bases in 1991 and 1992.
One of the most respected players of his generation and consistently considered one of the good guys and smartest players, he played for the World Champion Braves in 1995 and was the MVP of the 1997 ALCS while with the Indians.
He's now the first base coach for the Nationals. He's come home... sort of.
Cromartie was a beloved star in two countries... and neither one of them was America!
He put together 7 solid seasons in Montreal, being a complimentary hitter to the Andre Dawsons, Larry Parrishs and Gary Carters of the line up. He doubled off of Steve Carlton in game 1 of the 1981 Division Series to help spark the Expos to their first ever post season win.
Then after the 1983 seasons he signed with the Yomimuri Giants and became the highest profile American in Japanese baseball. He was named the MVP of the Japanese Central League in 1989.
When MLB sent a team of All Stars to tour Japan in the off season after 2004, Expos Brian Schneider was selected to join them.
The strange thing was the Expos had already announced that they were moving to Washington to become the Nationals for the 2005 season. So while that team was traveling, the Expos name and franchise existed only as the uniform that Schneider was wearing it.
How appropriate that the team that was dragged between Montreal and San Juan in 2004 while their move was dragged out ended in a locker room in Japan.
Do you think Schneider felt the burden of the 1979 and 1980 near misses, the 1981 division winner, and the "what could have been" of 1994 on his shoulder as he took his uniform off for the last time?
Or do you think he threw it in the hamper and left?
I could have picked a lot of Expos for the 25th man. I almost put Ellis Valentine or Wil Cordero here and no doubt there are many who think I should have.
But I am putting Zimmerman in because I want this franchise to look forward. They had an up and down, rocky and interrupted by labor strife existence. But they now have a real major league stadium for the first time in their franchise's history. They know they are going to be in Washington from now on. And with Ryan Zimmerman they may have their first home grown Washington star.
He started off in a blaze with his Rookie of the Year runner up season in 2006 and Christened Nationals Park with a walk off home run on opening day, 2008.
Sure it was practically the lone highlight for the Nationals 2008 season, but I am looking for the future.
With Obama in office, the key word in Washington these days is Hope. Maybe Zimmerman can bring some hope to Washington baseball!
There's some solid home grown talent there... one in the Hall of Fame and two more who should be. Who knows? If they vote in Raines and Dawson and Guerrero keeps this up, this could be an All Hall of Fame outfield.
The Expos were better known for letting talent slip away, but did they ever take away any talent?
Fletcher bounced around between the Dodgers and Phillies, not making much of an impression. And when he arrived in Montreal things didn't look that much better. But Felipe Alou, the manager, held a close door meeting with him.
Afterward, he became the starting catcher and even made the All Star team.
And this was no Mike Sharperson selection. The Expos sent 5 All Stars to the game that year, so he wasn't fulfilling a quota.
He was the Expos starting catcher for 6 years before joining the Blue Jays and staying north of the border for another five seasons.
I almost automatically put Tony Perez here. And why not? Perez was a Hall of Famer and he came to Montreal after being on back to back World Series winners in Cincinnati.
But while he was a good player in Montreal, he wasn't the superstar slugger he was with the Reds nor his first season in Boston.
And "Scoop" Oliver put up much better numbers in Montreal. He came over in the Larry Parrish deal and his first year, 1982 finished third in the MVP voting. He won the batting title, led the league in hits and had an OPS of .906.
He also hit 22 homers and drove in 109 for those of you who like stats like that. And in the All Star Game played in Montreal, Oliver got two hits, one off of Dan Quisenberry, the other off of Rollie Fingers.
That's why I do my homework, my dear readers. I wouldn't want to disrespect Scoop!
The 1980 Expos were probably the best team in their history. They had Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Steve Rogers, Scott Sanderson, Larry Parrish, Ellis Valentine and many many talented players.
So who did manager Dick Williams call his MVP? Rodney Scott!
Scott? His batting average was only .224! How was he even a good player?
