Making Baseball Work in Montreal

The City of Montreal would like you to know they are ready for Major League Baseball to return. With the help of the Toronto Blue Jays, huge crowds filled Olympic Stadium the last two exhibition seasons to watch the Jays play the New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds. Fans of the old Expos will remind […]

No-Hitters on the Road

Like every Mets fan my age, I’ve only been waiting since 1962 for their first no-hitter. Well, that might not be accurate. In those early years there were few illusions about the potential of any Mets pitcher to pitch a no-hitter. We weren’t like the fans of the expansion Montreal Expos in 1969, who got […]

Just Another Gated Community

We arrived back from Spring Training last night, three games in three delightful mad dash days that left us wishing there was time for one more. When I got home there was a wonderful surprise: a copy of the new biography of Bill Veeck by Paul Dickson. I went to sleep reading it. Yes I […]

Kevin Collins: Many Cups of Coffee

Kevin Collins grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts loving baseball. Like many children his dream was to one day play professional baseball for a living, and he was one of the lucky few to achieve that goal. Although he never became a regular player in the major leagues, he played parts of six seasons with three […]

Can Dan Duquette Save the Baltimore Orioles?

Media reports indicate that the Baltimore Orioles are on the verge of naming Dan Duquette as their new general manager. This may prove to be one of the better decisions that embattled team owner Peter Angelos has made in some time. The Orioles have been amongst the laughing stock of baseball for the majority of […]

Fenway Park’s 100th Anniversary: There’s Nothing Like Being at the Game

I’ve never considered myself religious by any means. Yet, I’m a believer that everyone has some place where they just feel at home, or safe. A sanctuary, of sorts. To some of the more religious types, a church. Baseball stadiums are my church. There is just something about passing through the gates and walking into […]

If Montreal Gets Stadium, Indy Team Will Follow

     The French counterpart to the word “if”, I am told, is “si”.  Well, si got considerable attention north of the United States border this week.       Miles Wolff, the commissioner of  the Canadian-American League, which this corner tends to shorten to Can-Am, sat down to talk baseball in bustling Montreal this week, along with […]

The Day the 1994 Expos Came Back to Town

What do you get when you put Felipe Alou, Cliff Floyd, Marquis Grissom and Rondell White; Denis Boucher, Mel Rojas and John Wetteland; Pedro Martinez …and loveable former Expos mascot Youppi, in the same room, all at the same time? A class reunion of the 1994 Montreal Expos, that’s what; with the operative word being […]

Strat: ’94 Expos Dominate Fall Classic, Sweep the ’31 A’s

The 1994 Montreal Expos will go down in history as one of the ultimate “What If?” teams after jumping out to a 74-40 record through their first 114 games, a .649 winning percentage, 105-win pace and a possible date with destiny before a work stoppage kept them from finishing what they started. Thanks to the […]

Lazzari’s Baseball Roundup

In search of some great, late-summer reading? Check out A Bitter Cup Of Coffee by author Doug Gladstone. This terrific publication references the plights of 874 MLB players who were active between 1947 and 1979; due to rules prior to 1980, these players have received NO pension money for their service to the national pastime. […]

‘Well, Yeah,’ Why Wouldn’t Pensacola Boss Enjoy Record-Setting 15-Game Win Streak?

All too often when the Florida Panhandle is in the news it seems to revolve around an oil spill or a hurricane bearing down on the area.  A more pleasant “hurricane” has swept through the area this month in the form of a stunningly-hot Pensacola Pelicans baseball team. The final game of a lackluster first […]

Andre Dawson and the Hall, A Perspective

So, Andre Dawson is in the Hall of Fame as a member of the Montreal Expos. He’s the third former Expos player to be inducted, following Gary Carter and Tony Perez. Manager Dick Williams and coach Duke Snider are also in and there’s a good chance that John McHale will join them posthumously some day. […]

2010 MLB Draft: A Family Affair

One thing that I always find fascinating to follow when it comes to the MLB Draft is seeing young kids drafted who have some relation to a current or former Major League player, coach, or executive. This year’s draft has had a number of such cases that I thought I’d take a look at. Some […]

LETTERS FROM QUEBEC: An Expos Birthday…

“Gerry was a great salesman,” the friend said. “How else could he have convinced Walter O’Malley to bring major league baseball to Montreal?” Remember this date – May 27, 1968. It is as significant as any in the history of the organization we once called the Expos. Although pretty well forgotten now, May 27 was […]

A Passion For Pitching

As a teenager Doug White was an all-star—”an average player for my age but above average for the area where I played”—but he wanted to improve his game so he attended the Doyle Baseball School after his Freshman year of high school and, through a long-toss program he learned from the instructors, added more than […]