{"id":5633,"date":"2010-06-06T23:52:50","date_gmt":"2010-06-07T06:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=5633"},"modified":"2010-06-07T10:04:39","modified_gmt":"2010-06-07T17:04:39","slug":"letters-from-quebec-an-expos-birthday%e2%80%a6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/06\/letters-from-quebec-an-expos-birthday%e2%80%a6\/","title":{"rendered":"LETTERS FROM QUEBEC: An Expos Birthday\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gerry was a great salesman,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the friend said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How else could he have convinced Walter O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Malley to bring major league baseball to Montreal?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>\"\"<\/a><\/em>

Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau (left) and Executive Committee Chairman Gerry Snyder were the architects behind Montreal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s successful bid for a major league franchise in 1968. <\/p><\/div>\n

Remember this date – May 27, 1968. It is as significant as any in the history of the organization we once called the Expos.<\/p>\n

Although pretty well forgotten now, May 27 was the day, 42 years ago, that the National League declared its intention to place an expansion team in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for the start of the 1969 season.<\/p>\n

For the first time ever, big league baseball would be coming to Canada; for the first time ever, the major leagues were about to extend their reach beyond the U.S. border.<\/p>\n

No one believed it possible<\/p>\n

That is, no one apart from the two men who made it happen, Montreal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flamboyant Mayor, Jean Drapeau, and his side-kick and \u00c3\u00a9minence grise<\/em>, Gerry Snyder. Snyder was an elected city councilor and long-serving chairman of the mayor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Executive Committee. And when the situation called for it, he also became, in the words of the Montreal Gazette, the city\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153freewheeling sports ambassador.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Many would say this was his most important portfolio.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nobody believed me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Snyder once told former Expos beat-writer Danny Gallagher, co-author of Remembering the Montreal Expos,<\/em> a book he and I wrote together in 2005. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The people on radio and television thought it was a big joke. Oh, yeah. Whenever I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d see them at a golf tournament or whatever, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have these sarcastic looks on their faces. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGood luck, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need it.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Snyder, an outstanding local athlete in his own right, had gained fame within the neighbourhood as founder of Montreal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s famous Snowden Fastball League. A highly competitive circuit, the league had often included Montreal Canadiens hockey players among its number, and on several occasions during the 1950s it sent teams to the World Fastball Championships.<\/p>\n

Snyder had been thinking about and working toward bringing a major league team to Montreal ever since the International League Royals disbanded in 1960.<\/p>\n

In 1962, he and a small delegation did get to meet with Commissioner Ford Frick to discuss the possibility. The encounter lasted all of 10 minutes. According to Gallagher, Frick asked if they had a stadium. When the answer was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the commissioner snapped, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, when you have a stadium, come back and see me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Snyder\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s baseball project remained on the back burner until 1967 when a couple of things happened. Montreal hosted Expo 67, generally conceded to have been the greatest and most successful World\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Fair of the modern era. Suddenly no dream was impossible, no challenge too daunting.<\/p>\n

And the American League announced plans to expand into Kansas City and Seattle for 1969. This was the moment of opportunity Snyder had been praying for.<\/p>\n

Sensing that the National League would respond with an expansion plan of its own, he got busy. He lined up backers, revisited the stadium question, lobbied different levels of government, fueled the Mayor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s enthusiasm – and made himself known to Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I started going to a number of NL meetings and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d meet up with the expansion committee which included Walter O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Malley of the Dodgers,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Snyder told Gallagher. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I got along good with O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Malley.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Malley had assured Snyder, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know what Montreal can do. I made a lot of money there with the Montreal Royals.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Together the two men convinced O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Malley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s expansion committee colleagues \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Roy Hofheinz, Houston; John Galbraith, Pittsburgh; and National League president, Warren Giles \u00e2\u20ac\u201c of the merits of Montreal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bid.<\/p>\n

The decision was formally announced in Chicago on May 27, 1968, following an all-day, closed-door meeting during which applications from Buffalo, Dallas, Fort Worth, Milwaukee and San Diego, as well as Montreal, had been considered.<\/p>\n

When the committee finally emerged into the light it declared that two dark-horse candidates, San Diego and Montreal, had been selected. These clubs would join a reconfigured, 12-team National League, ready to take the field in 1969.<\/p>\n

So unexpected was the announcement that Montreal media were taken completely by surprise. Apart from the French-language daily, La Presse,<\/em> which had two reporters on site, none had even bothered to send representatives to the Windy City cover the story..<\/em><\/p>\n

When the Montreal Gazette heralded the good news on the following morning with a banner headline – Major League Baseball Expanding to Montreal: National League Club Here in 1969 –<\/em> the supporting story was nothing more than an AP release pulled off the wire.<\/p>\n

But to be fair, even Gerry Snyder was caught off guard. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes it was a surprise,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he told Ted Blackman of the Gazette, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say the judgment was reached on the terms of big business.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Acknowledging the international community\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s favourable disposition a confident, post-World\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Fair Montreal, Snyder added: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have the population, the sports background and we have proven ourselves in other ways \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Expo, the subway and other things.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

It had been a long time coming. But finally, thanks to Mayor Drapeau\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vision and the dogged determination of Gerry Snyder, we had our team.<\/p>\n

Never mind that the road ahead would be a rocky one. We had our team.<\/p>\n

And for the moment that was enough.<\/p>\n

Gerry Snyder died in Montreal on November 26, 2007 of complications after a fall. He was 87.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bill, a native of Quebec City, has been a SABR member since 20001 and was a founder of the SABR-Quebec Chapter in 2005.\u00c2\u00a0 He collaborated with Danny Gallagher on the best-selling <\/em>Remembering the Montreal Expos, and has published a number of articles about minor league ball in Quebec, particularly with respect to the Provincial League.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gerry was a great salesman,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the friend said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How else could he have convinced Walter O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Malley to bring major league baseball to Montreal?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":721,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4563],"tags":[8066,8060,8062,8055,8063,8058,8051,8064,8057,8061,8067,8052,1126,191,3221,4555,8054,8056,8065,8059],"class_list":["post-5633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-letters-from-quebec","tag-big-league-baseball","tag-city-councilor","tag-city-of-montreal","tag-city-of-montreal-quebec","tag-coming-to-canada","tag-danny-gallagher","tag-executive-committee-chairman","tag-expansion-team","tag-fastball-league","tag-flamboyant-mayor","tag-golf-tournament","tag-jean-drapeau","tag-league-franchise","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-montreal-expos","tag-montreal-gazette","tag-montreal-quebec-canada","tag-remembering-the-montreal-expos","tag-side-kick","tag-sports-ambassador"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t