June 29, 1978: Expos defeat Blue Jays in inaugural Pearson Cup on 10th-inning suicide squeeze

Lester B. Pearson was Canada’s 14th prime minister (1963-68) and a Nobel Peace Prize winner.1 He was also a talented amateur ballplayer in his youth, a lifelong baseball fan, and an honorary president of the Montreal Expos from 1968 until his death in 1972.2 When the Toronto Blue Jays joined the American League in 1977 – two decades before the advent of interleague play − it didn’t take long for the two major-league organizations to set up an annual in-season exhibition game, with the winner claiming Canadian bragging rights and a handsome trophy. Naturally, it was dubbed the Pearson Cup.

The inaugural Pearson Cup game was played in Montreal in 1978, just two days before Canada Day. To the delight of the 20,221 fans in attendance and those watching the national telecast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,3 the contest featured two Canucks, Expos reliever Bill Atkinson and Blue Jays second baseman Dave McKay.4 Atkinson, known to Expos fans as Kid Canada, let a lead slip away in his first inning of relief, but he redeemed himself by pitching three scoreless frames and earning the victory when he scored the winning run on Sam Mejías’ thrilling 10th-inning walk-off suicide squeeze.

Expos manager Dick Williams was not happy to be playing an exhibition contest on June 29.5 The fiery skipper had been hired before the 1977 season to lead a young Montreal team into the playoffs.6 With the Expos in a pennant race and about to embark on a tough stretch of 12 games in 10 days, Williams was in no mood to play the lowly Blue Jays on what would have been a much-needed offday.

Montreal − still in search of its first winning season − had been only a half-game out of first place at the end of May. A mid-June slump dropped the Expos into third place, and when they opened a vital three-game series against the first-place Philadelphia Phillies on June 26 in Montreal, they were three games off the pace. Steve Rogers outpitched Steve Carlton in the series opener, lowering his ERA to a league-leading 2.16 and cutting the deficit to two games. But the Expos dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker the next night and their bullpen imploded in the series finale,7 dropping them four games out with a 37-37 mark.

The Blue Jays had lost 107 games in their debut season, 1977, and 1978 wasn’t shaping up to be any better. They had the worst record in the majors until a four-game winning streak prior to the Pearson Cup nudged them ahead of their expansion cousins, the Seattle Mariners. Toronto was in seventh place in the AL East with a 26-47 record, a whopping 25 games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox.

The Blue Jays organization was looking forward to seeing how it measured up against Canada’s more established big-league team. “This game means a great deal to us,” said Blue Jays President Peter Bavasi. “Obviously the game doesn’t mean as much to the Expos. People are excited in Toronto.”8

While Blue Jays manager Roy Hartsfield used seven of his regulars for the entire game,9 Williams relied heavily on his reserves. Only two regulars, youngsters Andre Dawson and Larry Parrish, played all 10 innings.10 On the mound, the Expos used three of their underperforming hurlers and another, Stan Bahnsen, who had just come off the disabled list.11

Former Expo Balor Moore got the start for the Jays. Montreal had selected him in the first round of the June 1969 amateur draft and, up until the 1973 season, he looked like a pitcher with a bright future. Control issues had sidetracked Moore’s career,12 and he was now with his third big-league organization.13 The 27-year-old southpaw had pitched well in his three previous starts, walking only four batters and posting a 2.21 ERA.

Expos starter Rudy May, who had been recently demoted to the bullpen, surrendered a double to the game’s first batter, Rick Bosetti.14 May retired the next six Blue Jays and was removed after tossing two scoreless innings.15

The Expos jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second on a triple by Ellis Valentine and Dawson’s RBI single.

