September 29, 2004: The End of the Montreal Expos

September 29, 2004: Although the announcement that the Montreal Expos were moving to Washington, D.C. to become the Washington Nationals next season was not a surprise, the timing of it was: On the morning of the Expos' last home game ever, turning the season finale into a French-Canadian wake.

The Expos went down quietly, losing 9-1 to, of all teams, the Florida Marlins, the team that Expos owner Jeffrey Loria was allowed to buy, and giving the Expos back to Major League Baseball, having stripped the franchise of pretty much its entire front office, and even its broadcast team, including Hall-of-Famer Dave Van Horne.

To make matters worse still, the winning pitcher for the Marlins was an Ex-Expo, Carl Pavano. The last Expos play was Terrmel Sledge, batting against Rudy Seanez, popping up to 3rd baseman Mike Mordecai. A crowd of 31,395 came to say Au revoir.

Just as the Expos' 1st game, on April 8, 1969, was away to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, an 11-10 win, so, too, were their last 3 games at Shea, winning the 1st 2, but losing the last, 8-1 on October 3, 2004. The last active former Expos was Bartolo Colón, in 2018.

The Expos began play at Jarry Park, meant to be a temporary stadium only, in 1969. In 1973, despite a 79-83 record, they were only 3 1/2 games out of 1st place in the National League Eastern Division. They moved to the Olympic Stadium in 1977. They had a close call in 1981, losing the clinching Game 5 of the National League Championship Series by 1 run, and staying in the NL East race until the final weekend in 1979, 1980, 1987 and 1993.

They had the best record in MLB when the Strike of '94 hit. But the inadequacy of the Stadium, the U.S.-Canadian exchange rate, and Canada's taxes led (I won't say, "forced") ownership to trade away good players.

As of the 2022 election, there are 9 players in the Baseball Hall of Fame who played, however long, with the Expos. Lee Smith lasted only 1 season; Tony Pérez, 3. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Larry Walker and Vladimir Guerrero were traded in their primes; Randy Johnson and Pedro Martínez, just as they were getting into theirs. Only Tim Raines could be called anything like an "Expos Hall-of-Famer," and even he was just 31 when he was let go.

Even in 2002 and 2003, despite the administrative nightmare, they were 83-79. But they couldn't hang on. They were basically a lame-duck team for 5 seasons, 2000 to 2004, awaiting the inevitable. And, while the team, as the Nationals, endured 7 bad seasons, they then had 8 good ones, including 5 trips to the Playoffs, ending that run by winning the 2019 World Series.

The Olympic Stadium has since held preseason games, involving Canada's remaining MLB team, the Toronto Blue Jays. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Oakland Athletics have struggled in their bids to keep their fans and build new ballparks to replace inadequate stadiums. Still, it is unlikely that a new team -- expansion or moved -- will be placed in Montreal until the City, or the Province of Quebec, is will to spend the money to build a new ballpark there. And that's not going to happen anytime soon.

The Expos had a team Hall of Fame. The inductees were:

From their founding era, 1969 to 1980, but not the 1981 Division title: Manager Gene Mauch, 2nd baseman Ron Hunt, right fielder Daniel "Rusty" Staub, pitchers Claude Raymond (a Quebec native) and Bill Stoneman.

From the 1981 National League Eastern Division title: Founding owner Charles Bronfman, catcher Gary Carter, 1st baseman Warren Cromartie, shortstop Chris Speier, 3rd baseman Larry Parrish, left fielder Tim Raines, center fielder Andre Dawson, right fielder Tim Wallach (later mainly a 3rd baseman); pitchers Steve Rogers, Woodie Fryman, Bill Gullickson, Jeff Reardon; manager Jim Fanning, general manager John McHale; and broadcasters Dave Van Horne, Jean-Pierre Roy and Jacques Doucet.

From after that title: 1980s pitcher Tim Burke. They did not honor any players from their 1994 NL Eastern Division Champions, or from after that.

Bronfman, Raymond, Staub, Carter, Dawson, Raines, Rogers, Wallach, Fanning, McHale, Van Horne, Roy, Doucet have also been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. So have pitchers Dennis Martínez, Rhéal Cormier and Pedro Martínez; and outfielders Larry Walker, Matt Stairs and Vladimir Guerrero Sr. Cormier, Walker and Stairs were Canadians.

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September 29, 2004 was a Wednesday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 and 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. The Yanks needed a 4-run 7th inning, including a home run by Hideki Matsui, to win the opener, and Paul Quantrill was the winning pitcher, in relief of Mike Mussina. He was followed in the 8th inning by Tom Gordon, and the 9th by Mariano Rivera. Quantrill, Gordon and "Mo" Rivera: This combination became known as "QuanGorMo." Johan Santana started for the Twins, but J.C. Romero was the losing pitcher.

Matsui homered again in the 2nd game, and Alex Rodriguez also homered. Jon Lieber was the winning pitcher. Over the 2 games, Derek Jeter went 4-for-9 with an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 6-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-4 and 8-3 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles swept a doubleheader from the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6 and 4-0 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. In the 2nd game, Rick Bauer -- not to be confused with Rich Dauer, an Oriole 2nd baseman of a previous generation -- pitched 6 innings of 3-hit shutout ball. It took 3 relievers to finish a 4-hit shutout.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-4 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The winning pitcher was Doug Waechter, and the losing pitcher was Pedro Martínez. David Ortiz went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Austin Kearns hit a home run to win the game in the top of the 12th inning. Ken Griffey Jr. did not play.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 8-7 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Angels scored a run in the top of the 9th, then scored 2 runs in the top of the 11th, while the Rangers scored only 1 in the bottom half.

* The Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-4 at Minute Mark Park in Houston. Albert Pujols did not play.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Petco Park in San Diego. Mark Loretta drove Kerry Robinson home with a sacrifice fly to win it in the bottom of the 10th. Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Colorado Rockies the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).