My Expos Numbers Project: An Introduction

Why limit a good and fun concept to just hockey when I have enough signed baseball cards to seriously consider adding a Montréal Expos Numbers Project to all my hockey ones (my Habs Numbers Project, my Oilers Numbers Project, my Sens Numbers Project, my Canucks Numbers Project, and my Nordiques Numbers Project).

It'll be harder to finalize because baseball has more players in uniform (factoring in spring training and the 40-man roster after the trade deadline), but I start with the advantage that the team no longer exists, and no new number will be worn.

The first Canadian (and first non-U.S.) team to join Major League Baseball (in 1969), the team had its two best seasons when strikes disrupted play: the 1981 division win, and the magical 1994 season where they were leading the majors with a month left of play when the playoffs were cancelled as players walked out, which rang the beginning of the end for the team, who started its first official fire sale.

There'd been prior instances of the team trading highly-paid veterans for youth when they were being priced out of the team's budget (Gary Carter), but post-1994, it actually became official team policy to always trade players when they hit their prime and were about to earn serious dough. From the first wave (Delino DeShields, Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker, John Wetteland) to the second (Pedro Martinez, Jose Vidro, Vladimir Guerrero) to seasons where it was a single player to when the Evil Twins came from New York with empty promises and ran the team to the ground so they could profit from its sale and trade up, to the Florida Marlins.

So, here I am attempting to collect autographed/memorabilia stuff from players representing every number worn by a member of the Expos. So far, I have featured 35; here they are:

Managers: Bill Virdon and Buck Rodgers.

3: Jose Vidro and Junior Noboa: check!
4: Mark Grudzielanek: check!
6: Ryan McGuire: check!
11: John Tamargo: check!
12: Wilfredo Cordero: check!
13: Jeff Fassero: check!
15: Curtis Pride (also wore #16) and Jeff Huson: check!
16: Tom Foley: check!
19: Fernando Seguignol: check!
20: Mike Fitzgerald and Brandon Watson: check!
21: Larry Jaster: check!
22: Rondell White: check!
23: Mitch Webster and Grant Jackson: check!
24: Darrin Fletcher: check!
25: David Segui: check!
27: Andy McGaffigan: check!
29: Tim Wallach (and again here): check!
30: my favourite ball player of all time, Tim Raines (and Cliff Floyd, twice): check!
32: Dennis Martinez: check!
33: Carlos Perez and Peter Bergeron: check!
34: Gil Heredia (also wore #52): check!
35: Otis Nixon: check!
37: Buck Rodgers: check!
41: Brian Barnes (also wore #47): check!
44: Tim Burke and Ken Hill: check!
45: Michael Barrett (also wore #5), Carl Pavano and the great Steve Rogers: check!
46: Kevin Gross: check!
47:  Brian Barnes (also wore #41): check!
50: Jay Tibbs: check!
51: Randy St. Claire, Mike Thurman, and Scott Stewart: check!
54: Tim Scott: check!
55: Bill Sampen: check!
57: John Wetteland: check!
62: Henry Mateo: check!
64: Keith Evans: check!
66: Andy Tracy: check!
73: Josh Labandeira: check!

Cliff Floyd Autographed Card

I've been hearing rumours of the existence of a sport I once thought was extinct: baseball. Apparently, not only is it still going on, but we would be in the midst of their playoffs, and an imaginary team called the Washington Nationals would be a part of it; I can't wait for the New York Yankees to win the World Series so things get back to normal and I can focus on hockey and football again without having the sports highlights be interrupted by bat-glove.

In a former life, I used to go to the Olympic Stadium in the East end of Montréal to watch the Montréal Expos keep pace with the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies until early September, then just crumble like dead leaves as hockey training camps got underway.

One player I had a love/hate relationship with was Cliff Floyd, who was essentially there to replace my favourite player of all time, Hall of Famer Tim Raines, which was a no-no and a no-win, in my book - and that was just in his first stint with the team, back when it actually still was one.