Wayne Twitchell came on and pitched two perfect innings, giving Montreal hurlers 12 consecutive outs.16 That streak was broken when Otto Vélez swatted a solo homer to left field off Bahnsen leading off the fifth.17

Dave Cash and Chris Speier singled off Moore to open the bottom of the fifth.18 One out later, Tony Pérez singled, plating Cash. A sacrifice by Bahnsen advanced both baserunners.19 Speier and Pérez were lifted for pinch-runners, both of whom scored on Dawson’s double.20 The hit gave the 23-year-old center fielder three RBIs in the game and put Montreal out front, 4-1. Righty Joe Coleman came on in relief of Moore and he escaped the inning without any further damage.21

Bob Bailor singled off Bahnsen in the sixth. Third baseman Roy Howell lashed a double and Dawson ranged into right field to retrieve the ball; he fired the ball in, nailing Bailor at the plate.22

Atkinson, a native of Chatham, Ontario, came on in the seventh. The 23-year-old right-hander had been a valuable member of the Expos bullpen in 1977, his first full season in the big leagues.23 He had struggled recently, walking eight batters and giving up eight earned runs in his previous six appearances (9⅓ innings pitched). Atkinson had a respectable 3.86 ERA, although he had allowed a hefty 65 percent of inherited runners to score so far in 1978.

Atkinson quickly loaded the bases on two walks and a single. With two outs, pinch-hitter Tom Hutton doubled to clear the bases and the game was suddenly tied, 4-4.24

Atkinson tossed scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth and the exhibition affair went into extra innings. The game was Atkinson’s to win or lose. “I wasn’t going to take him out, not after it went 10 innings,” Williams said afterward. “I’d used enough pitchers as it was.”25

After Atkinson kept Toronto off the scoresheet in the 10th, Toronto brought in righty Tom Murphy to pitch the bottom of the frame. Atkinson led off with a single. When Dawson tried to sacrifice him to second, Murphy fielded the bunt and tossed the ball into center field, allowing Atkinson to advance to third. Murphy intentionally walked veteran backup catcher Ed Herrmann to load the bases.26

One out later, Williams called for the suicide squeeze and Mejías bunted the ball about 15 feet in front of the plate.27 Atkinson took off for home – his groin muscle immediately gave out − and Murphy flipped the ball to catcher Alan Ashby.28 But Ashby didn’t realize it was a force play and he attempted to tag the limping Canadian. Ashby dropped the ball and Atkinson slid in safely with the winning run.

Although Dawson was the star of the game with three RBIs and a sensational outfield assist, it was Atkinson who stole the limelight.29 Expos fans overlooked the blown three-run lead and focused on his valiant dash to score the winning run.

The irascible Williams was far less enamored with Atkinson’s performance. “He couldn’t protect a three-run lead in an exhibition game where he had no pressure,” Williams complained. “He walked three batters. This is not the first time he has failed in relief.”30 Any doubt that Atkinson was firmly in Williams’s doghouse was put to rest three days later when he was optioned to the Triple-A Denver Bears.31

Montreal won only 4 of its next 12 games and lurched into the All-Star break in fourth place, 8½ games out of first. The Expos were unable to bounce back and they finished with a disappointing 76-86 record, 14 games behind the pennant-winning Phillies. Thanks largely to an ineffective bullpen, the Expos were an abysmal 23-36 (.390) in one-run games in 1978. Their fans would have to wait one more year for Nos Amours to enjoy their first winning season.32

Eight Pearson Cup games were played from 1978 to 1986, with each team winning three times and tying twice.33 (The game was canceled because of the players’ strike in 1981, the only season in which the Expos appeared in the playoffs.) In 2003 − six years after the introduction of interleague play − the Pearson Cup was resurrected and awarded to the team winning the season series between the Expos and Blue Jays. In both 2003 and 2004, the teams went 3-3 in head-to-head meetings.

The final game of the Pearson Cup era was played on July 4, 2004. That contest – an Expos “home” game − was played in front of 8,279 indifferent fans at Estadio Hiram Bithorn in San Juan, Puerto Rico.34 Fittingly, Mississauga, Ontario’s Shawn Hill was the winning pitcher. But with Expos fans resigned to the fact that their team would be relocated for the 2005 season35 and Blue Jays supporters disillusioned by Toronto’s 11-year funk since its back-to-back World Series championships, hardly anyone in Canada even noticed the demise of the Pearson Cup.36

As of 2024, the Pearson Cup was on display at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Marys, Ontario.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and The Sporting News contract cards. Unless otherwise noted, all play-by-play information for this game was taken from the article “Champions du Canada!” on page 62 of the June 30, 1978, edition of Montréal Matin.

