Episode 13: From Expo 67 to Exit 2004 - The life and death of the Montreal Expos

The Expos were loaded with young talent and were dubbed the team of the ’80s—then one swing turned into “Blue Monday” and the window never opened quite the same way again. This one’s a love letter to the roster that should’ve had more Octobers.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Woo!

SPEAKER_02 0:19

I am so happy today. Me too. Sorry, did I just chatter?

SPEAKER_05 0:25

No, no, it's fine. No, great. This is awesome. Hello, all our listeners. Yes. We are so positive today.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

It is once again a Monday evening.

SPEAKER_05 0:45

Yeah, which is my favorite day of the week, personally. I love Mondays. I love Mondays now. I just can't get enough of them. They are awesome. I am happy I'm not tired at all, actually.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

I feel fresh today.

SPEAKER_05 0:58

Yeah, I feel well rested.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Yeah, Matt had Matt was a best man, a co-best man at a wedding this weekend. Shout out. Seems like it went off without a hitch.

SPEAKER_05 1:08

Yeah, went great. Speech went great. Shout out Nico, co-best man as well. And shout out to my best friend in the world, Mike Vital, on getting married to one of my other best friends, Nicole Bergamo.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

And and two very strong listeners of the pod.

SPEAKER_05 1:24

Two very strong physically and emotionally. Emotionally and audibly listening. Um, yeah, so we're here and we're jamming this episode in right before I leave again.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

That we are. Yeah, doing it for you guys.

SPEAKER_05 1:40

It's all about the listeners.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Yeah. It's all about you guys. We want to give you a cons something to expect and look forward to every week. So here we are. We're making it happen for you. And um, yeah, Matt, what feedback were you hearing at the wedding?

SPEAKER_05 1:55

I got a lot of feedback at the wedding on the podcast because I saw some friends, uh, old friends, new friends, uh, who had listened. Uh and they thought we sounded super sad at the beginning of last episode, hence our positivity. Um, and they also thought that minute 13 of the last podcast was the funniest minute uh of all time that's ever aired.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

What was minute 13?

SPEAKER_05 2:21

Oral. I'm still not getting it. Yeah, we just full-on glitch for I don't know, it could have been two minutes, three minutes. Yeah, I don't know. We just said his name over and over and over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

I'm so sorry that happens.

SPEAKER_05 2:40

No, it's fun. I think it's fun. Uh but that actually brings me to my next point. Uh, the one correction I know of, and there was probably more.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Oh, yeah, actually, I think I had one too.

SPEAKER_05 2:50

Okay. Well, the first one uh it was Earl Um Moral's uh QB record. I it I said it incorrectly. I I don't know remember where I got it, truthfully, but uh it is approximately 63, 36, and three. Whatever I said was totally different. A lot of threes and sixes there. Do you remember um what your correction is?

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Um never mind. I was right. I was right. My never mind. Okay. I was flawless once again.

SPEAKER_05 3:26

Yeah, perfect. A perfect pod.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Mm-hmm. Well, uh, yeah, let's what what the frick are we doing around here?

SPEAKER_05 3:34

I think we jump right into it today, Katie. Enough beating her on the buttons. Episode 13 is gonna be our I think our first team episode.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Uh yeah, we've been focused focused on the people.

SPEAKER_05 3:48

Yeah, we've been focused on the people, some eras, but we haven't focused on a team.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

So today's a team.

SPEAKER_05 3:53

So today's a team, and what a team it is. Uh or is not. Or is not, we're gonna find out. Which is after this break. Um we're talking about the Montreal Expos. The Expos. The expos.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

And you know, so I feel like did this come a did did was this a brainchild of that one episode and we're like good callback. Yeah, what was it?

SPEAKER_05 4:17

What's your guess? What do you what were you thinking we were talking about? Do you remember who we talked about?

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Was it when we were talking about the Raptors?

SPEAKER_05 4:24

No. Oh, what? Big sexy.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Oh, wow. That's way back.

SPEAKER_05 4:30

Yeah, way back when. And Vladimir Guerrero. Remember Vladimir Guerrero?

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_05 4:36

Yeah. Um yeah, so those are a couple former expos uh that we we definitely talk a little bit about our boy um Vladdy, but I don't I don't think we're gonna talk about Bartello. We're not. I mean Bartello was there for like a year. Okay. So, anyways, Katie, um, why don't you because you speak a lot of French, why don't you tell us who the Montreal Expos were? Give us like the intro, just just get after it. Okay, and then I'll jump into the history.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Sure, sure, sure, sure. So the Montreal Expos, and I apparently in French they're calling them Les Expos de Montreal.

SPEAKER_05 5:21

There's a lot of can uh French things I want you to say today that I wrote down.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Okay, so they were no longer are. They were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. They were the first major league baseball franchise located outside of the United States. They played in the National League East Division from 1965, from 1969, that's the year we went to the moon, until 2004. And then then after that 2004 season, the franchise moved from Washington, DC and became the Washington Nationals.

SPEAKER_05 6:00

Very cool, very cool. Let me say something really quick.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:03

Sorry, just before we get too deep into this. I did all of this research in a time crunch with very little sleep. So there might be like if it starts to get jumbled a little bit. Okay, I'm sorry. Go. Great, awesome.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Yeah, and then this is the first time I'm reading this, everybody, once again. So giving you an A plus production.

SPEAKER_04 6:27

Perform.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

So the uh Montreal had a minor league triple A team called the Montreal Royals, which folded in 1960. So that's nine years before the expos originated. Yeah. The political leaders at the time wanted an MLB franchise, and the National League wanted to expand to different cities for that 1969 season, and they awarded a team to Montreal. They named okay, so this is this is where this was the connection to that. Yeah, they named the team after the Expo 67 World's Fair. It was a massive event to celebrate Canada's centennial. And uh that Expo, Expo name is applicable to both French and English. So uh fun little fun fact here Kansas City took the name the Royals, so the Expos couldn't use their AAA team name that they had.

SPEAKER_05 7:32

Uh these were a couple names that were thrown around. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Okay, so the other names that were thrown around for the Expos or you said?

SPEAKER_05 7:40

Yeah, for the Expos at that time before '69, you know.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Okay, so the other names they were thinking of were the Voyageurs and the Nationals as well, but the Expos ultimately won. I think it's cool. I think it's pretty tight.

SPEAKER_05 7:55

Yeah, I like the Expos.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Uh I also really like the logo. It's the red, white, and blue M, which had a little E and B in it for Expos and baseball, forming an EMB monogram. You know what? I don't think I freaking realized that.

SPEAKER_05 8:10

Dude, I didn't know that either. Like I was the frick.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 8:13

I did say I'm gonna pat myself on the back for a second. I usually don't like think about these things. And I was like, in this research, I was like, you know what? I'm gonna like like where did the logo come from and why? You know, like it's like you never think about like it's like oh it's a marlin, it's a fish because there's those fish here. But then I was like, you know, why are there these colors and why is it shaped this way? Yeah, and then all of a sudden you can see the E and the B in it.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Yeah, dude, that's pretty cool. That makes me like it even more.

SPEAKER_05 8:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Oh, can we bring it back?

SPEAKER_05 8:49

I know. And E well, actually, I forget if I wrote about this, but there there's talks. There's talks, and shout out Bagel who's in the podcast room.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Oh and so I think the other reason why I like this logo is because it's my mid-century modern minimalist vibe.

SPEAKER_05 9:05

MCM style.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Loving MC style.

SPEAKER_05 9:07

As my fiance likes to say in every other sentence.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

MCM.

SPEAKER_05 9:11

That's MCM style.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Yeah. So that's cool. Sorry, does that sound weird?

SPEAKER_05 9:19

You just yawned into the microphone.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

It's Monday evening now.

SPEAKER_05 9:24

Come on, Katie.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Okay, so love the logo, love the origin story. Uh tight.