Stats can lie. And Scott's speed (he had 63 stolen bases) and ability to make things happen on the base paths (his 13 triples led the league) and smart play (he was among the league leaders in sacrifices) gave him value beyond the box score.
The writers saw this as he got some MVP votes that year. Bill Lee saw it as his outburst after the Expos cut Scott in 1982 led to his dismissal and effectively the end of his career.
Sometimes value can't be quantified by stats. I trust Dick Williams. He's in the Hall of Fame and chances are you are not!
For a while the Mets had an outfielder named Mookie and a third baseman named Hubie and an outfielder named Strawberry. It sounds less like a foundation for a Championship ball club and more like characters from a Sid and Marty Kroft show.
Hubie Brooks was traded to the Expos in the Gary Carter trade and he shifted to shortstop. There he became a right handed power hitter and a 100 RBI man, which was rare for shortstops then... at least shortstops not named Ripken!
Later he returned to the Mets, but it was too late. Mookie was in Toronto and Strawberry was in Los Angeles.
Bailey was a decent player who played 6+ seasons for the Pirates and Dodgers before his contract was purchased by the Expos for their first season in 1969.
In 1970 he broke out and hit 28 homers and would have three 20+ home run seasons for the Expos all the while being among the league leaders in walks.
Back then nobody thought much of that combination. These days fantasy players would snatch him up in a heart beat!
Alou was picked up by the Expos from the Pirates system but it didn't look like it was going to work out. He missed the entire 1991 season due to injury and started the 1992 season on the bench.
He got a few pinch hits when the manager Tom Runnells decided to start him on April 26. He went 3 for 3 raising his average to .714. You would think that would have earned him another start.
Nope. He stayed on the bench through mid May.
Runnels was canned 37 games into the season and he was replaced by Moises' dad Felipe. Felipe stuck his son in the starting line up the rest of the season and the Expos went 70-55 the rest of the way.
Alou finished second to Eric Karros in the Rookie of the Year voting and went on to a great career including a third place finish for the 1994 MVP.
The best way to describe Mitch Webster is he was a poor man's Brett Butler. (The center fielder, not the comic.)
He was a prototype white guy with speed. He had a good average and good defense acting as a spark plug to the 1986 and 1987 Expos team with 30+ stolen bases. Plus he would bat second and would allow Tim Raines to move to the third spot.
The experiment of putting baseball in Quebec was worth it if for no other reason than to give Rusty Staub one of the coolest nicknames in baseball history.
Le Grande Orange!
I mean he already had a cool nickname in Rusty. It's certainly a cooler name than Daniel Staub. And he was already an All Star in Houston when he came over to the Expos for their inaugural season.
But he became the Expos first superstar. He hit 29 homers in 1969 and 30 in 1970... all the while terrorizing swimmers in that pool just beyond the right field fence at Jarry Park.
He was the first Expo named to the All Star team and despite playing on lousy clubs, he got some points in the MVP votes for 1969 and 1971 before becoming a hero for the Mets.
And the nickname stuck. No matter what language you spoke or where he played, he was forever Le Grande Orange.
You can't blame Nationals GM Jim Bowden for wanting to make a splash. The Nationals were not exactly a hard ticket to get going into their second season in DC. So he decided to bring a superstar to the Nats and he traded for Soriano.
There was a problem. They already had a second baseman and manager Frank Robinson put him in left field. Soriano didn't want to go to left field and refused to take his position in a spring training game.
Not the best start for the new star in his new home on the last year of his contract.
Soriano lightened up and decided to listen to his Hall of Fame manager and had a 40 home run, 40 steal season and made the All Star Team... and had as much of a chance of resigning with the Nationals as he I would have winning American Idol.
So Jim Bowden HAD to trade him at the deadline. He could get near big league talent in exchange for him. But Bowden held firm that he was keeping his gate attraction. Soriano bolted for the Cubs and the Nationals got two draft picks.
