Montreal Expos history filled with storylines from Palm Beach County
The Montreal Expos history is not complete without Palm Beach County as part of the storyline.
The Expos spent 26 years escaping cold and damp of Quebec for sunny, palm-trees-swaying-in-the-breeze South Florida; 21 of those at the old Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach and five at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter.
Danny Gallagher, a longtime Expos beat writer for the Montreal Daily News and Ottawa Sun, digs deep into the team’s history in his recently released book Always Remembered: New revelations and old tales about those fabulous Expos. Many of those revelations and tales involve Palm Beach County.
Gallagher’s recollection of Municipal Stadium on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. — which met its demise in 2002 and now is the site of a Home Depot — is what you would expect of a venue built in 1962. He started covering the Expos in 1989.
“Small, cramped, antiquated stadium that was cozy and past its due date,” was how Gallagher described the stadium. “It served its purpose for many years for the Braves and the Expos.”
The Expos trained in West Palm Beach from 1969-72 and again from 1981-97. They moved to Roger Dean Stadium from 1998-02 before being kicked out by the Marlins and moving to Viera for two years. Baseball moved the franchise to Washington D.C. in 2004 and named it the Nationals. Now, the franchise born as the Expos is back in West Palm Beach for spring training and has a World Series title.
Montreal’s existence also is tied to the Marlins by Jeffrey Loria, who alienated fans in two cities in which he owned teams. Loria sold the Expos to Major League Baseball shortly before the franchise left Montreal while being allowed to purchase the Marlins. Gallagher’s descriptions of Loria certainly are shared in Montreal and Miami, calling him a “clown” and greedy.
“Loria single handedly killed the Expos and then cried poverty as he convinced south Florida politicians to pay for a new stadium in Miami,” Gallagher wrote.
That transaction along with the Expos’ spring training days in Palm Beach County led to a host of former Montreal employees and players calling the area home. The most iconic was Gary Carter, the Hall of Fame catcher who lived in Palm Beach Gardens. Carter died in 2012, nine months after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
Gallagher asked Expos fans in an informal social media poll who they considered the all-time face of the of the franchise. Carter received the majority of the votes.
Gallagher devotes multiple chapters to Carter’s Expos career and life in Palm Beach County. Included are the early years and how he was drafted by the Expos out of high school in Fullerton, Calif., in 1972; his rise in popularity and the stunning trade to the Mets following the 1984 season.
Carter was very close to Tommy Hutton, his teammate in Montreal for three years and a longtime television analyst for the Marlins. Hutton, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, was on the golf course with Carter when Carter received the call that he was going into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Nine years later, Hutton was one of many who eulogized Carter at Carter’s funeral.
“When I was with the Phillies and you played against Gary, you hated him,” Hutton told Gallagher. “But as a teammate, you realized he was genuine along with everything he did.”
The book includes many more anecdotes and vignettes from West Palm Beach, some involving those who made our area their home. Players like the late Rusty Staub, Andres Galarraga, Jeff Reardon, Bill Gullickson, Brad Wilkerson and Larry Walker, who was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in January.
And others are mentioned, including Expos and Marlins announcer Dave Van Horne; equipment manager John Silverman; former manager Felipe Alou, who is 85 and lives in Boynton Beach; and Charles Bronfman, the team’s former owner who lives in Palm Beach and turns 89 this month.
It was at Alou’s home in Boynton Beach in 1998 that the Expos talked him out of leaving the team and taking over as manager of the Dodgers. As Gallagher writes, Alou reportedly quit as Expos’ manager during the final series of the season and agreed to join the Dodgers for the start of 1999 season. After meeting with the Dodgers, Alou returned to Boynton Beach to find Expos officials waiting for him at his home. Reports are the Expos bumped Alou’s salary up to $2 million per year, $500,000 more than the Dodgers offered, and he agreed to stay. Alou’s managerial career with the Expos spanned more than eight years, ending during the 2001 season when he was replaced by Jeff Torborg.
Gallagher describes Staub as “the Expos first franchise hero.” Gallagher believes he was the last journalist to speak to Staub before Staub died in 2018, while at Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach.
Staub, who was 73, had a home in Palm Beach Gardens. Years earlier, Carter convinced Staub and former Mets standout Keith Hernandez to purchase homes in Palm Beach County. They played together with the Mets in 1985. Gallagher was in town in March 2018 when he walked into Good Sam hoping to visit Staub. He was given his room number and able to spend time with “Le Grand Orange.” He was not allowed to interview him or take photos.
Hall of Famer Andre Dawson, who finished his career with the Marlins before spending several years working for the organization, sat down for the last time with Expos officials in West Palm Beach. That meeting did not go well for the Expos as Dawson, who now lived in Miami, turned down their offer and decided to test free agency. He joined the Cubs after playing 11 years with the Expos.
The Expos’ final year in Palm Beach County was 2002. The next year they moved to Viera. Two years later, moving trucks backed up to the offices at Olympic Stadium in Montreal and headed south to Washington, D.C.
-----------
Gallagher's book can be obtained at indigo.ca or by emailing exposbook2020@yahoo.com
