As a Dodger fan since I was 10 years old in 1968, justice was finally served for me in 1981. The NLDS against Houston, NLCS against Montreal, and World Series against the mighty Yankees were gut wrenching high drama games. What an incredible post season that was, all remarkable series come backs. My nerves were shot until Kenny Landreaux caught the final out at Yankees Stadium in game 6.
This is one of the most underappreciated, undervalued or underrated historic games in MLB history IMHO. Despite how this game started on a Monday instead of Sunday and featured 35 thousand instead of over 50 thousand in the stands, I rate this among the 25 greatest MLB games ever played due to the following factors: 1. It was the most important game in Montreal Expos history, the closest they ever were to winning the NL pennant. They were just one win, one walkoff extra-base hit (from a player who won Game 3 for them with a three-run homer) away from making the World Series. 2. It was the most dramatic win for the Dodgers in their postseason championship run in 1981, which itself was a historic strike-shortened season. It was symbolic of how they kept coming back, from 0-2 down vs the Astros in the NLDS, down two games to 1 in this NLCS versus the Expos and having to win Games 4 and 5 in Montreal, and later being down 0-2 in the World Series to the Yankees before coming back to win it in 6 games. This to me was their greatest game of that postseason. 3. The game itself was a close, nerve-biting game won on a top of the ninth game-winning home run by Rick Monday. Since then, there have been more than a handful of other 9th inning home runs to win a pennant or postseason series (including World Series), but in 1981, what fans knew was that the last time it happened was on Bill Mazeroski's homer in the 1960 World Series or Bobby Thomson for the Giants in 1951. It made the home run that much more dramatic. And Monday hit it on a Monday! 4. Aside from that dramatic home run, Rick Monday scored the other run for the Dodgers in this game. In addition to his ability, he was known as an American hero for saving the US flag from burning in a game years earlier. In this game, it seemed he symbolically struck one for a historied US franchise against a team from Francophone Canada. Ironically, as he hit his homer off Montreal starter Steve Rogers, it was like Captain America striking against Captain America. 5. In this very special season for rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela, he pitched superbly in his most clutch performance of the season. He even drove in the Dodgers' only run before the Monday homer. Had he failed, then the entire magical season would have been all for naught, especially since he finished the season at 5-7 after starting out 8-0. And in the playoffs up to that point, he was 1-1 and the Dodgers had lost 2 of his 3 starts, including Game 2 when they lost 3-0 with Valenzuela giving up three earned runs in 6 innings. The winning pitcher (Ray Burris) was the same Expo starter he was going against in this deciding game. The pressure was on. And Fernando delivered. With this epic performance, he completely validated the Fernandomania craze that year. It was almost like destiny. 6. Similarly, Hall of Fame base stealer Tim Raines had his own terrific rookie season for Montreal, and in this game, he delivered with a double and run scored in the bottom of the first. Another Hall of Famer, Andre Dawson, was slumping in this NLCS, but the lone Expo run scored by Raines came off his grounder in the bottom of the 1st. Still another Expo Hall of Famer, Gary Carter, went 1 for 3 and refused to be the last out of the game by drawing a two-out walk off Valenzuela in the bottom of the 9th. The Expos had quite a lineup (they had guys like Larry Parrish too) and it's a pity they never won a pennant, much more a World Series. 7. With Gary Carter refusing to make the last out for his team, this recalls how he likewise delivered in a similar situation for him in the infamous Game 6 of the 1986 World Series when, playing as a Met, he hit a two-out single in the bottom of the 10th to jump-start the Mets' three-run rally to save the game and the Series. It shows what a clutch player Gary Carter was. May he rest in peace. And again, it showed how close the Expos were to actually winning this game. They had the tying and winning runs on base, with Jerry White (the Game 3 hero with the game-winning three-run homer) at the plate. But Dodgers pitcher Bob Welch got him to ground out. 8. Likewise, by getting it done in the bottom of the ninth instead of spoilng it for Valenzuela and his team, troubled Dodger pitcher Bob Welch had one of the highlights of his career with that tough save, his biggest contribution for the Dodgers that postseason. He did pitch well out of the bullpen throughout that NLCS, but this was his biggest moment. And he didn't pout despite being demoted to the bullpen after he had drinking problems again late in the season. He got it done when he faced the biggest situation of his career (he was later to win a Cy Young Award with Oakland). May he also rest in peace. 