You see, after the fire sale following the 1994 players' strike which possibly cost the Expos a World Series berth, fans stopped going to the games in protest against an administration it felt was just out to collect money without trying to field a winning team, essentially just developing players until they're good enough to be traded for more prospects, and eventually the team was sold to an American con man, who bought low, sold high, collected millions by the boatload in the years in between while not selling local TV or radio rights and went on to scam the good people of Florida out of money for a stadium and yearly guaranteed millions in revenue without having to field a competitive Florida Marlins team, all because MLB passed him over as owner of the Boston Red Sox for someone who wouldn't ruin their legacy. Sound familiar?

Well, while Jeffrey Loria moved on from the Expos and set his sights on the Marlins, MLB was operating the Montréal team, handcuffing its GM into not hiring or re-signing free agents, actually over-fulfilling the fan prophecy of the team being more or less the development farm team for the other franchises.

Then came the trade that sent Floyd back to the Expos - with utility pitcher Claudio Vargas, Wilton Guerrero, and cash - for workhorse reliever Graeme Lloyd, pinch hitter with two seasons batting at .280 or better in Montréal Mike Mordecai, Carl Pavano, prospect Justin Wayne, and Donald Levinski. The Marlins re-loaded two-for-one on equal or better talent than what they gave away.

Also: cash. The Expos didn't need cash, they were operated by the league. They could have printed money; instead, the owners of all other teams decided they just wanted a cut of what was left of that team, had them acquire cash and refused to let them use it.

But wait, there's more!

Floyd was back in town for just 15 games before moving on... to the Red Sox, with whom he batted for a .317 average in 47 games. In return, Montréal received Korean pitchers Seung Song (never played in MLB) and Sun-woo Kim, who appeared in a total of 118 games with four different teams in a six-year span. Another fleece in a series of questionable deals made that summer, the second involving the same power-hitting All-Star Floyd.

Here he is on card #154 from Fleer/Skybox's 1997 Metal Universe set, which he signed in black sharpie in 2003 or 2004:

At the time, Skybox was owned by Marvel, and many of its comic book artists had a say in the set's design, which incorporated comic book-type elements into the all-foil graphics. This card is not as "black" to the naked eye but remains quite dark, representing a stormy sky that ranges from purple to dark blue.

I have to say Mr. Floyd was very nice and gracious when I met him. We talked about the politics and economics of the sport, and he was both lucid and engaging the entire time.

Brandon Watson Autographed Card

When Brandon Watson was drafted by the fledgling Montréal Expos in the ninth round in 1999, there was some level of excitement, because he's the godson of former Cincinnati Reds star Eric Davis.

It didn't turn out that way, and he eventually toiled around in the minor league systems of the Florida Marlins, Reds, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Los Angeles Dodgers.

He did play in the Majors - with the Expos' descendants, the Nationals, no less - appearing in 40 total games over three seasons between 2005 and 2007. His career batting average stands at .198.

He does have a minor-league record, however, having hit in 43 consecutive games in the International League with the Columbus Clippers in 2007.

Here he is sporting the Expos' #20 - which he never wore in an actual game - on card #321 from Topps' 2003 Bowman collection and First Year Card sub-set, identifying it as his rookie card:

He signed it in blue sharpie, on top of the silver facsimile autograph on the card.

He wore #00 with the Nationals.

Josh Labandeira Autographed Card

Josh Labandeira played professional baseball until 2008, mostly in AAA ball, appearing in 7 MLB games with the Montréal Expos in 2004, with 14 plate appearances and 4 strikeouts. I met him at that time, in September 2004, as the team was ready to fold, playing its final games at the Stade Olympique. That's probably when he signed this rookie card, #216 from Topps' 2004 Bowman set and First Year sub-set, in blue sharpie, although I do not specifically recall it:

While it doesn't show him wearing the #1 uniform from his regular season games, it does show him wearing #73, from Spring training, which slots him perfectly in my Expos Numbers Project.

Following his retirement, he moved to California and became an assistant coach for the Reedley College baseball team, until the Boston Red Sox came calling and signed him as their Western California scout.