SPEAKER_05 9:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

Matt, do you want to talk about the history of the history?

SPEAKER_05 9:36

There is a lot coming here, Katie. Okay, okay. So buckle up. I'm gonna walk everybody, all of you guys, through the history of the expos. We're starting in 1969, so let's uh let's jump back in time and we're gonna make it all the way until a little after 2004. We're going to the moon.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

We're going to the moon.

SPEAKER_05 10:03

All right. So um this is going back before then. There were some early pro teams uh in the late 1800s not affiliated with the MLB that didn't pan out in Montreal. Um, and there was also a triple A team under the Dodgers. Uh, they were Brooklyn at the time, right? Uh so Montreal had an affiliate of the Dodgers. Um, under the Dodgers management, the Royals, the Montreal Royals, won seven International League Championships and three junior World Series titles between 1941 and 1958. So although they didn't have a pro team, they had some pretty badass um triple A minor league teams.

SPEAKER_04 10:41

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_05 10:42

Fun fact, too, Jackie Robinson, who we all know and love, also joined the Royals junior World Series title team. So that's pretty cool. Um, leading into the 40s, uh, though the Royals championships were passed, uh, so this is you know kind of late 40s, they started to face uh declining attendance, and the team was sold after 1960 as the Dodgers started to reduce their number of teams that they had at the AAA level. So I didn't know this, but teams had multiple like triple A teams back way back when. Um so yeah, so they got rid of Montreal due to uh you know the um declining attendance, which you will see a lot today. It's gonna be a major theme. It's about attendance, okay?

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Huh. You look like a well, do you think it was because of the war?

SPEAKER_05 11:30

Could have been. Could have been. I didn't look for a specific reason. I think the team did start to do not as good, which was a good part of it.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

So it was just probably what's the one.

SPEAKER_05 11:38

And it was Montreal and Cold and yeah, so um the Royals folded, and that's a little um head nod back to a previous episode about all the folding NBA teams.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Folded.

SPEAKER_05 11:53

Um, so Katie, who's the Montreal mayor here? What's the how does she say this guy?

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Jean Drapeau.

SPEAKER_05 12:01

Awesome. And City Exec Committee Chairman, Jerry Snyder.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

So that one's oh wait, it's probably Jerry.

SPEAKER_05 12:08

That one's less fun to say. Um, they began a campaign, uh campaign, campaign, campaign for an MLB team. Um so when Montreal was selected, they had a really hard time building slash finding a stadium, and they almost lost their chance, got pretty close to um just saying, hey, Montreal's not the spot anymore, you guys can't figure it out. Luckily, they worked it out um and they took the field to begin the 1969 stadium, and they played at Jerry Park Stadium.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

What is what is wait a second? So that was a pre-existing stadium?

SPEAKER_05 12:47

I actually don't know for sure. I think so.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

I think it was I think it was You know, I wonder if that it was built for the Expo.

SPEAKER_05 12:56

Yeah, there's another stadium coming, which makes me think it might have already been around.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

What was it called? The Jerry Stadium. Jerry Park State.

SPEAKER_05 13:04

Jerry Parks. Yeah. Look into that while I answer this question. So I wrote down question Katie might ask. How did the Expos get their players? Because I don't know if you've ever thought about this. Actually, let me ask you. How do like when a new team gets implemented, how do you think they get their players? Have you ever thought about that?

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Hmm, I I've never thought about that, Matt, but I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 13:32

Yeah, so when the Montreal Expo started in 1969, they primarily acquired players through a 1968 expansion draft. So they were able to select 30 players from existing National League teams. Their first selection was outfielder Manny Moda, and um they also, in addition to this, built their roster um through some trades um and acquired star outfielder Rusty Staub, who we're gonna talk about here shortly through the amateur draft. Do you have any callbacks to Jerry Park Stadium?

SPEAKER_02 14:12

Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 14:18

Nothing to finish.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

I don't understand.

SPEAKER_05 14:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Uh uh, just keep going.

SPEAKER_05 14:24

Well, the Expos in their inaugural game, their first game, they beat the New York Mets 11-10 at a stadium, and they probably would have beat him today, too, because the Mets are on a stinker right now. Sorry to all our Mets fans out there. Um in their ninth game, so just their ninth game ever, Bill Stoneman threw the expo's first no-hitter over the Philadelphia Phillies, who it probably also would have happened today because the Phillies are on a stinker currently, too. Sorry, all our Philly fans. Um that excitement of those first couple crazy games died down pretty quickly. It's hard being an expansion team. I have come to find through this research. They ended up going 52 and 110. That is really bad. They had the worst record in the National League. Um, they ended up getting a little bit better in the following seasons, but it's time to talk about our first expo.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

We'll call it, can I, can I pausing? Okay, I figured it out. So Jerry Park was originally a local, just like a local community park for youth baseball. It wasn't like a professional venue.

SPEAKER_04 15:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Then to make it suitable for the MLB, they added just a mere casual 25,000 seats to that field.

SPEAKER_05 15:51

Got it.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Uh in 1969 for the expo. So they had to like send it to make it.

SPEAKER_05 15:58

Yeah, okay. So and that makes sense. It felt like a very scrapped together thing because you'll see soon that there were some major problems with this. So but it's time to talk about our first expo. We're gonna call him a pup because uh maybe he'll be a full dog one day, but um we'll call him a pup today because we're just gonna do a little highlight. So this is Rusty Staub, Katie. You want to t tell us about Rusty?

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Rusty, Rusty.

SPEAKER_05 16:24

You're gonna frickin' love Rusty.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Okay, I promise.

SPEAKER_05 16:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Okay, so he was the team's best player and first star in its early seasons. In its early seasons.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Um, so he was acquired from the Houston Astros in a trade before that inaugural season there. He led the Expos with 30 home runs in 1970, and owing to his red hair, he was nicknamed Le Grande Orange. Which means the big orange. That's all right. Alphonse. Uh so um, so he was Montreal's lone representative at the All-Star game that year in the team's first three seasons, and endeared himself to the local fans by learning French. Rusty, I love you. So uh he had a three-year stint with the Expos, hit 78 ding-donggers. Is that what you say?

SPEAKER_05 17:30

I say ding dongs, yeah. That's okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Uh I'm seeing I'm learning from him. You are he played uh in three all-star games, came back about 78 seven-eight years later on his deathbed uh to briefly play 38 games. No, he came back seven to eight years later. Seven or eight.

SPEAKER_05 17:52

Yep. Yeah, seven or two. We don't. I mean, I just it was late. I didn't want to do the math. I didn't know exactly how long it was. Uh seven or eight years later.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

So we he could he played those 38 games durant. And was that the end of his career?

SPEAKER_05 18:08

Um you might have to double check that. I kind of think so. I do. Or no, I think it was like a little half. Restab, hold on.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

So was he he was he known as an expo?

SPEAKER_05 18:19

Like, did he play definitely was not his last year? Um uh I think he you could have called him an Astro, you could have called him an expo, you could have called him a Met. You might even been able to call him a tiger. Uh he spent nine years with the Mets, so you're probably calling him a Met.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

He died in 2018.

SPEAKER_05 18:39

Oh Rusty.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

At the Good Samaritan Medical Center in Palm Beach, Florida.

SPEAKER_05 18:44

Can you say his nickname again? The way that you say it.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Le Crante Orange. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 18:50

Yeah, so I feel like people maybe m know him a little bit better as a as a Met. I mean, just because he spent so much time there.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Yeah, all the pictures I'm seeing, he's got a Met uniform on.