9. Conversely, Montreal ace starter Steve Rodgers had the misfortune of surrendering that home run when he came out of the bullpen. The wheel of fortune turned a different way for both him and Welch. Even as Steve Rogers was great in that 1981 postseason (even defeating Steve Carlton twice in their earlier series vs the defending champion Phillies), this might be what Rogers and the fans remembered from the entire year. Meanwhile, as earlier said, Bob Welch had his save and the World Series ring to remember this season by, despite his late season problems. That’s baseball. 10. The game also reflected how in baseball, you could win a game, even the biggest game of the season, without your big stars delivering at all, or even with the other team having a seemingly more impressive lineup. In addition to guys like slugger Larry Parrish and .304 hitter Warren Cromartie, there were 3 future Hall of Famers at bat for the Expos compared to zero Hall of Famers for the Dodgers, and even then, the Dodgers' three biggest guns (Steve Garvey, Dusty Baker and Ron Cey) all went hitless in this game. Together with sluggers Davey Lopes and Pedro Guerrero, they had a combined 2-19 for the Dodgers. But Rick Monday's heroics were enough. And you just can't have that in other sports, where it is very doubtful that you can win a big game with your big star/s delivering absolutely nothing. The Patriots don't win 6 Super Bowls if Tom Brady can't throw a single touchdown pass, only interceptions. If both Michael Jordan and Pippen, Shaq and Kobe, or LeBron and Dwyane or Kyrie shoot badly and score less than 15 points in the same game, it's doubtful their teams can pull it out. Hockey or socccer teams won't win if their star goalkeepers can't make tough saves at all throughout the game and keep letting the other team score goals, and that’s why they’re often the winners of the Conn Smythe Trophy in the NHL playoffs or The Man of the Match in futbol. But in baseball, teams can win even with their MVP batting champions going 0-4 or 0-5. It can happen, so long as the pitching holds and other hitters (sometimes even just one) can pick up the slack for the main stars' oh-fers. XXXXXXXXXX I'm sure Dodger and Expo fans know of or remember this game avidly, but it seems not too many others do. But it remains one of the 25 greatest MLB games of all time in my book, and even if I expanded the list to include the 100 greatest games ever played in all North American major league sports (counting MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, even AFL, ABA, WHL, NASL and MLS), this game would still merit a place on such list. All the factors which I mentioned have something to do with it, including this game's place in the history of the Montreal Expos. They were but one win, one walkoff extra-base hit away from winning their only National League pennant, but Fernando Valenzuela, Rick Monday and Bob Welch shut them down, in perhaps the most pivotal game of their noted careers. On the other hand, it is unfortunate that Steve Rogers' stellar career as an Expos ace would be marred by this loss, but that's sports. And that's another reason why this game is one of the greatest or most significant games ever for me. The outcome symbolizes just how sports fortunes could turn in ways fans, players and coaches can never understand.
1981 was a great time for ⚾️🧢baseball🧢⚾️fans! I started going to games with my Mom and Dad in 1977. I was 9 years old. I loved doing the Scorecards. The Statistics, AB's, hits, doubles, triples, HR's, RBI's, BB's, K's, IP, etc. I loved it! I was also playing Little League and ⚾️🧢Baseball🧢⚾️became MY GAME! The players back then were HOF's too. Robin Yount for my Brewers, George Brett for the Royals, Andre Dawson for Montréal, Steve Garvey for the Dodgers, and so many others. They were all fun to watch, especially Nolan Ryan, Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro, and Steve Carlton. We were BLESSED in that we were privileged to see these iconic players perform and just dominate the game, and it was GLORIOUS! I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!
1981 a great year for fans? My father took me to Cooperstown during the strike. He planned the trip months ahead of time. He was so angry that they stopped play just before he took his 10-year old to the Hall of Fame. And the improvised playoff format had the Cincinnati Reds not even making the playoffs despite the best record in the majors. And 1981 brought us the only losing team to ever qualify for the playoffs. The Royals finished under .500 and still made it.
