September 29, 2004: Expos say ‘au revoir’ to Montreal

Frank Robinson wasn’t used to seeing Olympic Stadium so full. He looked up at the structure’s Teflon sky and told himself, “Hey, there’s fans in the upper deck!”1 Indeed, throughout Robinson’s three years as manager of the Montreal Expos, big crowds had been rare. Yet to many of the 31,395 spectators, some who recalled the team’s sold-out first game at Jarry Park in 1969, that evening’s turnout marked a throwback.2 It was one last reminder of love before the divorce.

Fans had learned just three hours before first pitch that this 2,786th Expos regular-season home game in Montreal was to be the last.3 After 36 years, the club planned to flock south, play three road games against the New York Mets to end the 2004 season, and rebrand as the Washington Nationals the following spring. The first Canadian city to call a major-league baseball team home had only that night to bid adieu.

The sudden news hurt the Expos’ faithful, but it did not shock them, not after the decade they had endured. A 1994 players’ strike rendered the team’s winningest season fruitless. In 1995 a fire sale and last-place finish turned fans against then-owner Claude Brochu.4 In the early 2000s Brochu’s successor, New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria, failed to secure broadcast and public stadium funding deals. By 2001 the team’s average home-game turnout had fallen from 28,650 in 1983 to 7,935.5 Loria left in 2002 to buy the Florida Marlins, along the way taking Montreal’s computers, scouting reports, more than a few personnel, and the keys to its spring-training grounds.6 Without a new owner the Expos had become wards of a league that doubted their longtime home’s profitability.7 Though Quebecers stressed that the attendance drop had more to do with anti-establishment sentiment – and that the team still had a following – the fate was nonetheless sealed.8

“You knew you had a loved one on life support, and you knew the time was going to come when he or she was going to pass on, but you don’t feel the impact until it has actually occurred,” Expos President Tony Tavares said before the team’s final home game. “It has occurred in Montreal.”9

The fan base’s anger crept into the pregame ceremony. A select few booed during a performance of the US national anthem. Though most attendees tried countering them with cheers, the boos still enraged the visiting team, which just happened to be the Loria-owned Marlins. “If that’s the way they’re going to treat American citizens, I’ll never come back here again,” Florida manager Jack McKeon said later that night. “I would be embarrassed as a Canadian citizen. That was insulting. I came close to pulling our players off the field.”10

In the third inning, following another act of protest, it was Robinson who pulled players off the field. Someone had started tossing golf balls and bottles onto the turf. A screen flashed, urging the audience in English and French: “According to the National League baseball rules, it is forbidden to throw objects on the field. This action may put the Expos at risk of forfeiting the game.”

Though the warning worked – and play resumed 10 minutes later – an Expos loss remained just as imminent. By that point Montreal was down 5-0 against Florida. A second-inning error by rookie shortstop Maicer Izturis had enabled Marlins first baseman Jeff Conine to score; a subsequent fielder’s choice by former Expo Carl Pavano had brought the second run home, followed by a two-run double by Juan Pierre. Miguel Cabrera’s third-inning home run and Mike Lowell’s standup double had already knocked Expos starter Sun-woo Kim out of the game.

The fourth inning brought the Expos a glint of hope. A hit by Tony Batista dropped down the right-field line and hopped off the wall for a double. Terrmel Sledge grounded out but moved Batista to third. A liner by Juan Rivera smacked the left-field wall and drove Batista home for Montreal’s first run, though it turned out to be the club’s only run. While trying to stretch his two-out hit into a double, Rivera slipped off second base and was tagged out. The frame was over.

The Marlins’ fifth-inning rally made the game more out of reach. A single by Conine drove Cabrera in from second base. Luis Castillo’s line-drive single to right brought Lowell home and set off a chain of defensive misplays: Expos right fielder Ryan Church missed his cutoff man; first baseman Brad Wilkerson picked up the ball and tried throwing Castillo out at second; the throw bounced off Castillo’s glutes and into center field, scoring Conine. In the next at-bat, Florida’s Álex González hit a looper that just missed the diving second baseman Brendan Harris’s glove in shallow right field. Castillo crossed the plate to make the score 9-1.

Some boos resurfaced but not for long. In the sixth Robinson pulled Batista and Wilkerson from the game, giving Expos fans one more chance to cheer for the two veterans. With chants of his name filling the ballpark, Batista hopped out of the dugout for a curtain call. “They surprised me with that kind of ovation,” the third baseman told reporters later, as his 32-home-run season neared a close. “I tried to do my best for the team and for myself.”11

The enthusiasm only grew, even as the number of Expos runs didn’t. Fans spent the game’s last hour refusing to sit. They wiped away tears and held their signs. Emotions, at least those they could fit on posterboard, ranged from disappointment (“This Is How It Ends? Thx 4 Nothing”) to hopeless optimism (“See You Soon/À Bientôt!”) to gratitude (“On Behalf of Me and My Grampa, Thanks for the Memories”). By the middle of the ninth, with Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” playing over the speakers, the volume inside Olympic Stadium resembled that of a playoff game. “I was in awe at all the noise,” Sledge said later. “Usually I can block the crowd out but not this time.”12

Sledge came to bat with two outs. With a 3-and-1 count against Marlins reliever Rudy Seánez, he popped up to shallow left field. Former Expo Mike Mordecai – playing third base for Florida – backed up, opened his glove, and squeezed it for the catch. Montreal’s loss was final.