No pressure on pitchers Josh Smoker and Jordan Zimmerman... but you are all the Nationals have to show for the Soriano experiment!
Dodger Blues considers the Delino Deshields for Pedro Martinez trade not only one of the worst deals in Dodgers history but also one of the worst in the history of baseball.
Can you blame him?
Can you imagine Pedro, who won the first of his three Cy Youngs in Montreal, becoming the next great Dodger ace in Chavez Ravine? Along side Koufax and Drysdale and Sutton and Valenzuela and Hershiser there would be Pedro. And Pedro would be better than all of them except for Koufax.
His final season in Montreal, 1997 was as good as any season you will ever see in the history of baseball.
In the height of the steroid era, Pedro posted a 1.90 ERA when the league average was 4.17. He won 17 games for a team with a losing record. He struck out 305 batters and walked only 67 in 233 2/3 innings.
And he pitched 13 complete games.
The next year he moved on to Boston and became a legend. In 1999 he actually topped his 1997 season.
Delino Deshields left the Dodgers before Pedro's 1997 Cy Young season.
In July of 1991, my mother, father and I visited my brother at USC. We decided to go to a game at Dodger Stadium on Saturday. In the Friday game, the day before our game, Mark Gardner threw 9 no hit innings but the game went scoreless in the 10th. Gardner pitched in the 10th but let up 2 hits and got a hard luck loss.
We saw the Saturday game, which was kind of an uneventful 7-0 complete game shutout by Bob Ojeda.
We listened to the Sunday afternoon game while taking a drive. Dennis Martinez, El Presidente, was pitching. He seemed like a washed up pitcher when his Baltimore days ended in 1986 and the Expos took a flier on him. He had a revival in Montreal and was good for 10 to 15 wins a year.
But that day he was more than reliable. He was perfect. The Dodgers went 1-2-3 each inning and my dad and I couldn't believe another Expos pitcher was flirting with a no hitter. And , like with Gardner, the Expos couldn't score for him as it was 0-0 going into the 7th. But Larry Walker's 2 out triple in the 7th scored Martinez of all people and Walker himself scored on the next play. They would be the only runs the Expos scored all weekend, and they were unearned.
Martinez completed the perfect game by getting Chris Gwynn, Tony's brother, to pop up.
We listened to the end of the game and couldn't believe it. We could have gone to a spoiled no hitter and we could have gone to a perfect game. Instead all we saw was a boring complete game shut out.
A quick bit of research tells me that Bryn Smith is pals with the band RUSH and used to drive to New York state to buy Doritos.
One fact is incredibly cool and one fact is incredibly pathetic.
So the scales need to tip one way or the other. Is he a cool guy who happens to love Doritos too much. Or is he a dope who happens to be pals with RUSH.
Well, he was a major leaguer and had a few solid seasons, including an 18-5 campaign in 1985 where he posted a 2.91 ERA in 222 1/3 innings pitched.
I guess good major league pitcher tips the scales to "Cool."
Mark Langston was the biggest piece of trade bait in years just dangling out there in 1989. The Mariners knew he was going to bolt via free agency and they knew they could get a haul for him. The Mets were dangling Rick Aguilera and the package that would ultimately land Frank Viola.
The Red Sox were rumored to be considering parting with some of their young talent. Possibly Mike Greenwell.
But the Expos stunned everyone sending three relatively unknown pitchers to Seattle. And for a while the Expos looked like buyers and a playoff team. Langston gave them instant post season aspirations. He won his first game, striking out 12 in 8 innings. In his 4th start he threw a complete game shutout, one of four he threw for Montreal.
When he was on, so were the Expos. He started 10-3 in Montreal and the Expos had a 3 game lead on August 3rd.
Then the wheels came off. Langston went 2-6 the rest of the way and the Expos fell out of first place on August 7th. They finished 81-81 and Langston bolted to California.
It was a bold move that for a while looked like was going to spark the Expos into the playoffs and it was rare and should be applauded especially since it only cost the Expos 3 obscure pitchers.