That was heartbreak for me as a fourth grader in late '81! My father had taken me to see my first MLB game during the summer of '79 between the eventual world champion Pirates and of course the then-Expos at old Three Rivers! I became a Montreal and mostly Tim Raines fan that very day and have stuck with them to present-day as the Washington Nationals! Sorry Dodger fans, but it made our 2019 world championship that much sweeter having gone through ya all en route because in beating you, the Cardinals and Astros we truly earned it like the Dodgers did in beating us en route back then! I can still see Rick Monday's HR like it was yesterday and I pulled for the Dodgers against the Yankees in that WS! To prove there's no hard or ill feelings and out of the fact I'm always respectful, congratulations out to the Dodgers on your 2020 WS crown! And Corey Seager being named WS MVP redeemed this October for me because he's a fellow NW Cabarrus HS (Concord, NC) alum! Rural school to the big time! My boys had an off year defending our title, but LA was long overdue! Kudos to the Dodgers and mostly Corey! Well done!
Thanks for this one! I was a Montréal Expos fan as a kid. I loved their uniform and hat. I remember going to a Brewers game at old County 🏟Stadium🏟 back in the 70's and as we were heading inside I stopped at the MLB stand. They had hats, caps, visors, seat cushions, pennants, team hemet banks, bobble heads, cups, ⚾️⚾️Baseballs⚾️⚾️, yearbooks, programs, 🖊pens🖊 shaped like bats, and basically anything you could imagine selling at a baseball game. ⚾️🧢⚾️🧢⚾️🧢⚾️🧢⚾️🧢 ⚾️🧢⚾️ I however had my sights set on the replica batting helmets. I collected those back then. I had the Brewers of course, the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays, even the Yankees, all from the AL East. I had the Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, Oakland A's, from the AL West. I really wanted the Montréal Expos though. I loved Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Steve Rogers and some of the best all-time pitchers started here. RANDY JOHNSON was one. Look at their history and it'll surprise you who they had as rookies. They were set up really well!
ah being in Chicago I got home in time to see the homer. Congrats to the Expos franchise for finally winning a pennant in their 50th anniversary season.
They broke my heart in both the '77 & '78 World Series, with back to back losses to the Reggie Jackson led Yankees. I do remember I think game five of the '81 World Series on a Sunday, with the Series all even at 2 games a piece. I was living in Lake Tahoe, and was in the stands at Candlestick Park, watching that year's Super Bowl Champion 49ers, play a division game against LA Rams. I had the baseball game on a transistor radio, and Ron Guidry was throwing a gem, and I think leading in a pitcher's duel late, 1-0. Then out of the blue (Dodger Blue that is), Guerro and Yeager hit back to back solo home runs, to give the Dodger's a late one run lead, which they held onto, to win 2-1, and two days later, win game six in NY, to FINALLY beat their nemesis the NY Yankees. Great memories, great time in life. (26 yrs old)
Gotta feel for Steve Rogers. One of most dominant post seasons ever. He had to be tired, lost a little off fastball. Cey hits one to wall, and Monday over wall. Almost back to back homers off a guy who on 3 days rest in post season gave up almost nothing.
It's a shame the game on Sunday was rained out, if it had of been played I think the game would have been a sell out 59,000. The Monday game barely drew 30,000 for a deciding game 5.
@@paulsonj72 yes that seems correct, I think a lot of no shows that day. I remember watching the game on TV Plattsburg NY feed. Bryant Gumble with his ski gloves for the pre-game show!! lol
@@mitcht.410 omg did it ever! That was the best team we ever had during the Expos era! 74-40 at the time the season was cancelled! Had an absolutely loaded ball club!
Andres Galarraga, Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker, Pedro, Ken Hill, Wil Cordero, Rondell White! U name 'em, and we had 'em! The talent never stopped! I have no doubt we would have won the WS that season! But 2019 made my 40 yr wait so worthwhile because our hard working nature was so a cut from the scrappy Expo '79-'81 and '94 mold!
If the Expos has actually won this game, is it really much of a leap to think that the team might still be going strong in Montreal today? Imagine what might have been... Ironically, I live in Quebec, but am a longtime Dodger fan.
25 years later to day I was at Shea Stadium watching my Mets play the Cardinals in Game 7 At the end of 8 in a 1-1 tie, I thought to myself. We might have a Rick Monday moment or a Chris Chambliss moment unfortunatley for me and my fellow Met fans Yadier Molina gave us a Rick Monday moment
Bob Costas started doing baseball in 1982. For 81, Garagiola and Kubek were the main team on the Game of the Week, and they did the ALCS. The nearly-forgotten Merle Harmon and Ron Luciano did other regular-season games, but were let go before the playoffs.
