NHL/MLB markets where hockey and baseball share special links
By Al Daniel
Shared NHL and MLB market: Montreal
The Canadiens took charge of preserving the Expos’ memory as soon as they could.
From 1969 to 2004, Canada’s definitive Francophone market interacted with North America at large year-round through its NHL and MLB franchises. Toronto was its sole company in that regard, as the NBA’s Grizzlies made Vancouver the country’s only other multi-sport city outside of the CFL.
Then the Expos bid a bitter adieu two weeks after the NHL went into a lockout that would cancel the full 2004-05 season. That meant fewer diversions in the wake of the ballclub’s disappearance and subsequent resurfacing as the Washington Nationals the next spring.
But when the Canadiens resumed operation the following autumn, they made two grand gestures. First, they signed a free agent mascot in Youppi, who spent 26 seasons in the same role for the Expos. Second, they cleared a space in the crowded Bell Centre rafters for the retired numbers of Montreal MLB legends Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, and Rusty Staub.
Of the latter ceremony, as Thomas Neumann later noted in an espn.com retrospective, “Fans who attended the game received a glossy program tracing the history of the Expos.”
In addition, Neumann’s piece recalled a pair of poignant moments illustrating the two teams’ kinship. When Habs legend Maurice Richard passed away in the spring of 2000, nearly two months after Montreal’s hockey season ended, the Expos put the Rocket’s No. 9 on their sleeves for the balance of their campaign.
Later, when Carter died in 2012, the Canadiens went about their warmups bearing his surname and No. 8 on their backs. They then preceded the game with a video tribute and moment of silence.