SPEAKER_05 18:59

He he looked like he peaked though as an expo. I mean, his like three of his best years were an expo. I mean back to back-to-back all-star games, and then after that, he only made one more all-star game. Kind of looked like maybe a little like a scrappy-doo type player uh towards the end. Yeah, he didn't really play a lot in this last like five years. Anyways, so that's Rusty. Rusty's our first pup. Good job, thank you. So now uh we kind of kicked off this whole expos era, right? Um uh late 60s, early 70s. So our early years, um, the team failed to post a winning season in its first I meant to write 10 years. I wrote TN years. It's first 10 years. So it was it. It was uh I think it was exciting for Montreal, it's my guess, but I think it was it was a tough watch. Uh they finished fifth or sixth in the sixth team NL East eight times. So they were pretty bad to start. Um they recovered briefly in 1973 as the Expos mounted an unsuccessful start charge at the NL East Pennant um before declining sharply in 1974 and beyond. By 1976, attendance had dropped to just over 600,000 fans over the course of the season, which was very, very low. Um less than half of what the expos had drew in their inaugural season. So darn. What's the problem here, Katie? What's the problem? The on-field performance was not the only concern for the expos. Jerry Park.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Oh wow. Circling back on Jerry Park here.

SPEAKER_05 20:37

A hard circle back on Jerry Park was only intended to serve as a temporary home until 1971 at the latest. And as I just mentioned, we're in 1976, right? So even uh allowing for this, it left much to be desired as a baseball venue. So the grandstands were completely exposed to the elements. Remember, this is Montreal, it is not Florida, forcing the expos to postpone a number of early season games. Additionally, the sun set directly in the face of the first baseman, which would force delays. So, due to numerous delays, cost overruns with its intended replacement, Olympic Stadium, the Big O, um, the Expos were forced to stay through 1976. So the Big O wasn't quite ready yet. So this is causing problems, especially for the attendance, right? Um, the new facility, the Big O, was a significant upgrade.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

It seems like anything could be better than Jerry Park.

SPEAKER_05 21:36

For sure. But although weather-related issues created by Montreal's harsh climate persisted until the stadium's roof was installed way later in 1987.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

Wait, were they one of the one of the earliest roofs?

SPEAKER_05 21:50

It's gonna be a lifetime lookup with Katie. I don't know. Yeah. Like you should look. What was the first domed baseball stadium?

SPEAKER_02 21:56

First domed baseball stadium. Houston Astrodome.

SPEAKER_05 22:03

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Wow, that's a big old dome.

SPEAKER_05 22:07

When was theirs?

SPEAKER_02 22:08

1965. The world's first air conditioned multipurpose domed stadium.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

That's interesting. Okay, so this is way, I mean this is 20 years later. Over the years, the stadium became notorious for its poor playing conditions. Players were frequently at risk for an for injury due to the thin padding on the outfield fences, as well as the original artificial turf that remained in place for over two decades.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Jesus, you guys.

SPEAKER_05 22:33

Ultimately, the park became viewed as a white elephant. On the field, the expos continued to fare poorly. The team won 75 games in 1977 and 76 in 1978.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

So sorry, guys.

SPEAKER_05 22:49

Yeah, rough go of it. Um, but in the late 70s, they started to build a good core. And I think this well, yeah. Kind of what we're about to talk about here is why I think the expos are a dog collectively. They're a pack, they're a wolf pack. Because this group of guys that we're about to highlight is like it's like, well, actually, yeah. Well, and there's another group, actually. There's two groups of dogs.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Okay. On the expos.

SPEAKER_05 23:23

On the expos. This team, we were gonna be like, oh, these guys are sick, and then another group not too long later that that truly was the team that could have been. Like, it is crazy. So, anyways, we're back to the late 70s, right? We're starting to build a good core here in Montreal, uh, led by our our um our catcher here, Gary Carter.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Oh, he was a catcher.

SPEAKER_05 23:44

Yeah, he became one of the best hitting catchers. We had pitcher Steve Rogers, we had outfielder Andre Dawson, who later became a cub, um, and then also Tim Rains. Uh they had their first winning season uh in 1979, um, and their attendance was in the top four in the NL for five consecutive seasons. What?

SPEAKER_02 24:06

So these these guys the boys turned it around.

SPEAKER_05 24:09

They turned it around.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

So I love when shit like that freaking happens.

SPEAKER_05 24:14

I love when shit like that.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

I don't know any of those names. Except maybe Andre Dawson.

SPEAKER_05 24:21

Yeah, dad, I think dad was kind of an Andre Dawson guy. He always used to go, awesome Andre Dawson. I don't know if that was an actual thing or if he made that up. I can't remember that, but maybe we'll have to get him on the horn. Um okay. Why don't you tell us about our second pup?

SPEAKER_02 24:38

Our next pup, Matt, not really a pup. He might just be a full-on diggity dog. Gary Carta. Actually, this was the 70s, right?

SPEAKER_05 24:51

Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, kind of late 70s.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

So, how would how would you say it that name in the 70s? Gary Carter, man.

SPEAKER_05 24:59

Yeah, Gary Carta, dude, totally psychedelic.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

So this guy was a Hall of Famer. Uh he spent 12 years with Montreal, played over 1,500 games, he had a 55.7 war winning wins, wins above replacement.

SPEAKER_05 25:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Wins above replacement.

SPEAKER_05 25:32

Nailed it.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

He hit 220 ding-dongers and had a batting average of 0.269. Nice. That's pretty pretty decent. Uh he played uh seven All-Star games with the Expos and he ended his career there. Yeah. Matt, he was nicknamed the kid for his boundless enthusiasm.

SPEAKER_05 25:58

That makes me think that like they still had the old timey accent. Gary the Kid Kata. That feels very old-timey.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

I don't know. I could see him being this up.

SPEAKER_05 26:10

The kid. I think Ken Griffey Jr. was also the kid. I think I think the kids like kind of kind of.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

Why am I thinking of Billy the Kid? What is that? What's Billy the Kid?

SPEAKER_05 26:18

Billy the Kid. That's gonna be a laugh time like a man.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Okay, so um Gary the Kid was the face of the franchise for 10 years. He was the first player to go to the Hall of Fame wearing that exposed, exposed jersey. Matt What?

SPEAKER_05 26:32

Billy the Kid was a notorious American Old West outlaw, cattle wrestler, and gunfighter who famously killed eight men before he was 22. When he was alive in the late 1800s.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Okay, so not to be confused.

SPEAKER_05 26:53

Billy the kid. Different the kid.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Okay. Okay, so uh R. Gary the Kid, he was a two-styme all-star, two-time all-star game MVP. Fun fact Miriam Webster, the dictionary, credits Gary Carter as the first person to use the term F-bomb. Holy shit! Isn't that cool?

SPEAKER_04 27:15

Holy fuck.

SPEAKER_05 27:21

Earmuffs, earmuffs.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Clean. Okay, so the the he was cleanly spoken.

SPEAKER_05 27:27

Gary was cleanly spoken.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

What do you mean he was cleanly spoken?

SPEAKER_05 27:31

Like he didn't swear. So that's why he said F-bomb instead of oh. Yeah. And then so this is what he said. He said um like he was describing an incident. And it was like when I that's why I when I used to use the F bomb.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

Oh. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 27:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

I wonder how he came up with that.

SPEAKER_05 27:54

I don't know. But it's pretty freaking cool.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

Okay, well, Gary the kid first to say F-bomb.

SPEAKER_05 28:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Cool. That just made my day worth the end of the episode.

SPEAKER_05 28:06

Yeah. Alright, guys. Well, thanks for tuning in.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

Um just kidding.

SPEAKER_05 28:11

No, there's a lot of bog ammo. Alright, so it's the 80s, baby. It's the 80s.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

What do they say in the 80s? What? No, that's like 90s.

SPEAKER_05 28:22

What yeah, what is the 80s all about?

SPEAKER_02 28:25

80s is like disco.

SPEAKER_05 28:28

I just feel like our like our parents' age is always like, yeah, the 80s. They like are always talking about the first. Like that's so 80s.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:37

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Like disco baby.