Granted, one of those pitchers was Randy Johnson, but who is keeping track?
You think I am putting Bill Lee on the team as a shameless way to plug the film Spaceman which features your pal Sully?
Well that's not the ONLY reason.
But when the Lee was dumped for the immortal Stan Papi, he led the Expos in 1979 with 16 wins. He threw 222 innings and helped lead the Expos to their first ever winning season. All the while Manager Dick Williams (who is in the Hall of Fame) realized what Don Zimmer (who is a Hall of Fame idiot) never could figure out: You let the Spaceman be the Spaceman, and he'll deliver.
Now please enjoy this post game interview with Lee from 1979 and buy the Spaceman video.
There was nothing flashy about Tim Burke. He didn't have a cool nickname. He didn't have bad ass facial hair. He didn't have Kent Tekulve like Coke Bottle glasses. He didn't do wild gestures on the mound like Dennis Eckersley.
He just calmly and reliably closed out games. First he was Jeff Reardon's set up man. Then when Reardon was dealt, he took over the closer's role and posted a 1.19 ERA over 91 innings. He went 7-0 and saved 18 games. By 1989 he was an All Star, going 9-3 with 28 saves.
And after being dealt to the Mets and later the Yankees, he left baseball all together to raise his adopted children and he wrote a book about it.
I admire him of course, but Tim... if you pitched a few more years you could have had a ride on the post strike bonanza for pitchers salaries. Do you know what can help in raising kids? MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!
This is the fourth time I have Jeff Reardon on one of these teams. First with the Red Sox, second with the Mets and third with the Twins.
Arguably his best years were with the Expos where he was the Rolaids Relief award winner in 1985, made the All Star team twice and saved 20 or more games 5 straight seasons.
I'm not going to put him on the Braves team, nor the Reds nor Yankees. This is my last tip of the cap to the super talented and now tragic former relief star.
The Reds traded away one of the star players of the 1980s in Eric Davis, but they could see he was going to be a big health risk. The Dodgers wanted him to play along side his childhood pal Darryl Strawberry and sent starting pitcher Tim Belcher and a prospect named John Wetteland.
It was a total steal for the Reds. Wetteland would develop into a premiere reliever and MVP candidate, posting save totals in the 30s, keeping his ERA well under 3 and one year under 2. He would have more strikeouts than innings pitched each year and one year won 9 games to go along with 43 saves and a 1.37 ERA.
The trouble for the Reds is he would do all of that with the Expos. Wetteland never spent a day in a Reds uniform. The Reds, not realizing they had a future World Series MVP in their control traded him to the Expos three weeks after they got him from the Dodgers.
These deals took place in the off season, so it is unlikely Wetteland even bought a Reds cap.
Why don't teams listen to Mike Marshall? He's a doctor now and claims that he has a method that prevents pitchers from breaking down. If I ran a club I'd listen to him.
In a time when team's are coddling their pitchers, or worse yet panicking the way the Yankees have so incompetently handled Joba Chamberlain, Marshall would go out there and pitch every day. He had two top 4 finishes for the Cy Young Award while pitching out of the Montreal bullpen.
He would throw triple digit innings, win 14 games a year, save 23 one year, 18 another and 31 yet another season.
He would go on to win the Cy Young award with the Dodgers. He claims he knows the key. Yet nobody listens...
Seriously after watching another generation of pitchers breakdown, how could it hurt to listen to him?
Fassero was kicked around between the Cardinals, Indians and White Sox before he even saw a game in the major leagues. He made his debut with the Expos in May of 1991 and I can't imagine there was much expectation for the former 22nd round pick.
He turned into first a super reliable middle reliever, keeping his ERA under 3, picking up some saves and letting up a total of two homers over two seasons.
In July of 1993 he was moved to the rotation where he became a reliable if not spectacular starting pitcher who finished in the top ten for the 1996 Cy Young while in Montreal.