Grant Jackson Autographed Card

Grant Jackson's Major League career was comprised of ups and downs, but it started with a bittersweet moment; becoming his family's main bread-earner, as his father had died when Grant was still in high school, so when the Philadelphia Phillies came to him with a contract offer that included a $1500 bonus, he jumped on it immediately and signed on the spot. Days later, the Milwaukee Braves and Baltimore Orioles each offered him a much bigger bonus [of $35,000], prompting this reflection: "I wish I could have called the Phillies back and told them I wasn't going to accept their offer."

That didn't stop him from playing for the team for six seasons (1965-70), which included a spot in the 1969 All-Star Game, although he did not play. He was then traded to the Orioles with Jim Hutto and Sam Parrilla, for Roger Freed.

From 1976 onward, it became more hectic, as he made his way to the New York Yankees via trade, the Seattle Mariners via expansion draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates via trade, the Montréal Expos via purchase, the Kansas City Royals via trade and a final turn with the Pirates as a free agent.

In the 1970s, he appeared in three world Series (1971 - Orioles; 1976 - Yankees; 1979 - Pirates), earning the final win for Pittsburgh in Game 7 in 1979. He still lives in the suburbs of Pittsburgh to this day.

Although he played with many Hall of Famers throughout his career (Tim Raines, Gary Carter and Andre Dawson come to mind from his short stint with the Expos), he has a clear-cut idea on who the best player he's even played with is: "Willie Stargell was the star of our team [in Pitsburgh]. He was a great leader, on and off the field. He was the best player and best teammate I ever came into contact with. The day he died [April 9, 2001] was one of the sorriest days of my life."

He signed this card for me in blue sharpie around 2005, a couple of years after retiring from coaching in the Minors, at a card show in New York:

It's card #779 from Topps' 1982 Topps set, showing him wearing the Expos' red Spring raining t-shirt. He's wearing #23 here, although he never got to play with that number in Montréal; he wore #19 in 1981, and was traded to the Royals in March 1982, probably shortly after this picture was taken.

Rondell White: Two Autographed Cards

Last week, my favourite baseball player of all time, Tim Raines, was in town to celebrate his Hall Of Fame induction and appear on local TV shows, notably Tout le Monde En Parle. Raines was one of the few former Montréal Expos who were as good elsewhere as they'd been in Montréal, winning two World Series titles with the New York Yankees; Gary Carter (New York Mets), Andre Dawson (Chicago Cubs), Pedro Martinez (Boston Red Sox) and Vladimir Guerrero (Anaheim Angels, Texas Rangers) also come to mind.

Few are hated by more than one fan base, though. Such is the case for Rondell White, who had a disappointing turn after signing a free agent contract with the Yankees and, after redeeming himself with the San Diego Padres by going to the 2003 All-Star Game, failed to deliver with the Minnesota Twins - some even ranking him among the worst players in the team's history.

In Montréal, White had a respectable 742-game career:

420 Runs Scored
808 Hits
165 Doubles
101 Home Runs
384 RBI
88 Stolen Bases
.293/.348/.480 Slash Line
19.2 bWAR

Had it not been for poor injury luck, he probably would have been an All-Star in the Canadian Sin City as well. He surpassed the 100-game mark only three times with the Expos, in 1995 (130), 1997 (151) and 1999 (138). That 1997 team was probably the best he'd played on, possibly a pitcher or two away from a playoff berth, what with White, Martinez, and Guerrero leading the way and David Segui (1B), Mike Lansing (2B), Mark Grudzielanek (SS), Henry Rodriguez (LF), and Darrin Fletcher (C) providing additional bats and Carlos Perez, Dustin Hermanson, Marc Valdes, Ugueth Urbina, and Anthony Telford helping out on the mound (apologies to a twilight-of-his-career Lee Smith).

White makes for the perfect addition as #22 in my Expos Numbers Project, with these two cards, first #50 from Pinnacle Brands' 1996 Score set, wearing the grey (away) 1990s uniform:

And here he is wearing the blue alternate/Spring training t-shirt, on card #240 from Upper Deck's 1999 Victory set:

He signed both in blue sharpie, probably in 2003.

Andy Tracy: Two Autographed Rookie Cards

Andy Tracy was by no means a baseball superstar in the Majors, but when he attended Bowling Green University, he starred at both baseball and football; he went back to his alma mater after retiring - he's currently the baseball team's hitting coach.