SPEAKER_05 28:39

Disco is 80s? Yeah. Okay. So we're at the disco and we are watching the Montreal Expos on TV, um, making it to their first NLCS. They lost a tight series against the Dodgers. Rick Monday of the Dodgers, uh, cover your ears Expos fans, um, hit a game-winning homer to clinch the series. And he, at that point, from then on, was now known by the Expos fans as Blue Monday. Or that I think that, yeah, that that whole just time was Blue Monday. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Kind of like today, huh? No, I'm doing I'm feeling great. I'm feeling much better. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Same, same, same.

SPEAKER_05 29:26

Um, so let's talk about the expos in the 80s, though. You know, I mean, they made it to the first NLCS. It's pretty they're pretty freaking good. They had a really good player development system. Um, they had a ton of young talent, four starting pitchers, um, you know, at the time under the age of 23. They were kind of hailed as the team of the 80s, is what I was what I was reading. They had four all-stars in 1982, and they hosted the all-star game that year, which is pretty pretty cool, pretty BA, pretty badass. Uh, Carter, um, Gary Cotta, also Andre Nelson, Tim Raines, and Steve Rogers were all all-stars, and then Al Um Oliver was a um uh what's uh what's a backup called? I why'd I write that word down? That's not the word I was thinking of. I glitched. A reserve. A reserve. I wrote down receive.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

That's not right, man.

SPEAKER_05 30:20

Al Oliver was a reserve. Um, this is only the second time the host team had four starters. Um they didn't know it then. Montreal fans.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Wait, is that bad? Don't they have four? No. Do you want to have a lot?

SPEAKER_05 30:35

Yeah, four's excellent. That's what I'm saying. The host team is never, or at the time, that was only the second time that the host team had a bunch of guys. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, cool. So super exciting.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Exciting.

SPEAKER_05 30:49

Um, this was something interesting that I saw, uh, which I definitely want to read. Um, the Expos didn't know it then. Um, and baseball historian and author Jonah Carey argued in his book, Up Up and Away, that, and this was about the big O, no one at the stadium could know it then, but baseball and Montreal peaked that night at the big O.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

That night of the All-Star game.

SPEAKER_05 31:14

Yeah, so they were saying that was truly the peak of the Expos was that 1982 team, those four All-Stars, five All-Stars with Al Oliver. Um, but life goes on. There's still more to highlight. The Expos won more games between 1979 and 1983 than any other team in the NL East. Holy smokes. But, Katie, what? They only had one frickin' postseason appearance to show for it.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Are you frickin' kidding me?

SPEAKER_05 31:42

I'm not freaking kidding you.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

How the frick does does that happen?

SPEAKER_05 31:45

It makes me want to drop an F-bomb. Hoping to turn the team's fortunes around, the Expo signed 42-year-old veteran Pete Rose.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

Bring in the old man. Bring in the old man to turn it around.

SPEAKER_05 32:02

Old, wiltered, dusty rose. At the time, he was second all-time in base hits to Ty Cobb. Um, they signed him to a one-year contract in 1984. Rose reached a career milestone in Montreal's home opener by recording his 4,000th hit of his career in a 5-1 victory over Philadelphia on April 13th. Though players and management had praised the acquisition of Rose and predicted he would help the team win the division, he was pretty ineffective for Montreal.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

I mean, I could have freaking guessed that.

SPEAKER_05 32:35

What? You don't want to bring a 42-year-old onto your team?

unknown 32:39

I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 32:40

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of crazy. Like, I think there's certain people that I might be excited about, but that being that old. Rose bat at only um 259, and he failed to hit a home run in his 95 games before he was actually traded back to his original team, Cincinnati. And Montreal finished with a losing record on the season. They had lost a lot of attendance after 1984. They ended up trading our pup, Gary Carter, true dog, over the winner. Um, also super interesting. Um, so this is kind of a big thing I want to talk about. Throughout that offseason, MLB owners colluded. Ooh. Um, do you know what this word means? At the behest behest. Behest. Do you know what that means?

SPEAKER_02 33:31

Behest. Behest.

SPEAKER_05 33:33

Because I saw that word and I wanted to.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

Yeah, a behest is an authoritative command, urgent request or bidding.

SPEAKER_05 33:39

Okay. So at the behest of Commissioner Peter. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

Peter Uberoth.

SPEAKER_05 33:46

To drive salaries for free agents down. So they're colluding against the players.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

What the F.

SPEAKER_05 33:52

So Dawson, awesome Andre Dawson, who should have been one of the most valuable free agents on the market that year, discovered that not only was there little interest in signing him, but that the expos were publicly commenting about his knee problems in an effort to further drive interest down.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_05 34:11

And buckle up, Katie, because Andre Dawson is the one who ends up laughing. Angered by these actions, Dawson walked into the Chicago Cubs training camp. Well, this is part, this part he was not laughing at, with a signed blank contract. No money. Wow. The Cubs agreed to sign Dawson in the end to a one-year, $500,000 contract, which was like nothing, especially for someone that good. That was less than half of his previous salary. But Dawson said, F bomb you guys.

SPEAKER_04 34:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:44

Dawson hit 49 ding-dongs and drove in 137 runs in 1987, and he won NL MVP. Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Okay, wait. So was it only the Expos being naughty at this time? Or was it a lot of people?

SPEAKER_05 34:59

MLB owners. So I'm assuming multiple, but you're gonna see here soon. That is definitely like a little bit of a that you know what that's what happens when you're a dick. We are very excellent, but expletive.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

I've said like one explodive.

SPEAKER_05 35:16

I said fuck. Um yeah, so I'm gonna talk about this again in a sec, but yeah, unfortunately, one I think maybe the not so bright parts about the Montreaux was is that they were kind of penny pinchers. The owners, at least.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

Well, I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:34

So Dawson's out, Carter's out. Remember, those are two of the four big dogs we're talking about. Reigns, Tim Reigns actually returned to the Expos, but he was also affected by the inclusion. He signed a three-year, five million dollar contract, which once again, not a ton for someone who was pretty electric. He ended up having one of the best seasons of his career in 1986, and he was also 1987 MLB All-Star MVP, but then he got traded to the Sox in 1990. Our Expo 80s dogs were no longer. They broke up the pack.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Wait, so why was Rain how was Reigns affected by the collusion? I mean, just Oh, because that he only made five million.

SPEAKER_05 36:12

Yeah, he only got five million in three years. I wonder how. And I don't think any of the other teams, you know, because they were all colluding.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

I wonder why they were telling about him.

SPEAKER_05 36:21

I don't know. I don't know. But just a bummer. Uh definitely a I keep looking for that word that's like a a dark part of the what's the word?

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Shadow.

SPEAKER_05 36:36

It's like a tainted. A tainted a blip on the scene. You know what I'm talking about? You know what I'm talking about. Everyone who knows what I'm talking about is screaming in their car right now. Um It's like a dark chapter.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

A dark dark chapter.

SPEAKER_05 36:55

Um little moment. A dark uh You know what?

SPEAKER_02 37:01

It's like of history. A dar. Dark chapters? I mean, I don't know. Maybe that's what it is.

SPEAKER_05 37:14

Like hold on. This is important. Dark chapter?

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Dark age?

SPEAKER_05 37:24

A shadowy era. A checkered pass, a black spot. I don't know. Maybe we already said it was a dark chapter.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

Unimaginable darkness.

SPEAKER_05 37:34

A dark age? A period of deep. Dark age.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

That's isn't that what I said?

SPEAKER_05 37:38

We'll say dark age. It was a dark age in a very interesting timeline. So it's the nine days.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

It's the nine days. Snoop. Oh, baby, baby.

SPEAKER_05 37:57

It sounded like accurate. Oh god. What else is going on? MJ, the bowls. Uh I'm a genie in a bottle of baby. Whoa.

SPEAKER_02 38:11

Wait, was that? I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 38:12

Was that even I don't know that one. I'm not familiar.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

That I mean, that's Christine Aguilera. Uh yeah, hit me baby one more time's late 90s.

