Staub shares deep ties with Montreal, Carter

July 27, 1979.

The Montreal Expos — who were in the midst of their first pennant race — were at home and trailing the division-leading Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

With two outs, the game-tying run on first base and Expos pitcher Elias Sosa due up next, manager Dick Williams elected to turn to a pinch-hitter.

As Williams’ choice emerged from the dugout the 59,000 fans in attendance at Stade Olympique that evening suddenly rose to their feet and they did not sit back down until several minutes after.

Rusty Staub, the most popular player on the team during the Expos’ first three seasons, who had just been re-acquired by the club seven days earlier, was about to make his first at-bat in Montreal in an Expos uniform in seven years.

“As I came out (Pirates manager) Chuck Tanner made a pitching change and what the fans did during the delay was probably one of the more emotional things that ever happened to me in my life,” Staub told sportsnet.ca earlier this week. “I just kept going on and on I didn’t know where to go with it. I tried to keep my composure. It was one of the few times I really had to fight to keep my act together.”

Staub would fly out to right and the Expos would lose the game 5-4, but it didn’t matter; “Le Grande Orange” was back.

For baseball fans of a certain age in Canada, it’s hard to fully appreciate the depth of Staub’s relationship with the people of Montreal; just as it’s likely equally hard for some to believe that there was a time when 60,000 people would show up to watch baseball at the Big O.

But with the announcement earlier this week that Staub will be among those inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame later this summer, it’s a chance for those of us too young to know “Le Grande Orange” as little more than a cool nickname to gain a greater appreciation for the man and his self-described “love affair” with the people of Montreal.

In one of their first official acts of business as a National League expansion franchise, on Jan. 22, 1969, the Expos shipped Jesus Alou and Donn Clendenon to the Houston Astros in exchange for 25-year-old first basemen/outfielder Daniel (Rusty) Staub.

Playing out of Parc Jarry — an “iceberg” was Staub’s initial impression of it — the 1969 Expos offered fans little in terms of wins or comfortable accommodations, but they did have Staub, whose 29 home runs that summer made him an NL all-star and the immediate face of the franchise.

It was a responsibility Staub not only accepted, but embraced. That off-season, the New Orleans, LA native enrolled in a French language school and began what would become an annual winter ritual of traveling across Canada to help sell the Expos and by extent, baseball.

“I don’t think we missed a province in our endeavour to try and promote baseball,” said Staub..

In a 1970 Sports Illustrated feature on Staub, then Expos president John McHale marveled at Staub’s effort and ability to connect with fans — in both official languages.

“Rusty Staub,” he said referring to that 1969 winter tour, “did the greatest job of public relations for baseball that I have ever seen.”

Three short, productive seasons later however — and despite his immense popularity with the Montreal fanbase — Staub was dealt to the New York Mets for a package of players that included future Expos broadcaster Ken Singleton.

When Staub returned to the Expos seven years later in 1979 the team had not only built a new home (Olympic Stadium) but a roster loaded with young, all-star talent that included the likes of Andre Dawson, Ellis Valentine, Warren Cromartie and a 25-year-old catcher that had since replaced him as the fan-favourite.

“Gary (Carter) was probably the guy that was the leader of the pack in terms of popularity,” said Staub. “I first met him when I arrived back in ’79 and soon after he was calling me Big Brother.”

The ’79 Expos would win 95 games — a franchise record — but they still finished two games back of the eventual World Series champion Pirates.

“People forget, but that year (the Expos) were competing for the championship,” Staub said. “On the last day of the season if we would have beaten Philadelphia and Steve Carlton we would have had to go on and play a double-header against Atlanta (to try and force a one-game playoff).”

Carlton outdueled Steve Rogers and the Expos that day 2-0 behind a three-hit, 12-strikeout, complete game shutout.

“We were a good ballclub,” Staub said. “It’s just too bad we didn’t win.”

Staub’s second stint with the Expos lasted just 38 games before joining the Texas Rangers for the 1980 season and then the New York Mets from 1981-’85 where he reunited with Carter and strengthened a friendship that began in Montreal, and until Carter was diagnosed with brain cancer last spring, had often included lunches and golf outings near their homes in West Palm Beach, Fla.

“We all know Gary is in dire straits these days,” Staub said. “I cannot tell you how serious it is right now.”

At last month’s Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s (BBWAA) New York chapter dinner, Carter’s children were on hand to accept the Milton and Arthur Richman “You Gotta Have Heart” award. Also in attendance that night was Staub, who said he gave Carter’s kids “something special from me to give to their dad.”

“It’s gonna stay personal,” Staub explained. “I just knew I probably wasn’t going to get the chance to see him again.”

With the Expos now in Washington playing as the Nationals, Staub has spent little time in Canada in recent years which is why the now 67-year-old says he’s looking forward to traveling north this June.

“You have to play good for the people to like you but, the fact that I tried to be a part of the community and tried to speak French is a big part why I connected with the people of Montreal and Canada,” Staub said. “And ever since it’s been a love affair.”