Tracy holds the distinction of having been drafted twice - first by the Philadelphia Phillies, then the Montréal Expos; it was in Montréal that he would have his best season (2000) in most categories, including games played (83), at-bats (192), hits (50), home runs (11), on-base percentage (.339), walks (22), and so forth. The only time he bested his 2000 batting average (.260) was when he had 5 hits in 12 at-bats with the Phillies in 2009, good for a .417 average.

He was also in the Phillies' organization when they won the 2008 World Series, but only appeared in 4 games (2 plate appearances) in the regular season and none in the playoffs. He was one of the most popular players on their AAA affiliate Lehigh Valley IronPigs, however, and once held the distinction of being the oldest minor-leaguer in the U.S.

And to think 2000 was his rookie year, things were looking up, he was backing up Lee Stevens (first base) and Michael Barrett (third base, before his move to catcher)... it did not quite turn out that way:

from BaseballReference

He signed two copies of his Rookie Card - #T2 from Topps' 2000 Traded And Rookies set in blue sharpie for me back in the day:

These Spring Training pictures will enable me to slot him as #66 in my Expos Numbers Project; he wore #46 (2000) and #22 (2001) in the regular season.

Carl Pavano Autographed Card

It was essentially a no-win for Carl Pavano, one of three players who were sent to the Montréal Expos (with Tony Amas Jr.) in the trade that sent Pedro Martinez to the Boston Red Sox to break the Curse Of The Bambino.

Pavano even took on Martinez' #45 uniform, which makes him the third to wear that number in my Expos Numbers Project with card #481 from Topps' 2001 Series 1 (50th Anniversary) set:

It shows him wearing the Expos' grey (away) uniform, and he signed it in liquid-ink pen on one of the last Expos games at the Stade Olympique in September 2004, while he was with the Florida Marlins.

Pavano stood at 6'5" and weighed 230 pounds, which gave him a good sinker-ball and fast sliders. He had an up-and-down career that saw him as the lead starter of some pitching rotations (good for some 200 innings per summer) but also had some down years following injuries, and his salary history reads like a bad dot-com shares value chart from the late 90s, hovering back and forth between $3M per year to 5 to 1.9 to 8.5...

And it wasn't just "regular pitching injuries" like the elbow tendinitis in his rookie season in Montréal, or the bone fragments in his elbow in his sophomore campaign, tendinitis in a rotator cuff, back problems, a humerus fracture, Tommy John surgery, more bone chips in his elbow...

No, there was also the bruised buttocks, the Porsche crash, and the snow-shoveling accident that ruptured his spleen and nearly killed him.

That doesn't mean we should forget his 2003 World Series win with the Marlins (against the New York Yankees), nor his 2004 All-Star Game nod, nor the time he led the American League while playing for the Minnesota Twins in both complete games (7) and shutouts (2).

It's just that he didn't meet the expectations that had been set upon him. Unfairly.

Henry Mateo Autographed Card

Henry Mateo is mostly known as a baseball player. He played for the Montréal Expos/Washington Nationals for parts of six seasons, then tried to get back in the Majors via stints with the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays, to no avail.

While toiling in the minors leagues, he became a wanted man for "criminal conversation in North Carolina", a civil charge that is, essentially, adultery. He has not returned to the United States since, having instead opted to play in Mexico twice, with a stint in China Taiwan in between.

He wasn't much of a threat at bat, with one career home run in 280 plate appearances, and the year he saw the most games was 100 (for a total of 169 plate appearances) in 2003, in which he batted for .240; he batted .273 the following summer, but barely stepped up to the plate 46 times in 40 games, as Jose Vidro was the team's main second baseman... and Jamey Carroll was his principal replacement, although I don't remember him at all.

A noted base stealer in the minors, Mateo only accomplished the feat 15 times in the National League.

Here he is fielding in the pre-season, wearing the Expos' Grapefruit League blue shirt and sporting #62, which slots him nicely in my Expos Numbers Project:

That's card #261 from Topps' 2002 Topps Total set, packs of which I purchased at dollar stores the following winter, which means I likely got the card signed - in blue sharpie - in 2004, the Expos' final season in Montréal, which they split evenly between the Olympic Stadium on the East end of the island and Estadio Hiram Bithorn in Puerto Rico.