SPEAKER_05 38:26

But what about um genie in a bottle? Is Britney Spears your person of the 90s?

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Would you say probably of the 90s, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:38

And then Avra Levine, what would you say? Early 2000s. 2000s.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

Christina Aguilera, Genie in a bottle, 1999.

SPEAKER_05 38:44

Okay. So you just snuck it in there.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:47

Great. So it's the 90s. Katie and I are born during this decade. Um, Montreal was having a hard time attracting free agents to their city. Okay. They're a middling ball club, right? They made a they made a big trade actually in the 90s for Mark Langston from Seattle, which I didn't know, truthfully, but he was kind of kind of dope. But it was costly, Katie. They traded none other than Randy Johnson. Does that name Sam familiar in Audi?

SPEAKER_04 39:19

No.

SPEAKER_05 39:19

He is a legend, he's one of the best pitchers of all time. So they traded him away, and they probably would have had like a doll, a true doll, like a hall of fame doll. And then Langston ended up leaving right after the season. So he only played one year there. Team ended up 81 and 81.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

What an what idiots. God, I think you know what, Matt?

SPEAKER_05 39:42

Yeah. Maybe we should own a baseball team?

SPEAKER_02 39:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:46

I would reinvest back in Montreal if I could.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

Yeah, maybe we oh. Okay, team. Buy some merch because we're gonna buy these.

SPEAKER_05 39:57

We're bringing a team back.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Okay. I mean, Milwaukee already has the brewers.

SPEAKER_05 40:04

What about the Sheboygan?

SPEAKER_02 40:06

Yeah, give Sheboygan the team again.

SPEAKER_05 40:09

Seashells. Let's just think about it. Okay, anyway. Growing market up in Sheboygan. So the owners started to look to sell the team. So that just know that that's starting to like come up more and more. So a crazy thing that happened during the 90s that people remember fondly of those exposed. Mark Gardner pitched a nine no-hit innings uh in a July 26, 1991 game before they ended up losing one to zero in the 10th inning to the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he nine innings, no hit, pretty electric. Two days later, also in Los Angeles, Dennis Martinez achieved a rare feat. He threw the 13th official perfect game in MLB history.

SPEAKER_04 40:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 40:55

Yeah, this is based on MLB's 1991 redefinition of perfect game. They won two to zero, okay? And Dave Van Horn had an iconic call of El Presidente, el perfecto. It's me trying to do that. You you were better at French. Um, after the final out became a hallmark of Expo's lore. Martinez's catcher, also small side note, fun fact. Ron, how would you say that? Hassey?

unknown 41:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:28

Ron Hassey also caught Len Barker's perfect game ten years earlier, and he remains the only player to catch two perfect games in LB history. Caught two of them. He caught two of them, Kaney.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

I'm trying to pull up the El Presidentale Perfecto.

SPEAKER_05 41:44

He caught two of them. The euphoria of the pitching feats did not last, though.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:20

That was way more white than I thought.

SPEAKER_02 42:25

El Presidente. El Perfecto. Wow, these people are going wild.

SPEAKER_05 42:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:33

Okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_05 42:34

So the euphor that was cool, actually. I'm glad that's a good idea. Yeah, that was kind of cool. Thanks for doing that. Um good good job. Uh the euphoria of the pitching feats did not last, though, Katie. So the expos were actually rendered homeless for the final month of the season after a 50-ton freaking beam collapsed.

SPEAKER_02 42:52

Jesus.

SPEAKER_05 42:53

From Olympic Stadium structure and fell nine meters onto a public concourse hours before a motocross event on September 19th. Well, scary thing. Imagine if that happened a little bit later.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

Yeah, during the Moto Cross event.

SPEAKER_05 43:09

During the you think? Yeah, so not good. I think that spooks some people too.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

Yeah. What's going on?

SPEAKER_05 43:18

I know, I know. It's like a curse. It's like a curse. It's like a curse. Attendance was way down after 91, but some good young players started to blossom in Larry Walker and Moises Alu.

SPEAKER_02 43:31

I remember him. Why do I know Moises Alu?

SPEAKER_05 43:33

Cub.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 43:35

Chicago Cub.

SPEAKER_02 43:36

I remember going Aloo.

SPEAKER_05 43:39

Really?

SPEAKER_02 43:40

Yeah. Oh. I don't know, right?

SPEAKER_05 43:42

Maybe. Did they do that? I don't know. Okay. Aloo Amrungata. Um so 1994, Katie. What happened in 1994?

SPEAKER_01 43:51

I was born.

SPEAKER_05 43:53

Katie was born.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

I blessed your life with my existence.

SPEAKER_05 43:59

And the actual Expos were the team of the year that year, Katie. But there was a player strike. And I wrote pliers.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

Yeah, I was like, oh no, what is that?

SPEAKER_00 44:12

What does that mean?

SPEAKER_05 44:13

There was Katie. This is actually the craziest thing. I did this is the thing I didn't I did not know this. The Expos were 74 and 40. Okay. They were on pace for a hundred and win 106 win season that year. And then the MLP players went on strike, so the season was canceled.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Are you freaking kidding me?

SPEAKER_05 44:38

The franchise would never reach the playoffs as the Expos again. Was was the 1994 Expos the team that could have been?

SPEAKER_02 44:47

Like oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_05 44:50

Like, I obviously it's impossible to guess what they would have done.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

But would they have won the World Series? I mean, I probably, but you can't think what if.

SPEAKER_05 44:57

You can't think what if.

SPEAKER_02 44:59

You gotta think what is.

SPEAKER_05 45:00

So I just wanna throw that out there as like 1994. That the the team, the franchise that could have been, that could have changed everything. If they had won a World Series.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

Yeah, dude. They might still be here.

SPEAKER_05 45:11

They might still be in frickin' Montreal. So sad. But and yeah, we're about to get kind of sad and more sad and more sad here. So buckle up. But so the team had already built a reputation as a penny pinching organization. Larry Walker, actually, uh actual, actually, actually, Larry Walker. Larry Walker actually once complained in the media that the team asked players to buy their own vitamins. That's how much they penny pinched.

SPEAKER_02 45:40

Okay, wait, but doesn't that seem weird? Like, why are they buying vitamins for people?

SPEAKER_05 45:49

To stay healthy?

SPEAKER_02 45:50

Well, I don't know. Don't I buy my own vitamins?

SPEAKER_05 45:53

Katie, they're you're not a professional baseball player. Teams should offer that. Teams should I just I think that, and actually 94 was kind of a a big year to turn things around where the players had more of the power, you know. So it was actually probably a good thing. But I mean, these are the people who scratch I mean, they're playing 162 games a year. They should they should get what they need to stay healthy and feel good, you know. So the expos were not doing that. And they were the second lowest payroll in the entire MLB in 1994, and they sold all of their good players and let some leave as free agents after that.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

Okay, can I just say if I owned the team, they would still be rocking it now.

SPEAKER_05 46:38

That'll be the title of the episode. If Katie owned the expos, they'd still be in Montreal.

SPEAKER_03 46:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

So on we go, Katie, into the late 90s, early 2000s. The declined and the end is coming. The end is near. Montreal was livid after they sold everyone. Attendance was poo-poo. And interest in the expos continued to decline. They averaged less than 20,000 fans per game, which is really bad. And the Braves, who were in the division at the time, they won like every freaking year.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

Like every year.

SPEAKER_05 47:14

The media started calling the expos a triple 18.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

That's so sad.

SPEAKER_05 47:18

Sad. Do you want to read our small glimpse of life here?

SPEAKER_02 47:21

Um, so Pedro Martinez, he won the Expo's only National League Cy Young Award in 1997.

SPEAKER_05 47:30

Woo! 97!

SPEAKER_02 47:31

Uh, he went 18 and 7 with an earned run average ERA of 1.9. But then they traded him to the Boston Red Sox. Jesus, what are they doing?

