Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

2004 Montreal Expos season

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Owner(s)
  
Major League Baseball

Manager(s)
  
Frank Robinson

General manager(s)
  
Omar Minaya

2004 Montreal Expos season

Local television
  
Réseau des sports (Rodger Brulotte, Denis Casavant) SCORE TV (Sam Cosentino, Darrin Fletcher, Brett Dolan, Rance Mulliniks, Joe Block)

Local radio
  
CKGM (AM) (Mitch Melnick, Elliott Price, guest play-by-play broadcasters) CKAC (AM) (Jacques Doucet, Marc Griffin)

In 2004, the Montreal Expos played their 36th and final season in Montreal. The team finished in fifth and last place in the National League East at 67-95, 29 games behind the Atlanta Braves. After the season, the team relocated to Washington, D.C., and became the Washington Nationals, as Major League Baseball returned to Washington, after a 33-year absence.

Contents

Offseason

  • December 16, 2003: Javier Vázquez was traded by the Expos to the New York Yankees for Nick Johnson, Randy Choate and Juan Rivera.
  • January 6, 2004: Tony Batista was signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.
  • January 8, 2004: Luis Lopez was signed as a free agent by the Expos.

    • Opening Day starters

  • Tony Batista
  • Peter Bergeron
  • Orlando Cabrera
  • Zach Day
  • Carl Everett
  • Brian Schneider
  • Terrmel Sledge
  • José Vidro
  • Brad Wilkerson

    • Notable transactions

  • June 11, 2004: Luis Lopez was released by the Expos.
  • July 31, 2004: Orlando Cabrera was traded as part of a 4-team trade by the Expos to the Boston Red Sox. The Chicago Cubs sent Brendan Harris, Alex Gonzalez, and Francis Beltrán to the Expos. The Red Sox sent Nomar Garciaparra and Matt Murton to the Cubs. The Minnesota Twins sent Doug Mientkiewicz to the Red Sox. The Cubs sent Justin Jones (minors) to the Twins.
  • September 16, 2004: Alex Gonzalez was sent by the Expos to the San Diego Padres as part of a conditional deal.

    • Final days

  • September 29, 2004: Hours after the announcement of the impending move to Washington, D.C., the Expos played their final game in Montreal, a 9–1 loss to the Florida Marlins before 31,395 fans at Olympic Stadium. On that day the MLB officially recognized the 1994 Expos as "The Best Team in Baseball" with a banner for the center field wall, (ironically that banner only lasted one game as it was the last Expos game in Montreal). The game was almost forfeited in the 8th inning when Expos fans threw golf balls onto the field in hopes of making the game longer.
  • October 2, 2004: The Expos earned their last win before becoming the Nationals, defeating the New York Mets 6–3. Brad Wilkerson hit the last home run in Expos history in the ninth inning, his 32nd of the year.
  • October 3, 2004: The New York Mets defeated Montreal 8–1 at Shea Stadium, in the final game as the Montreal Expos. Jamey Carroll scored the last Expos run and Endy Chávez became the final Expo batter in history when he grounded out in the top of the ninth to end the game. Coincidentally, Shea Stadium was where the Expos had played their first-ever game, in 1969.

    • Scorecard

    September 29, Olympic Stadium, Montréal, Québec

    Scorecard

    October 3, Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

    Starters by position

    Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

    Other batters

    Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

    Starting pitchers

    Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

    Other pitchers

    Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

    Relief pitchers

    Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

    Awards and honors

  • Liván Hernández, Silver Slugger Award

    • League leaders

  • Liván Hernández, National League Leader, Complete Games, 9
  • Liván Hernández, National League Leader, Innings Pitched, 255.0
  • Liván Hernández, National League Leader, 3,927 pitches thrown

    • All-Stars

    2004 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

  • Liván Hernández, Pitcher, Reserve

    • Relocation to Washington

    After several years in a holding pattern, MLB began actively looking for a relocation site for the Expos. Some of the choices included Orlando, Florida; Dayton, Ohio; Oklahoma City; Washington, D.C.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Monterrey, Mexico; Portland, Oregon; Northern Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia; and Charlotte, North Carolina. In the decision-making process, Commissioner Bud Selig added Las Vegas, Nevada to the list of potential Expos homes.

    On September 29, 2004, MLB officially announced that the Expos would move to Washington, D.C. in 2005. The move was approved by the owners of the other teams in a 28–1 vote on December 3 (Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos cast the sole dissenting vote). In addition, on November 15, 2004, a lawsuit by the former team owners against MLB and former majority owner Jeffrey Loria was struck down by arbitrators, ending legal moves to keep the Expos in Montreal.

    Retired numbers ceremony

    As a tribute to the Expos, on October 18, 2005, the Montreal Canadiens honoured the departed team by raising an Expos commemorative banner, which lists the retired numbers, to the rafters of the Bell Centre. Gary Carter and Andre Dawson were at the ceremony with Youppi, who was now the Canadiens mascot. The Banner featured all of the Expos retired numbers:

  •   8 Gary Carter, C, 1974-84 & 1992
  • 10 Andre Dawson, OF, 1977–86 and Rusty Staub, OF, 1969-71 & 1979
  • 30 Tim Raines, OF, 1979-90 & 2001
  • 42 Jackie Robinson (retired throughout baseball; played with the Montreal Royals in 1946)

    • Expos in the Washington Nationals Ring of Honor

    On August 10, 2010, the Washington Nationals formally presented a new "Ring of Honor" at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., to honor Major League Baseball Hall of Fame players with ties to the Washington Nationals, original Washington Senators, expansion Washington Senators, Homestead Grays, or Montreal Expos. Gary Carter and Andre Dawson were the former Expos honored in the Ring of Honor on that day. The Expos logo appears next to their names in the Ring of Honor. On May 9, 2015, the Nationals added former Expos (2002–2004) and Nationals (2005–2006) manager Frank Robinson to the Ring of Honor at Nationals Park.

    References

    2004 Montreal Expos season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA