MLB

Top Montreal Expos of All Time by Position

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Mar 28, 2014

Top Montreal Expos of All Time by Position

Catcher: Gary Carter

Before winning a World Series with the Mets, Carter built his career as an Expo, spending 10 years with the franchise from his rookie season in 1974 to 1984. In that time, Carter hit 220 homers and put up a .269/.342/.554 slash line, as well as making the All-Star team six times. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.

First base: Ron Fairly

A member of the first-ever Expos team, Fairly came over from the Dodgers in a trade and held down the first base position from 1969 to 1974, hitting .286 with 86 homers and a stellar .381 OBP in that time. His high point came in 1973, when he posted a .298/.422/.458 line in 505 plate appearances, earning him All-Star honors.

Second base: Jose Vidro

Vidro was one of the last stars in Montreal, spending eight seasons with the Expos, including the final one in 2004. In that time, Vidro hit .300 or better five straight seasons (1999 to 2003), including a brilliant .330/.379/.540 line in 2000, when he earned his first All-Star nod. All told, Vidro made three All-Star teams in Montreal, won a Silver Slugger award in 2003, and then transitioned with the team to Washington as a member of the Nationals, where he spent another two seasons.

Shortstop: Orlando Cabrera

140328180659-orlando-cabrera-44fe3120-single-image-cut.jpg — Al Tielemans/SI

Another member of the final Expos squad (although he was traded mid-season to Boston), the slick-fielding Cabrera won Montreal its only Gold Glove at shortstop in 2001, no easy task on Olympic Stadium's rough artificial turf. Vidro's double-play partner for eight seasons, Cabrera hit .267 in his Montreal tenure, posting a career-best .807 OPS in 2003.

Third base: Tim Wallach

Ronald C. Modra/Sports Imagery/Getty Images

Wallach is Montreal's all-time leader in games played at 1,767, spending 13 seasons with the Expos, 11 of those at the hot corner. A first-round pick of the Expos in 1979, Wallach debuted with the big league team just a season later. Over his Montreal career, he won three Gold Gloves, made the All-Star team five times (with back-to-back appearances in 1984 and 85 and again in 1988 and 89), and finished fourth in the MVP voting in 1987, when he hit .298/.343/.514 with an MLB-best 42 doubles.

Left field: Tim Raines

One of the longest tenured Expos, Raines was also one of the best players at any position in the 1980s. In that time, he was an All-Star seven times, won a batting title in 1986 and led the league in stolen bases four times. As an Expo, he hit .301 with a brilliant .391 on-base percentage and 634 stolen bases. Raines left the team in 1991 and joined the White Sox, but returned to Montreal for the 2001 season for 47 games, hitting .308/.443/.436 in his age-41 season.

Center field: Andre Dawson

"The Hawk" won the 1976 Rookie of the Year award in his first season with the Expos and spent another 10 years there, racking up 224 homers and playing Gold Glove-defense in center field. Bad knees forced him to move to right field toward the end of his time in Montreal, but before that, he won four Gold Gloves in center; two more came in right.

Right field: Vlad Guerrero

140328180713-vladimir-guerrero-001361511final-single-image-cut.jpg — Heinz Kluetmeier/SI

Boasting one of the best outfield arms in baseball and an ability to swing at?and hit?anything near the plate, Guerrero terrorized opposing pitchers during his eight seasons with Montreal, hitting .323/.390/.588 in that span. His best season came in 2000, when a 25-year-old Guerrero posted an eye-popping .345/.410/.664 line with 44 homers and 123 RBI; the next year, he hit 34 homers and racked up 37 steals. Guerrero made four All-Star teams as an Expo before decamping for Anaheim, where he won the MVP in his first season in 2004.

Starting pitcher: Steve Rogers

140328180705-steve-rogers-01166275--single-image-cut.jpg — Manny Millan/SI

Rogers was the ace of the early 1980s Montreal teams that were some of the franchise's best, including the 1981 team that came within a win of going to the World Series. In 13 seasons with the Expos, Rogers won 158 games and posted a 3.17 ERA across 2,837 2/3 innings. Rogers was a true workhorse, throwing a career-high 301 2/3 innings in 1977 and averaging 239 innings a year from 1973 to 1983. 1985 was his final season both in Montreal and in his career; he retired after the conclusion of that season.

Closer: Jeff Reardon

Reardon spent only five-and-a-half seasons in Montreal after being acquired from the Mets in a trade, but he still picked up 152 saves in that time. 41 of those came in 1985, when Reardon earned his first All-Star nod as an Expo and finished seventh in the Cy Young voting. He made the All-Star team again in 1986, his last year with Montreal, in which he saved 35 games.

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