Brian Barnes: Two Autographed Cards

Brian Barnes was a standout playing baseball at Clemson University (and eventually even made it to their Hall of Fame), the first true steps of a career that saw him play for five seasons in the majors - four of them with the Montréal Expos - and six more in minor-league ball after that.

He completed a game in each of his first two seasons in Montréal, leading the team to believe he had it in him to become a #2 or #3 pitcher in the rotation at some point; indeed, he went 1-1 with a 2.89 ERA with a veteran group in 1990 - his first game coming on my birthday, September 14th - then went 5-8 with a 4.22 GAA in 1991 as the team went through a rebuilding phase centered around Delino DeShields, Marquis Grissom and Larry Walker.

He became a reliever and an injury-replacement pitcher in the rotation for 1992 and 1993, then couldn't find a permanent spot in stints with the Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers in 1994.

He helps me check off two different boxes in my Expos Numbers Project, starting with #47 on card #73 from Topps' 1992 Topps set:

He also wore #41 in his final year in Montréal, which is where card #289 from Pinnacle Brands' 1994 Score set comes in:

He signed both cards in thin blue sharpie in 2000, when he was playing for the Calgary Cannons, the AAA affiliate of the Florida Marlins.

Javier Vazquez Jersey Card

Javier Vazquez had many highlights with the Montréal Expos.

His first shutout came on my birthday - September 14th - in 1999, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. By his third season with the team, in 2000, he was already the opening day pitcher, and had accumulated 8 wins in his first 11 starts that year, though the team being as bad as it was ended up catching up with him, as he finished with an 11-9 record. The following summer, he led the National League with 3 shutouts.

Following his final season with the team, in 2003, he told reporters he didn't like playing for "a team without an owner who couldn't afford to trade for a player to help down the stretch". That was actually putting it lightly: Major League Baseball actually forbade the team to even recall players from their minor leagues, essentially tanking a playoff-caliber team that finished 83-79 (fourth in the NL East), enabling the Florida Marlins (91-71) and Philadelphia Phillies (86-76) to pass them, and securing the division title for the Atlanta Braves (101-61). It was one of the most unsportsmanlike and deliberate fixing situations I've ever seen - and I follow hockey and the Arizona Coyotes situation.

For the 2004 season, he signed on with the New York Yankees, and many sportswriters saw him as that year's eventual Cy Young winner; he wasn't in contention, but he did play in his only All-Star Game that summer.

He played for the Puerto Rican team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic (while with the Chicago White Sox) and finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting in 2009 while with the Braves. In 2010, in his second stint with the Yankees, he became the third active pitcher to beat all 30 MLB teams.

Still, seeing as I stopped following baseball after he left town, this is how I remember him best, wearing the Expos' pinstriped white (home) uniform:

That's card #DC-JV from Topps' 2003 Bowman Heritage set, featuring a grey game-worn jersey swatch.

John Tamargo Autographed Card

With the prevalence of beards nowadays, most of my friends now look like this:

That's John Tamargo, Gary Carter's first backup catcher with the Montréal Expos, on card #519 from Topps' 1981 Topps set, which he signed in thin blue sharpie. I got it in the mail this winter, but because I had sent it a few years ago and kept the dates on my old computer (R.I.P.), I don't have the sent date for this one. I did receive it in early December, though.

Tamargo didn't play in the Majors much, 135 games over 5 seasons, with his lone complete season with one team being that summer of 1980 with the Expos, which is still good enough to slot him as #11 in my Expos Numbers Project.

After his playing career, he slid into management, as did his son, John Tamargo Jr., who now coaches in the Toronto Blue Jays organization; John Sr. is now the Latin America Field Coordinator for the Seattle Mariners. They did coach against one another in Single-A ball in 2012.

Dustin Hermanson Autographed Card

When the San Diego Padres drafted Dustin Hermanson, the thought was that his fastball would make him an ideal reliever, perhaps even a closer if he developed well enough. He sure had the facial hair to warrant playing as a closer...