SPEAKER_04 47:44

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 47:45

Vladimir Guerrero, our boy, started to turn into a star. He had he played in four consecutive all-star games from 1999 to 2002. He was the team's sole representative and then made Hall of Fame in 2018.

SPEAKER_05 48:03

Yeah. So call back Vladdy. Laddie.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

Uh that's the glimpse. Okay, so God.

SPEAKER_05 48:10

That's the glimpse.

SPEAKER_02 48:12

That's it.

SPEAKER_05 48:12

That's yeah, that's pretty much the Wait, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_02 48:15

Earn run average, what's what's like a good earn ERA?

SPEAKER_05 48:19

Um, I mean, that's really freaking good.

SPEAKER_02 48:23

1.9. What's bad?

SPEAKER_05 48:25

Bad is like 50. I mean, if you're starting to see five, you're like, ew.

SPEAKER_02 48:30

Oh, so it's like between like one and five.

SPEAKER_05 48:32

Like, so earn run average is how many runs you give up a game. You know, if you pitch nine innings.

SPEAKER_02 48:37

Um, so that's per.

SPEAKER_05 48:39

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

Yeah, so like like Yeah, 1.9's pretty good, I would say.

SPEAKER_05 48:44

Yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. Like Paul Skeens, you know, Tariq School, those are like the best pitchers now. Um they're like around two. So that's pretty I mean, one point nine is pretty electric.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

Okay, so Pedro was lit for the time.

SPEAKER_05 48:59

So um we're gonna talk a little bit about so his name is Claude. It's a French last name, so how would you say that, Kenny?

SPEAKER_02 49:07

Where?

SPEAKER_05 49:08

Canadian French. It's bro Brochou.

SPEAKER_02 49:11

Well, if we're talking French, it would be brochure.

SPEAKER_05 49:14

Yeah, and that's what I'm looking for. He's a Canadian businessman who served as president and managed uh managed the ownership um consortium of the Montreal Expos from 91 to 99, okay? So he took over from the original owner, but so say it one more time. Brochou attempted to convince the owner's partners uh that the solution to their problems was to get a new stadium due to poor playing conditions of the big O. But uh yeah, because no one wanted to play there. Attendance dropped staggeringly low to an average of 11,295 people a game. A new owner came in, okay? This is late, late 90s now.

SPEAKER_02 49:53

Let's see what you got.

SPEAKER_05 49:54

Jeffrey Loria, he was dropping cash like mad. He raised his share in the team to 92%. So he dang neared owned the whole team. He doubled the team payroll from 17 to 33 million. He was trying to get the team to move as well. But at the same time, MLB took steps to vote on contraction of the leagues with the Expos and the Minnesota Twins slated for elimination.

SPEAKER_02 50:20

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_05 50:21

Yeah. But on November 6, 2001, MLB owners voted 28 to 2 in favor of contraction. Who's you guessing the two people who voted against that? The Expos and the Twins. Oh my gosh. So initial plans called for the Expos and Twins um to play just like a lame duck season in 2002 before the franchises were revoked. Um, but both teams were saved after a legal challenge filed in Minnesota that forced the MLB to honor the twins' lease with the Metrodome. So that might be a fun app one day. Yeah, twins. Um the day the twins got saved.

SPEAKER_03 51:03

I was thinking the other.

SPEAKER_05 51:04

The day what if the twins got saved? They would start singing praise in a whole new way. Call back to our days in Church Camp. Church camp. Um no one's gonna know what that was except for that M. Oh my god. Sorry, guys. Yeah, so, anyways, the twins lease, they're honoring it, as well as challenges by the MLBPA, so the MLB Players Association. Um, as MLB was able to unable to find a candidate team to eliminate, the immediate threat uh for the expos diminished. So the MLB needed to keep the number of teams to maintain its schedule.

SPEAKER_02 51:44

Wow, so thank you, twins. At least someone can get their shit together.

SPEAKER_05 51:48

So we got to keep the expos, but then Laria sold the expos to the MLB and they moved to Washington, DC.

SPEAKER_02 51:54

Oh, he sold them to the MLB.

SPEAKER_05 51:57

Yeah, which I didn't know you could do. I didn't know you could do that. Has anybody else ever done that? I probably should have looked into that, but I was getting sleepy at this point. I was writing this.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

Um, let me sleep.

SPEAKER_05 52:07

Yeah, look at look into this while I while I talk about kind of the end. Okay. Okay. I'm gonna close the book here and then you circle back on what you learned. The team then played its final games as the expos on the road, which is kind of interesting, Katie. So ending on October 3rd, shout out grandma birthday, against the New York Mets. Who was the team they played first? I wonder if they planned that. Or the team they got their first yeah, the team they played first. When they first played in 1969, they first played in 1969, they played the Mets. And now in the last game of the of as the expos, they play the Mets. Isn't that interesting? You're not reacting.

SPEAKER_02 52:46

Oh, yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_05 52:48

Okay, the team they had face in the franchise Nagaro game night, 6 a.m. Whatever. In the expo's last ever game, the New York Mets defeated Montreal 8-1 at Shea Stadium. Jamie Carroll scored the Expo's last run, and Andy Chavez became the final expo Expo's batter in history when he grounded out in the top of the ninth to end the game. The team ended their 30. I'm like kind of tearing up. Why am I getting sad?

SPEAKER_01 53:15

It is emotional, Matt.

SPEAKER_05 53:16

I I yeah, I'm sad. The team ended their 36-year run with an all-time record of 2,753 wins and 2,943 losses and four ties. What'd you did you uh what'd you get there?

SPEAKER_02 53:28

So, Matt, get this. The Expos, the only MLB team in modern history to modern history to be bought out by the league and its owners.

SPEAKER_05 53:38

Wow. Wow. It's crazy, actually.

SPEAKER_02 53:42

Yeah, sucks to suck.

SPEAKER_05 53:43

Sucks to suck is right. So after death, lol, the last active former Montreal X Who's players in the major leagues was Bartolo Clone. Big sexy. Who played his last MB game with the Texas Rangers in 2018, former dog of the pod, episode two, go listen back if you haven't. Um, and then the Nationals, so the X was became the Nationals, right? They ended up winning the World Series in 2019. So they are affiliated with the Expos, although they weren't in Montreal. Um, that is the franchise first title in 51 seasons under manager Dave Martinez, which he had played with the Expos from 1988 to 1991. So, how fun is that? That is fun. Shout out, Dave, shout out the 2019 Nationals of the World Series, and that is the end of our Expos episode.

SPEAKER_02 54:38

So, so okay, wait. So, technically the Expos didn't die, they just reincarnated as the National Exactly now live in Washington.

SPEAKER_05 54:46

And now they live in Washington, they really just moved and changed their name, which like people do that, you know? Yeah, you can start you can change your name and you can move people change. Um what's that one song about going to Boston?

SPEAKER_03 55:01

I think I'll go to Boston.

SPEAKER_05 55:04

I think I'll start a new life.

SPEAKER_03 55:07

Get out of California when no one knows my name. It's the Montreal Expos and now it's the Nationals.

SPEAKER_05 55:20

That's exactly what I was hoping for. Yeah, so they're just they're the Nationals now. Uh, but I I think I'm speaking on behalf of a lot of people that let's get a team back in Montreal and let's let's name them the expos.

SPEAKER_02 55:34

Yeah, dude. So cool. Bring back that freaking sweet ass logo.

SPEAKER_05 55:38

I think you just gotta find a rich Larry, not us.

SPEAKER_02 55:42

And who can who can we call?

SPEAKER_05 55:45

Dude, like I don't know. Like, who's like a Canadian like who has a lot of money?

SPEAKER_02 55:52

Maybe Katy Perry will do it.

SPEAKER_05 55:54

Is Katy Perry Canadian?