Neither Baseball-Reference nor Retrosheet provides box scores of in-season exhibition games. The author could not locate a box score or full line score for this game in any newspaper. An abbreviated line score from Montréal Matin is shown below. Please note that the English translation of “circuit” is home run, “pts” (points) is runs, “cs” (coups sûrs) is hits, “LG” (lanceur gagnant) is winning pitcher, “LP” (lanceur perdant) is losing pitcher, and “assistance” is attendance.  

Photo credit

Photo of Bill Atkinson downloaded from the Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 As prime minister, Pearson oversaw the implementation of the Canada Pension Plan, universal healthcare, and a new national flag. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his role in helping defuse the Suez Crisis.

2 Pearson played third base for the Guelph (Ontario) Maple Leafs in the Intercounty League, one of Canada’s top amateur circuits. Callum Hughson, “An Intercounty Baseball League Primer,” Mop-Up Duty, http://mopupduty.com/an-intercounty-baseball-league-primer/, June 14, 2010, accessed April 29, 2024.

3 By comparison, the four National League games that night averaged only 14,252 fans. Paul Patton, “10th-Inning Bunt Gives Expos 5-4 Win Over Jays,” Toronto Globe and Mail, June 30, 1978: 27; Ian MacDonald, “Jays Kept It Close but Finally Blew It,” Montreal Gazette, June 30, 1978: 53; Ron Brown, “Merger a Must,” Kingston (Ontario) Whig-Standard, June 29, 1978: 14.

4 Twenty-eight-year-old Dave McKay was from Vancouver, British Columbia. He singled and scored as part of Toronto’s three-run rally in the seventh inning. He finished his eight-year major-league career with a .229 batting average, 21 homers, and 170 RBIs. As of 2024, McKay had coached in the big leagues for 39 seasons, mainly as a first-base coach.

5 Arlie Keller, “Jays Squeezed Out in 10th of First Pearson Cup Game,” Toronto Star, June 30, 1978: B1.

6 Williams never delivered a pennant in Montreal. He lost the support of his players and was fired on September 8, 1981, with the Expos 1½ games out of first place. The team rallied after his dismissal, going 16-11 under Jim Fanning’s leadership, to win the second-half title in the NL East. Ian MacDonald, “Expos Fire Dick Williams,” Montreal Gazette, September 9, 1981: 1.

7 The Expos took a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning on June 28 before the bullpen gave up seven runs in the final three frames. Mike Garman was the main culprit, surrendering five earned runs in two-thirds of an inning. Atkinson relieved Garman and gave up two singles in one-third of an inning, allowing two inherited runners to score. Darold Knowles was touched for two earned runs in the final two innings and the Expos lost, 7-5.

8 MacDonald, “Jays Kept It Close but Finally Blew It.”

9 The seven Blue Jays regulars to play the entire game were Alan Ashby, Bob Bailor,  Rick Bosetti, Rico Carty, Roy Howell, McKay, and Otto Vélez. The game was played with National League rules, so no designated hitter was used. Carty, Toronto’s regular DH, played first base, relegating John Mayberry to the bench.

10 Keller, “Jays Squeezed Out in 10th of First Pearson Cup Game.”

11 Bahnsen had been out with a shoulder injury since May 12. The author found no evidence that any minor-league players were used in the game. Tim Burke, “Ailing Bullpen Could Wreck Expos’ Hopes,” Montreal Gazette, June 13, 1978: 25.

12 The 21-year-old Moore had shown flashes of brilliance in 1972, his first full season in the big leagues. He went 9-9 with a 3.47 ERA in 22 starts in 1972. In six of those starts he registered a Game Score of 77 or greater, including a four-hit shutout of the Big Red Machine on August 23 in which he struck out 13 batters. In 1973 Moore’s walks jumped to 5.6 batters per nine innings. He spent most of 1974 and ’75 in the minors. In a start for the Triple-A Memphis Blues on June 2, 1975, Moore walked 11 batters and uncorked two wild pitches in 3⅔ innings pitched. The Expos sold his contract to the California Angels less than two weeks later. “Charleston Silences Blues’ Bats,” Memphis Press-Scimitar, June 3, 1975: 18.