“The end of a sad day for the city of Montreal, for our country,” Expos television announcer Sam Cosentino said at 10:01 P.M. “The last out at Olympic Stadium.”

But the masses were in no rush to leave. Youppi! the mascot shook the hand of coach Claude Raymond, a Quebecer who had first pitched for the Expos during their inaugural 1969 season. A montage of team logos and highlights filled the screens past the outfield, showing retired favorites Gary “The Kid” Carter, Andre “The Hawk” Dawson, and Tim “Rock” Raines.

Players and coaches trickled back onto the field for parting words. Raymond thanked the crowd in French. Infielder Jamey Carroll thanked “everybody, from the front office to security to the ushers to the guys that work in the clubhouse, and to you fans for coming out.” Pitcher Liván Hernández, who led the league in innings pitched and complete games that year, voiced his gratitude in Spanish before delivering an English “I love you guys.”

The final speaker drew some of the loudest applause. The beloved Raines, a future Hall of Famer who had beaten drug addiction early in his career and spent 13 seasons with Montreal, electrified the crowd again. “Thank you for the thanks you have given me,” he said, pointing to his chest. “In my heart you’ll always be right here.”

Once the speaking ended, more tears flowed. Catcher Brian Schneider consoled Raymond.13 Wilkerson returned to the clubhouse, where he slumped and wept.14 Other players and coaches dried their eyes and stayed on the field, tossing signed balls and other items into the stands.

Those who had been loyal brought the souvenirs back to their homes – which were, by and large, closer to Montreal than Washington.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin. Additional thanks to Gary Belleville and Kurt Blumenau for contributing valuable insight.

Photo credit: Olympic Stadium, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited below, the author consulted a recording of The Score’s telecast of the game, as available here: https://youtu.be/a6C17-Tjuro?si=2E8k2J768MHp6aFJ.

The author also used Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for the box score and other material. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MON/MON200409290.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2004/B09290MON2004.htm

Notes

1 Jack Todd, “Adieu, Nos Amours,” Montreal Gazette, September 30, 2004: A1.

2 Retrosheet notes that the Expos’ 1969 home opener attracted 29,184 spectators, exceeding the renovated Jarry Park Stadium’s capacity of 28,456.

3 Expos team President Tony Tavares confirmed the move at a 4 P.M. news conference ahead of the game’s 7 P.M. start, as noted in Stephanie Myles, “‘A Sad Day in Montreal,’ Minaya Says,” Montreal Gazette, September 30, 2004: C1. In addition to their 2,786 regular-season home games in Montreal, the Expos played 43 home games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, during their final two seasons.

4 Canadian journalist Jonah Keri has summarized the sentiment as such: “Expos fans couldn’t help but wonder if that could have been them celebrating every year … if Brochu convinced the team’s cheapskate owners to spend a few damn dollars, or taken a leap of faith that short-term financial pain would lead to long-term success.” Jonah Keri, Up, Up, and Away: The Kid, the Hawk, Rock, Vladi, Pedro, le Grand Orange, Youppi!, the Crazy Business of Baseball, and the Ill-Fated but Unforgettable Montreal Expos (Toronto: Random House Canada, 2014), 321. (See also Joe Marren, “Montreal Expos Team Ownership History,” SABR Biography Project, accessed July 14, 2024.)

5 “Montreal Expos Attendance Per Year,” Expos Nation, https://exposnation.com/en/montreal-expos-attendance-per-year/. Accessed July 14, 2024.

6 Danny Gallagher and Bill Young, Ecstasy to Agony: The 1994 Montreal Expos (Toronto: Scoop Press, 2013), 286.

7 On November 6, 2001, Major League Baseball’s club owners voted 28 to 2 to disband the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins, two of the league’s lowest revenue earners. The league ultimately scrapped its contraction plan, though the two teams’ fiscal concerns would persist for years.

8 The final paragraph of Up, Up, and Away reads: “To the Expos diehards, Montreal hadn’t failed baseball. Baseball had failed Montreal.” Keri, 377.

9 Myles, “‘A Sad Day in Montreal,’ Minaya Says.”

10 Clark Spencer, “Finale Full of Fireworks,” Miami Herald, September 30, 2004: 3D.

11 Myles, “31,395 Say Goodbye,” Montreal Gazette, September 30, 2004: C1.

12 Joe LaPointe, “To Fans, Expos’ Goodbye Is More Bitter Than Sweet,” New York Times, September 30, 2004: D6.

13 Later that night Schneider spoke to the Montreal Gazette about Raymond: “I wanted to give him a big hug. I know how much this team means to him.” Todd, “Adieu, Nos Amours.”

14 Todd, “Adieu, Nos Amours.”