As we are deep into the Baseball Hall of Fame season, one of the inductees is hopeful to get the logo on his plaque changed from the Montreal Expos to the Chicago Cubs.
Andre Dawson, who was inducted into the Hall in 2010, was enshrined with the Expos cap, but stated all along that he wanted to go in as a Cub. He is still hopeful of changing it to the iconic Cubs “C”, as reported by the Chicago Tribune, and he has sent letters to the chairman of the Hall of Fame Board of Directors in another effort. Dawson has long since said that he wanted to go in as a Cub, the team he won his only MVP (1987), despite the longer and more successful statistical tenure with Montreal.
The Hall of Fame rarely makes changes to plaques, and as the Cooperstown-based institution has not corresponded with Dawson, it is unlikely that we will see any changes in bronze.
The son of Felipe Alou, Moises Alou is an interesting case here as we have a player whose sabermetric numbers were good, but he managed to compile traditional numbers that were better, and he was a player who teams wanted in their lineup and fear when he wasn’t for more than a decade. He is also known more for a foul ball that he probably could not have caught.
Javier Vasquez could be considered to have been a journeyman, as he played for six different teams (and one team twice), but the Puerto Rican hurler was a lot better than he got credit for.
The claim can be made (and we will be among those who make it) that Steve Rogers was the greatest Pitcher in franchise history when the Washington Nationals were in Montreal as the Expos.
Rogers played his entire career with the Expos (1973-85), and he got off to a great start as the runner-up for the Rookie of the Year. The Expos were not a good team in the 70s, and he twice led the National League in Losses, but most of that could not be put on his shoulders. Rogers, who was an All-Star in 1974, was again one in 1978 and 1979, and as Montreal improved, the baseball world took notice of their ace.
In 1982, Rogers was an All-Star again, winning the ERA Title (2.40) and finishing second in Cy Young voting. Rogers was third for the Cy Young the year after, and he was an All-Star for the fifth and final time. Injuries and arm fatigue caught up with him, and he retired in 1985.
Notably, Rogers was also a respectable hitter, who might have had a low Batting Average (.138), could bunt people over, and he actually led the NL in Sacrifice Hits in 1983.
Rogers retired with a 158-152 record with 1,621 Strikeouts.
Historically speaking, one of the most important Pitchers in Latin America is Dennis Martinez, and he was also among the longest-tenured.
Martinez broke in with the Baltimore Orioles in 1976, and he became the first player from Nicaragua to make the Majors. The righthander did well, earning a place in the starting rotation and had five 14-win seasons for the O's, including a league-leading 14 in the strike-shortened 1981 season. Martinez finished fifth in Cy Young voting that year, but he had an awful 1983 season, with an ERA well over 5. He was left off of the postseason roster, and the Orioles won the World Series. Martinez continued to struggle, and it was learned that he was a heavy drinker, and alcoholism threatened to end his career early.
The Nicaraguan got clean, but he didn't have time to focus on both pitching and sobriety, and a change of scenery in the form of a 1986 trade to Montreal was just the tonic he needed. With the Expos, Martinez went to three All-Star Games, won the ERA Title in 1991 (2.39), and had five top-ten finishes in bWAR for Pitchers.
At age 40, Martinez signed with the Cleveland Indians to have another All-Star year amongst the three he played in Ohio. He carved out two more years, one with Seattle and one with Atlanta, and Martinez retired with 245 Wins, which at the time placed him first among all Hispanic Pitchers,
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Dan Schatzeder was a Montreal Expo twice (1977-79 & (1982-86) where both times he was not considered to be an elite (or even a above average) Pitcher. That did not stop the southpaw from putting together very solid runs predominantly as a spot starter and middle reliever. Schatzeder would be with Montreal for eight seasons and was a lot more valuable than his traditional statistics. He had a 37-31 Record for the Expos.
The son of former star Felipe Alou (and his manager with the Expos) Moises Alou began his successful career in Major League Baseball (save for two games in Pittsburgh) with the Montreal Expos. Alou was an All-Star in the strike-shortened 1994 season where he batted .339 and was also named a Silver Slugger while finishing third in MVP voting. Alou would also have a pair of 20 Home Run seasons for the Expos.