13 A week into the 1978 season, the Blue Jays purchased Moore’s contract from the Angels. After struggling in the Toronto bullpen, Moore was moved into the starting rotation on June 13. He finished the 1978 season with a 6-9 record and a 4.93 ERA. Moore pitched his last game in the big leagues on August 6, 1980. He finished his eight-year major-league career with a 28-48 record and a 4.52 ERA.

14 May had been acquired by the Expos in an offseason trade with the Baltimore Orioles. On December 7, 1977, Baltimore traded May, Bryn Smith, and Randy Miller to Montreal for Joe Kerrigan, Gary Roenicke, and Don Stanhouse.

15 “Expos ‘Squeeze’ Past Blue Jays,” Bowling Green (Ohio) Daily Sentinel-Tribune, June 30, 1978: 17.

16 “Expos ‘Squeeze’ Past Blue Jays.”

17 Canadian Press, “Expos Squeeze Past Blue Jays,” Calgary Albertan, June 30, 1978: 86.

18 Canadian Press, “Expos Squeeze Past Blue Jays.”

19 Montréal Matin incorrectly reported that the sacrifice was by Twitchell. “How They Scored,” Montreal Gazette, June 30, 1978: 55.

20 The pinch-runners were Stan Papi and Pepe Frías. “How They Scored.”

21 Toronto used four pitchers in the game: Moore, Coleman, Mike Willis, and Tom Murphy. Patton, “10th-Inning Bunt Gives Expos 5-4 Win Over Jays”; “Expos ‘Squeeze’ Past Blue Jays.”

22 “Expos ‘Squeeze’ Past Blue Jays.”

23 Atkinson went 7-2 with a 3.35 ERA in 1977. He also had seven saves in eight opportunities.

24 “Expos ‘Squeeze’ Past Blue Jays.”

25 Patton, “10th-Inning Bunt Gives Expos 5-4 Win Over Jays.”

26 The Expos had purchased Herrmann’s contract from the Houston Astros three weeks earlier.

27 MacDonald, “Jays Kept It Close but Finally Blew It.”

28 Keller, “Jays Squeezed Out in 10th of First Pearson Cup Game.”

29 Canadian Press, “Kid Canada Saves the Day,” Ottawa Citizen, June 30, 1978: 18.

30 Jean-Paul Sarault, “Atkinson Inquiète Williams,” Montréal Matin, June 30, 1978: 62.

31 Atkinson was not placed on the disabled list. He pitched for Denver until he was recalled by Montreal in September. In seven appearances with the Expos in September 1978, Atkinson allowed six earned runs and walked five batters in eight innings pitched. His last major-league action came in September 1979 when he was a late-season call-up during a tight pennant race with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Atkinson went 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA in 10 relief appearances. “Transactions,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), July 3, 1978: B4.

32 Nos Amours (Our Loves) is the nickname given to the Expos by their French-speaking fans.

33 “Trophies – Pearson Cup,” Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, https://baseballhalloffame.ca/trophies-pearson-cup/, accessed April 29, 2024.

34 Major League Baseball took control of the Expos in February 2002. It had them play “home games” in Puerto Rico 22 times in 2003 and 21 times in 2004. Ronald Blum (Associated Press), “Expos Sale a Done Deal,” Montreal Gazette, February 12, 2002.

35 The Expos’ move to Washington, DC, became official on September 29, 2004, just a few hours before their final game in Montreal. Ed Waldman and Ryan Young, “Contenders Line Up to Grab Expos,” Montreal Gazette, June 15, 2004: C2; Stephanie Myles, “‘A Sad Day for Montreal,’ Minaya Says,” Montreal Gazette, September 30, 2004: C1.

36 On April 29, 2024, the author searched newspapers.com for references to “Pearson Cup” in newspapers dated July 5, 2004. He found only one article with a brief mention of the Pearson Cup.