SPEAKER_02 55:55

I don't know, but she's dating Justin Trudeau, who was the Prime Minister of Canada.

SPEAKER_05 55:59

Hmm. Okay. I mean, so that's a possibility. What if we get like a group ownership between Katy Perry, Drake? Avra Levine. I know Drake's like a Toronto. Justin Bieber. Jay Beebe, yeah. Jay Beebe's and Katy Perry? Are they friends? What about Avra Levine? Yeah, Avra Levine, too. I think it would be the headliners would be Jay Beebe's, Katy Perry.

SPEAKER_04 56:21

Okay, what the fuck? Why do you keep them?

SPEAKER_05 56:24

No, Abra Levine's show. No, I know. I think, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:27

Okay, so okay, so this is a public request to Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and Albert to bring back the Montreal Expos.

SPEAKER_05 56:42

Let's get a team back there.

SPEAKER_02 56:43

Let's do it, guys.

SPEAKER_05 56:44

Money is money is on the line. You can make a lot of money in Montreal.

SPEAKER_02 56:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:51

I'm telling you. I will buy I had a Montreal Expos hat as a kid.

SPEAKER_02 56:54

I know you did, and I kind of now I kind of want one.

SPEAKER_05 56:57

I know.

SPEAKER_02 56:57

I don't really wear hats, but I kind of want one.

SPEAKER_05 56:59

Yeah, let's get let's get a couple Montreal Expos hats. And it's time for the call to the pen. Call to the pen. Call to the pen. Kitty, what'd you learn?

SPEAKER_02 57:09

What did I learn? What did I learn? Um you know, that was kind of interesting about Jerry Stadium. Yeah. Like how they took like a kids' baseball team and just added 28,000 seats to it.

SPEAKER_05 57:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:29

Like, of course that wasn't gonna work, you guys.

SPEAKER_05 57:31

Yeah.

unknown 57:32

God.

SPEAKER_05 57:34

Yeah, I think that's interesting. I think I think I gotta go with the 1994 season that could have been.

SPEAKER_02 57:40

Yeah, that's cool. I also love that little that little team in what year was that like the 80s.

SPEAKER_05 57:46

Yeah, I like it. The 80s. 80s expos, like 80s expos, dude. Tim Raines, awesome Andre Dawson, Gary Kata. There's another guy. Rogers. I think Rogers.

SPEAKER_02 57:59

Yeah, something Rogers.

SPEAKER_05 58:00

Steve Rogers. Steve. Oh. Was it Steve? Going on. And I like Steve Rogers.

SPEAKER_02 58:06

Le Grand Oran.

SPEAKER_05 58:07

Le Grand Oran.

SPEAKER_02 58:09

And our little F bomber boy. Wait, was he the same? That's Gary Cotta. Okay. So wait, wait, what was yours? Oh, the 90s. 94. Yeah, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 58:20

It's time for everybody's favorite segment. Big dogs of the weed. Katie, can you go first?

SPEAKER_02 58:31

Sure, I can go. Are you sick of talking?

SPEAKER_05 58:33

I am. I feel like an hour.

SPEAKER_02 58:36

Well, we were supposed to like take turns and you didn't really like let me talk.

SPEAKER_05 58:39

I tapped you in quite a few times.

SPEAKER_02 58:41

You did, you did. Okay, well, so basically, from now until I can't anymore, my big dog of the week is gonna be none other than the Buffalo fucking Sabres, man.

SPEAKER_05 58:55

Sabres!

SPEAKER_02 58:56

I am now a hockey girl and I love the Buffalo Sabres, Matt. I watched game four yesterday, I think that was yesterday. Yeah. Oh, did you read? The Bruins six to one.

SPEAKER_05 59:10

Wow, go say.

SPEAKER_02 59:11

Um, that gives them a three to one series lead in this first round of the playoffs. Matt, they scored four goals in the first period.

SPEAKER_05 59:20

Holy shit. Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_02 59:23

Wait, wait, a question. Do you know I don't know how many periods are in a hockey game?

SPEAKER_05 59:28

Three.

SPEAKER_02 59:29

Three periods?

SPEAKER_05 59:30

Yeah. How many did you think?

SPEAKER_02 59:32

Do you know that for sure?

SPEAKER_05 59:34

Katie. A basketball game is four quarters.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

Well why isn't it a triplet?

SPEAKER_05 59:43

A triplet? And in the third triplet.

SPEAKER_02 59:49

Oh, because it's not a half.

SPEAKER_05 59:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:52

Okay. What maybe why aren't there five?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:00

Hockey games are divided into three 20-minute periods primarily to allow for ice resurfacing to manage.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:06

Oh, bring up the Zambones.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:08

The structure was adopted in 1910 to fix poor ice conditions caused by 30-minute halves. Okay, so that's why. Cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:15

Okay, so it wasn't.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:16

Providing an extra innermation, intermation, intermission for cleaning while allowing for a faster, more intense pace of play. Pace of play, pace play. Um anyway, sorry. I feel like I was sassy when you asked that question, and I take it back. No, no, no. Because I learned something. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:30

Yeah, thanks, asshole. No, it wasn't.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:33

My bad.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:33

Um, okay, Matt, so here's why I like the Buffalo Sabres, Matt.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:39

Yeah, tell me.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:40

Matt, if you were to just guess, don't look at the outline. Just guess. Of those six goals, how many like players do you think contributed to that?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:52

You asking makes me think it was six.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:55

Okay, it was it was freaking six, dude.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:57

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:58

It was six.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:59

A true team effort.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

Dude, yes. And one like remember how that my guy last week was Tage Thompson, I think.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:09

Yeah, Tage. I think it's Tage Thompson, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:12

Was that his name?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:12

It was definitely Tage. He did not he wasn't one of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:17

He was not one of them this time.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

So it was six other freaking dudes.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

And the goalie, Alex Lyon, I think is how you say his name, he's like a freaking brick wall in that little goalie area. Uh so I'm liking this team. Uh, they're looking deep, they're looking legit.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:38

It's not a fluke, Matt. I'm all in on the Buffalo Sabres. It's super cool to see after a 14-year playoff drought. I've never watched hockey before in my life until now, and it's for the Buffalo Sabres. Uh, game five is back in Buffalo. I think that's tomorrow, 6:30 Central Time.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:57

Or maybe Eastern time. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:00

But this is, you know, this is where you can like feel the energy is the quotes from the audience, people in the audience.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:07

People were saying strangers were hugging everywhere. Someone's dad called them crying. People have waited half their life for this. Somebody said they gave us nothing for years and we still showed up. We never left. And here they are, man.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:22

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:23

Uh yeah, that's it. Go savers. Go freaking savers, dude.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:29

Go savers, go.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:30

So I need an expo hat. I need a hat. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:34

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:35

Yeah, thanks. So I know I know I'm not supposed to like repeat.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:38

No, I think that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:40

But last week was Tage, I think, and now this week is the Saber.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:44

Honestly, what I was kind of thinking is like if something is like continuously going on, you might as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:49

I'm gonna freaking keep updating my fan.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:51

Which is like so quick callback to mine because I was like Mason Miller's tied the record. Remember that? For scoreless streak for the Padres? My dog, big dog of the week last week was Mason Miller.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:03

And he did break the record. So I do want to mention that. He did end up, he ended no, he broke it. Okay. It's a good thing. Cool, yeah, cool. So yeah, shout out Mason Miller. But he's not my big dog of the week this week.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:14

Okay, who is this? Are you ready for mine? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:16

Okay. That was cool, Katie. Thanks. Mine is Nellie Corda. So I don't know anything about golf, and I really definitely don't know anything about Nellie Corda until now.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:30

Wait, I think is this our second golf person? Do you know who remember who our first was?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:36

Yours was the guy who fell in the elevator, right? Which is not funny.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:41

It's not funny. It's not funny.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:43

But yeah, this one's not about that.