Leave it to the Montréal Expos to try to convert him into a starter, leaving him with a 43-47 record over four seasons with the team.

After shuffling around with the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and San Francisco Giants, he landed with the Chicago White Sox in 2005 and 2006; they made him their closer and won the 2005 World Series, albeit with rookie Bobby Jenks filling in when Hermanson had back problems, which forced him into early retirement after a filed attempt at cracking the Cincinnati Reds roster in 2007.

Here he is on card #87 from Topps' 1994 Stadium Club Draft Picks set, the first and only set of its kind released by the brand, which he signed in blue sharpie, likely when playing for the Giants, perhaps in August 2003:

Jeff Huson Autographed Card

Jeff Huson was an infielder who was active mostly in the 1990s, starting out with the Montréal Expos in 1988 and 1989, and retiring after spending the summer of 2000 with the Chicago Cubs, which is probably when I got this card signed (seeing as he signed it in fading blue sharpie, something I didn't own in the 1990s):

That's card #69 from Score's 1989 Score collection and Rising Star sub-set, though it just says so on the back of the card:

In 12 years with seven teams in the Majors, Huson participated in 827 games and went to the plate for 2127 at-bats, for a batting average of .234. Although the card says he's got good speed, he only stole 64 career bases, with a high of 18 with the Texas Rangers in 1992. Honestly, having been replaced in the Expos' system with Delino DeShields, there was no way history would be kind to him regarding speed; it's akin to comparing me, present-day, 6'2" and over 250 pounds, with The Flash.

Nowadays, he is a post-game and color analysis commentator of the Colorado Rockies for Root Sports. He, uh, is not universally-acclaimed in that position.

Larry Jaster Autographed Card

Larry Jaster's name is synonymous with a few noteworthy achievements in baseball.

First, in his official rookie season in 1966, he led the National League with 5 shutouts. Of note, all five came in consecutive starts against the same team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the second time a Major League pitcher shut out the same team five times in the same year (a feat GroverCleveland "Ol' Pete" Alexander had accomplished against the Cincinnati Reds in 1916), but no one had ever done it consecutively - nor has it happened since.

Then, there's the fact that he appeared in back-to-back World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967 and 1968, winning in his first year and surrendering the series-ending grand slam to his hometown Detroit Tigers in his second go-round.

And, upon being selected by the Montréal Expos in the expansion draft, Jaster became the first MLB pitcher to throw in a regular-season game in Canada, helping beat the Cards.

I doubt I was aware of all these facts when he signed this card in black ball-point pen for me when I was a child, possibly during an evening where the Expos were commemorating their original stadium at Parc Jarry:

That's card #124 from Topps' 1970 Topps set, showing him pretending to wind up in the team's classic white (home) uniform. His #21 uniform sets him up perfectly for entry in my Expos Numbers Project.

Mike Thurman: 2 Autographed Cards

Originally a first-round draft pick (1994, 31st overall) by the Montréal Expos, Mike Thurman was a starter with the team from 1997 until 2001 and a reliever with the New York Yankees in 2002.

At first, he wore #51 in Montréal, then #35 - and #53 with the Yankees. He signed a couple of identical cards in blue sharpie for me around 2000, and here's a closer look at card #81 from Topps' 1994 Stadium Club:

Nowadays, he's a scout for the Yankees and serves on the Board of Directors (as treasurer) for the Pacific Northwest Professional Baseball Scouts Association.

Tim Raines Swatch Card

It's finally done!

My favourite baseball player of all time and childhood hero Tim Raines will enter the Hall Of Fame, as a member of the Montréal Expos no less, joining Andre Dawson and Gary Carter as such! And, in true Raines fashion, he personally answered a ton of congratulatory tweets before his fingers probably went numb from all the typing. He's just that classy.

Although I have recently lost my day job, I may still make the trip to Cooperstown this summer for the induction ceremony. It could very well be my final nod to baseball, what with my interest in it waning dramatically after the shit that went down in the team's final decade.

