Jays-Expos would be huge for Canada

Bring ‘em back and put the franchise in the same league – and the same division – as the Toronto Blue Jays.

What a rivalry it would be.

Or is the idea too simple and too smart for club owners south of the border? I mean, wouldn’t that establish one of the most ideal rivalries in professional sports?

Just like the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Montreal Canadiens. Or the Edmonton Oilers against the Calgary Flames.

North of the border, of course, any Canadian who has witnessed pitchers throwing balls to catchers would welcome Expos-Jays battles.

History shows that both Montreal and Toronto have already experienced lengthy stays on the diamond: the Expos for 36 seasons from 1969 until 2004, the Blue Jays for 46 campaigns from 1977 to now.

The two co-existed for nearly three decades, yet almost never faced each other on the field. Stupid planning by league heads.

Look at what the American League East would be like – the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, the Jays and Expos.

I’d take that anytime.

A Jays-Expos rivalry within a division would be as wild and hectic as the Yankees against the Red Sox, or the Dodgers opposing the Giants.

Anyone from my generation would recall two big dates in baseball history. I’m talking about April 8, 1969, when Montreal played its first major league game, and April 7, 1977, when Toronto made its debut.

From the Atlantic to the Pacific to the north, those were games never to be forgotten by Canadian ball worshippers.

In ‘69, the Expos opened against the Mets in New York on a cold, wintery afternoon.

Remember the team’s first-ever lineup that day 53 years ago? Catcher John Bateman, first baseman Bob Bailey, second baseman Gary Sutherland, shortstop Maury Wills, third sacker Coco Laboy, and outfielders Mack Jones, Don Hahn and Rusty Staub. The starting pitcher was Mudcat Grant.

Relief pitcher Dan McGinn was credited with the win, and he also slammed a homerun in what was an 11-10 Montreal victory. Staub and Laboy became household names almost immediately, thanks to their opening day homers.

Six days later, in their first home game at Jarry Park, the Expos defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in an 8-7 thriller. Jones sparked that one with a round-tripper and triple.

The 1969 Expos struggled as most expansion teams usually struggle, finishing with a 52-110 won-lost line.

Their first winning year didn’t come until 1979, with an impressive 95 victories, and they won another 90 the following season.

The Expos participated in 5,702 regular season contests, but they never played in a World Series. Yet every Montreal fan with a memory can recall what happened to them in 1994.

That’s when they had a great 74-40 record (best in the National League) two-thirds of the way into the schedule. Then the big strike occurred. Goodbye season, goodbye playoffs, goodbye October Classic. It still sounds nightmarish.

Don’t forget, that season-ending strike immediately followed the back-to-back World Series taken by the Jays. Memories of Joe Carter’s home run are still vividly in the minds of Canadians everywhere the sport is played.

So let’s get back to April 7, 1977, when the Jays opened in the snow at Exhibition Stadium against the Chicago White Sox in front of almost 45,000 spectators.

Remember the Nova Scotian who participated that afternoon? Springhill’s sweet vocalist Anne Murray sang the national anthem.

Like the Expos eight Aprils earlier, Toronto posted a 9-5 verdict. By year’s end, their won-lost line was about equal to Montreal’s in ‘69. The Jays finished their maiden flight with a 54-107 mark.

For a second test, is it easier to recall Toronto’s first-ever opening lineup? Don’t laugh, it’s actually tougher, I think, than the Expos’ earliest scorecard.

This is how it went: catcher Rick Cerone, first baseman Doug Ault, second baseman Pedro Garcia, shortstop Hector Torres, third sacker Dave McKay, outfielders John Scott, Gary Woods and Steve Bowling, along with designated hitter Otto Velez. The opening pitcher was Bill Singer, although Jerry Johnson got the verdict.

Does your memory work better when recalling the few times the Expos and Jays actually played each other?

The initial scheduling for an in-season series didn’t occur until 1997 – Toronto’s 21st campaign, Montreal’s 39th.

That was a biggie for both Canadian cities, whether Americans noticed or not.

It was baseball’s highlight to mark this country’s 130th birthday, a three-day festival during Canada Day partying. They called it the Canada Day Classic. The two clubs were able to do it because it was baseball’s inaugural year of interleague play.

The series drew some of the biggest crowds in Toronto history when 50,000-plus fans flocked to the Skydome.

Montreal won the series opener, 2-1, Montreal took the second game, 2-1, but Toronto pulled out the finale 7-6 in 13 innings. And, interestingly, the middle outing went to the Expos because of a homerun by a player named Vladimir Guerrero. No “Senior” designation was necessary.

Previous ways were found to create Expos-Jays matchups.

There had been some pre-season exhibition contests in Florida and, for a time, they staged annual exhibition games during the summers under the label of Pearson Cup matches that didn’t count in the standings. Such meetings were scrapped in 1987.

Now, here we are, 18 years since Montreal became Washington – or at least when the Expos became the Nationals. Either way, it isn’t music to Canadian ears.

A retraction can’t happen overnight.

Remember, Montreal doesn’t have a suitable stadium and Maritime football fans can certainly explain what that means. No stadium, no franchise.

Maybe, next time, major league baseball will listen when Montrealers attempt to get their Expos back where they belong.

That Expos-Jays rivalry would be huge.