unknown 1:03:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:48

So I didn't know about Nellie Corda, to be honest. I'll be vulnerable with our listeners.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:53

Yeah, like we are.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:54

She's back to number one in the world. Yeah, dude. Nellie.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:59

Look at you recognizing women.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:01

Equality at the very least. Nellie Corda's back to number one in the world, and she looks every bit the part. Shout out ESPN for the article. I'm not going to read the whole thing. Basically, she just won the Chevron Championship and reclaimed the number one spot. She was going in with a big lead uh at the end and ended up securing the dub. Um, there was much relief when she hold a seven-foot par putt to close um with a two under 70. She captured her third major championship and returned to number one in the women's world ranking for the first time since August. So it's been a little bit. Um, she took the top spot from Gino Fiticul. That's probably not how you say that. Gino Fiticool. Okay. Um, and cool thing, which maybe this is a thing in at the Chevron Championship, but after she uh made that putt, she did a big old cannonball into the pond, right? Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:09

You don't think of that when you think of golf.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:11

She said, feet first, she said with a smile, dressed in the winner's white robe. I knew it was four feet into the pond, so I was expecting to hit the ground very fast. Great. Yeah. But uh shout out, shout out Nellie.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:25

Nellie, cool, good job.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:27

Yeah, she's she's uh she's how many times am I gonna say she without another word? She is uh very talented at golf and uh third major championship. That's no easy feat. Um so shout out Nelly. It's my big dog of the week.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:42

Cool, love you, Nelly.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:43

Nellie!

SPEAKER_02 1:05:44

Love you, Nelly, love you sabers, go Sabres, go Nelly.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:48

Um I think it's time we forgot to mention at the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:51

Oh, yeah, we should have mentioned that.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:53

We should have teased our listeners, but we are announcing the winner of our first ever.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:00

Merchandise giveaway.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:02

Yeah. And I think I just want to shout everyone out. Yeah. I think, well, first of all, when free stuff is in play, everyone goes nuts. That's what I learned. Yeah. Which is cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:09

But people got excited.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:11

I'm curious to see if this actually impacts the listener number or something. Yeah, we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:16

We'll see.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:17

But we got a lot of traction, which is pretty cool. So shout out everyone who commented a name.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:21

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:22

Her dad commented like 400 names. Thanks, Dad. Um Katie, take it away.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:28

I this is so painful. Okay, so we had to like we used like a little selection tool so that it's equally likely for everybody, and each uh name is an entry and shit like that. And we don't want to get sued, so we had to like do this official.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:51

I can't do it, Matt.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:52

You can't read it?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:54

I'm not reading it.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:55

Do you want me to tell you?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:57

Tell the listeners who the winner is.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:59

Our winner is none other than Tanner Leahy of Denver, Colorado.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:08

Oh my god. And oh my god. Like, okay, so it's not just because it's Tanner.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:15

Katie has a weird beef with Tanner. I do have a wee. Well, first of all, let me just say Tanner's my former roommate, friend from college. He lived in Milwaukee for a couple years. He was the usher in Katie's wedding.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:26

So I like likes him a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:28

Yeah, he's fine.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:30

What do you call him consistently?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:33

I call him a douchebag.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:36

Well, shout out Tanner.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:38

Yeah, congratulations, Tanner. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:40

I think it's funny that Tanner, I think, is like the last comment.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:43

He was the last comment, and he commented one person and it was his dad. Was it his dad? Wait, who's Pat Leahy?

SPEAKER_05 1:07:50

I don't know, but I don't think that's his dad. Because his dad, we call him Big Bob, so was assuming his dad's name is Bob. Okay, well. Pat his name, his cousin?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:00

Okay, well, whoever it was, he commented a member of his family.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:05

Meanwhile, like people we don't even know are commenting like ten, like dozens of people.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:12

And it's frickin' Tanner. So we're gonna have to do another one.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:16

Should I try and calm live time or is that stupid?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:19

You can try to calm Live.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:20

There's like a 3% chance he answers.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:22

Okay, we'll just try. Um, so anyway, I we'll do another one where people can have another shot at this, and it's not frickin' douchebag winning the frickin' giveaway.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:34

I'll leave him. Hello, Matt Hall. Tanner, you're live on the dogs podcast, so don't say anything weird. Tanner, I'm calling to tell you that congratulations, you've won our giveaway. Oh, thank God. I'd like to thank um uh Gandhi Lee Gandhi? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:58

Yeah, Lee Gandhi. Who's Pat Lahy?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:02

Who's Pat Lay? That's who you commented.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:04

I think that's my uncle or cousin. You think you don't even know? Yeah, I just tried I wrote a letter.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:11

Oh, and you just clicked the first person.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:13

Are you kidding me? So it wasn't even you didn't even think about it. Maybe he'll listen.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:20

He might. You should now.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:23

Well, let me check if it's my uncle or cousin, and then I'll get back to you.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:27

That's amazing. Well, we just want to say congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:29

Congratulations to our first ever giveaway winner.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:32

First ever giveaway. You should check your mail probably in two to three weeks, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:38

Yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:39

Awesome. Anything you want to say to the listeners, Tanner, at all? And keep it appropriate. Um you have to keep warning me of that. I just I know you. Um, yeah, keep listening. It sounds like you guys are really depressed. Tanner, when you listen to the beginning of this one, you'll see that we're a little bit more. Yeah, we're okay. We're okay. Okay, good, good. We're gonna be alright for this long weekend. Yeah, exactly. Okay, well, we love your butt. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:10

Fuck you, douchebag.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:11

Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:12

Bye guys.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:14

I love you. And that was Tanner Leahy. Wow, I'm kind of surprised he answered actually. Yeah, that's awesome. He answers his phone like four percent of the time. Yeah, that's like and that's generous.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:24

Um, so, anyways.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:26

Cool. That's that's a wrap on that, you guys. Thanks for listening. Great episode. Uh great episode. This was fun. Uh, when's our next one? What's what is the next one?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:35

So I'm gone again. Uh, so it'll probably be another weekday. Unless we want to record in St. Thomas.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:42

Oh shit. I wait, but that's not next week.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:47

I know, but we'll s we'll yeah, I know. I'm saying we either record next week or record the following weekend in St. Thomas. Because I'm gone this weekend. Gone this weekend, we're here next week, so we could record here next week. We'll probably realistically, so I don't have to bring all the shit to St. Thomas. So probably just do it. Okay, yeah, yeah. That'd be kind of funny. No, we'll just do it. So, yeah, tune in next week. Probably be a weekday. I don't know which day. Maybe Monday. Yeah, no, we're going to the RC Drive concert.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:16

Oh, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:18

We'll go to a concert. I'm excited for that. I'm gonna be so tired.

unknown 1:11:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:21

I'm just warning you right now. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:24

Well, thanks for listening. Honestly, dare I say this might have been my favorite episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:27

Really? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:28

I really well, research-wise, this was like, I was like, this is sick. This and like the World War II.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:33

Yeah, this was very interesting.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:35

I'm definitely a baseball fan.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:36

I really like the Xbox. I hate the hate the leadership, hate the owners.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:42

Yeah. No, I know. Penny Pinchers. Um but the players. I love the players. Yeah. I was thinking, I think we might be due for a hockey episode. Now that you've been talking about it.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:51

Okay, so me, so we might be. Go ahead. We might have a guest. Oh, we might have a guest.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:57

Well, maybe we'll save that then.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:58

Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah. We might even have two guests. Listeners, people who are interested in hockey, stay tuned because we have some big time guests.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:08

Some actual names. Some big names. At least one name. I haven't asked the other name. Okay. The other name is a former Buffalo Saber.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:17

Wait, I didn't know he was a Saber. He was a Saber.

unknown 1:12:20

Are you fucking kidding me?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:21

Okay, you guys, we need to go.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:23

Okay. Bye. Love you. Bye. Bye.