And Raines was there nearly until the end; his return in 2001 and subsequent trade to the Baltimore Orioles so he could play with his son - just the second time a father-and-son tandem had played for the same team after the Griffeys (Ken and Ken Jr.) - were probably the lone heartwarming story after Pedro Martinez' Cy Young win in 1997, which makes for just two feel-good stories after the 1994 Players' Strike.

And so I present you with a card I traded for this summer (for a bunch of signed basketball and baseball cards), #SS-TR from Upper Deck's 2008 Sweet Spot set and Sweet Swatch Memorabilia sub-set:

It shows him wearing the Expos' classic powder-blue (away) uniform, but contains a white game-worn jersey swatch.

Wallace Johnson Autographed Card

Wallace Johnson was synonymous with the Montréal Expos for much of the 1980s. Not that he was as big of a star as Gary Carter, Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Tim Wallach, or Dennis Martinez - far from it - but he fit with the team's blueprint of short hits and speed, and is the team's all-time leader in pinch-hits, with 86.

He had three stints with the team: 1981-83, after which he was traded to (and subsequently released by) the San Francisco Giants, back in Montréal in 1984, in the minors in 1985 and back with the team from 1986-90.

The year he had the most at-bats was 1986, when he had 134 plate appearances and 127 official at-bats with 36 hits (.283), while he actually surpassed the .300 mark (.309) in 94 at-bats in 1988.

I have found two of his cards but want to feature just one today, one of the earliest I have signed - I can tell because it's autographed in ball-point pen:

It's card #192 from Fleer's 1982 Fleer set, which serves as his rookie card for the brand. I think I initially bought the card around $3-5 in 1989 or 1990 so I could have it signed.

Buck Rodgers Autographed Card

I wrote about one former Montréal Expos manager yesterday, not remembering what (useless) uniform number he wore; well, apart from Felipe Alou, Buck Rodgers is the team's manager I remember most (and most fondly), and I can say for a fact that he wore #37, which makes him fair game for my Expos Numbers Project with card #293 from Topps' 1987 Topps set, the first set I ever pulled a Gary Carter card from:

Of course, the card - signed in black sharpie in the early 1990s - lists him as "Bob" instead of "Buck", but you can't win 'em all. And he hasn't. However, as an Expos boss, he mostly had winning records, with a .510 winning percentage over 7 seasons, including his 1987 title as National League Manager Of The Year.

His best record as manager was with the Milwaukee Brewers, with whom he kept a .549 record, albeit in parts of just three seasons. As a matter of fact, both on the Brewers and on the California Angels, he lived through seasons where he started as manager, was replaced, then came back to finish the season - he replaced George Bamberger (preseason heart attack) with the Brewers, and had a replacement with the Angels himself after the team suffered a bus crash.

To this day, he's still an Angels fan, the only team he played for in his younger days; he was their catcher from their inaugural season until his knees gave out, nine years later.

Bill Virdon Autographed Card

Bill Virdon was an excellent defensive center fielder who was also decent at the plate, with a career batting average of .267, mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1956-1965, and three plate appearances in 1968), but also with the St. Louis Cardinals (1955, 1956), with whom he was named the NL Rookie Of The Year.

Officially, he could still play in the late 1960s but retired because he wanted to become a manager, which he started doing in the minors before graduating to the majors with the Pirates in 1972, finishing first in the NL East. After finishing third the following season, he had a year-and-a-half stint with the New York Yankees, finishing the 1975 season with the Houston Astros, where he remained until 1982, with first-place finishes in 1980 and 1981, but finishing fifth in 1982, leading to his departure and subsequent hiring by the Montréal Expos for two seasons.

He then moved back to Missouri with his wife, at times joining the Pirates for special occasions, including stints as guest first-base coach during Spring Training. The team had him and Bill Mazeroski appear in the dugout in 2012, but that didn't go over well with the powers that be over at MLB and the experiment was terminated after just a single game.

I don't recall the number he wore when he managed the Expos, so I can't add him to my Expos Numbers Project just yet - and, for the record, I do find it odd and borderline ridiculous that managers have uniform numbers in baseball when they aren't player-managers like Pete Rose was - but I do have a signed card of his that reflects his time in La Belle Province:

It's #516 from Topps' 1983 Topps set, which he signed in blue sharpie during the Expos' final season.