He went on to be a reliable reliever and starter for the Mariners, the Cubs and Cardinals... the team that originally drafted him in the 22nd round.
The one time Twins star was the first well known new name to come to Washington when the franchise moved. And the first season there was not his best. He had to have a torrid September to bring his average up to .219.
And after missing the 2006 season and most of the 2007 season, the Nats first free agent signing looked like a total bust.
But he came back with an all around solid 2008. He finished among the league leaders in batting and in hits. And on May 3, Guzman homered, hit the game winning double and finished going 4-5 with 6 RBI.
He represented the Nationals in the All Star Game that year. Maybe it wasn't such a bad signing after all.
For those of you who worship on base percentage, may I present to you Ron Hunt. A quick glance at Hunt's stats show he is a nice player who had a nice 12 year career, made a few All Star games and got some MVP votes.
But he got hits. Not many base hits. He was hit by pitches. A lot of them. More than anyone in history until Don Baylor and Craig Biggio came around.
Now Baylor I can understand. He was a big strong hitter who crowded the plate. Biggio I understand because he played a billion years and had tons of armor on.
But why Ron Hunt? Why a light hitting middle infielder? Maybe it was a fluke. He liked to say "Some gave their body to science, I gave mine to baseball."
But the infielder who got some MVP votes when he was on the 1973 Expos got on base, even if it wasn't always pretty.
Singleton was a New York native and Hofstra grad who broke in with the Mets and is now calling games for the Yankees. So some associate him with New York.
He was an All Star and twice a legit MVP candidate with the Orioles, where he played with the 1983 World Champs. So some associate him with Baltimore.
But his first great season was in 1973 with the Expos. He batted .302 with 23 homers, 103 RBI and an OPS of .904. Plus he drew 123 walks, second in the league.
Later he was an announcer for the Expos.
Safe to say I am sure some people associate him with Montreal.
It's easy to think that after the strike of 1994, the Expos just faded away and didn't compete again. That's simply not true. In 1996, two years after the strike, the Expos won 88 games and almost won the Wild Card.
One of the big stars of the new Expos was Henry Rodriguez, who made the All Star team and had a knack for the big home run. He led the club in homers, RBI and OPS and started a new tradition.
When he homered, fans would throw O'Henry bars onto the field. There weren't many fans in the stands, so it never caused much of a safety hazard.
When he later played for the Cubs, fans tried doing it there, but it became a safety hazard and the practice was stopped.
Who knew they would allow more fun at Stade Olympique than at Wrigley Field.
I apologize to Chris Widger who I originally had here. But I like the story of Jesus Flores. He is a hard nosed catcher with some power and quickly is becoming a fan favorite in Washington. He won the Heart and Hustle Award in 2008 and some scouts think he can become an All Star.
The best thing for Washington fans? He was swiped in the Rule 5 draft from the Mets. Presumably Omar Minaya left him unprotected to keep a 40 year old on the roster.
When I think of Ron Fairly I think of him as a big slugger for the Dodgers... or maybe as the announcer of the Giants when I first moved to the Bay Area.
But I guess I should think of him as an All Star for Canada.
He was traded by the Dodgers to the Expos when LA wanted Maury Wills back. (Maury Wills was an Expo?) And in 1973 after 15+ seasons in the bigs, he finally made the All Star Team. He batted .298 with 17 homers and was second in the league for on base percentage.
Later he played for the original Blue Jays team and was their All Star representative.
He was the only guy to play on the All Star team for two Canadian team. And unless they put a team in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, it's safe to say nobody will ever join him on that list!
WHO WOULD WIN A HEAD TO HEAD SERIES?
The home grown team has the Hall of Famers (or those who SHOULD be in the Hall of Fame) but the Acquired Team has the arms and an iron clad bullpen. And pitching wins, no matter what country you are in and no matter what language you speak!
VERDICT: THE ACQUIRED TEAM WINS... AND TO MAKE THE SERIES FAIR IT IS PLAYED IN SAN JUAN!!