@@tommyparkerparkerHarmon and Luciano's contracts were about to expire, and, since that team had not gotten good reviews or ratings, NBC had already made up its mind to move on. Harmon signed with NBC mostly to do the 1980 Moscow Olympics(with Dick Enberg in the 'Jim McKay' host role), along with MLB, NFL, and college basketball, but when the Olympics fell through due to the boycott, Harmon became disenchanted with his role, and NBC started downgrading his assignments(he felt he should have been the main announcer for baseball). Instead, Enberg, Bob Costas, Marv Albert, and Don Criqui picked up the sort of assignments that Harmon had been getting. Luciano, who was supposed to be a 'wacky' Bob Uecker type, instead grated on viewers and many people within baseball, both players and his former umpiring colleagues, who didn't take kindly to his criticisms. There was precedent for a network dismissing its baseball announcers before the playoffs; ABC did it for the ALCS in 1976, dropping Bob Prince and Warner Wolf, and replacing them with Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell(and Tom Seaver, who subsequently did postseason work for NBC). Only Bob Uecker remained for that series, doing play by play for the first game, while Jackson did football, then doing pre and postgame interviews the rest of the series. ABC routinely used active players and managers in the booth for postseason games, notably Jim Palmer, Johnny Bench and Reggie Jackson. Billy Martin, Tommy Lasorda, and Earl Weaver also worked the playoffs in the early 80s, with Weaver staying on for two seasons of Monday night games.
@@brianoneill7186 Fox did one better by dismissing one of their baseball announcers DURING the playoffs. Steve Lyons was fired right before the fourth and deciding game of the 2006 ALCS (Detroit vs. Oakland) for a remark that he made on-air about Spanish people stealing his wallet. This was after his broadcast colleague Lou Piniellia spoke some Spanish on-air when making analogies about luck. Lyons was already getting in hot water for his idiotic and downright offensive comments. Like when he criticized Shawn Green of the LA Dodgers for choosing not to play on the holy day in the Jewish faith, Yom Kipper. Lyons pretty implied that Green had no business choosing not to play on Yom Kipper because in his mind, Green wasn't "Jewish enough".
I know was televised back to Los Angeles on KTTV Channel 11 that day with Vin Scully & Ross Porter. I wonder if anyone has the KTTV telecast of the game.
Vin would not have done the game had the game been played on Sunday. He had an NFL assignment for CBS on Sunday in Minnesota doing the Vikings/Eagles game. That game is on RUclips
Valenzuela detuvo a los expos en su propio estadio en un decisivo 5 juego y con todo y Gary Carter, André Dawson, Tim Raines, Larry Parrish e incluso Tim Wallach!!!
You’re right! The only pitcher who could have beaten this all-star Expos club! Worst sporting moment in our city’s history…. But we tip our hat to Fernando !
@Charles George Charles, Matthew means as a franchise! Anyone who knows baseball or follows it is fully aware the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals!
Us Nationals fans who go back before the move never forget where they originated from, that's a certainty! I've been one of those since summer of '79! Expos Pirates my first MLB game (I was between first and second grade) so I lived all the losing and heartbreak associated with the team but never gave up that they would bust down the door some day!
Because due to the 1981 Baseball strike, the Reds were 1/2 a game below the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West for the first half of the season, and 1 1/2 games below the Houston Astros for the second half. Thus, Cincinnati had to watch the Dodgers and the Astros duke it out to see who makes the NLCS. If it were by the whole year, the Reds would have won the division, being 4 games ahead of the Dodgers. For extra information, the Reds would have faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS in this scenario.
Poor Attendence The Last Few Years, Of The Montreal Expos, That I Saw On 'SportsCenter', Back In The 20th Century! 📺😳🧐🤔🙄😁😅😂🤣 The Montreal Expos Are Not Coming Back. Sorry. 😐🤔🙄😁😅😂🤣 Typed This On Thursday Morning 🌁🏙️ , 10:14 a.m. , June 29, 2023.
- Because of the rain whic pushed the game back a day, in which it fell on a Monday work day, people who would’ve attended the game originally couldn’t make it, probably because of school & work. Not to mention the weather kept most of the people away, but they still managed to draw 35,000+ even on a cold, dreary Monday afternoon.
36k people is hardly ridiculous for a DAY game on a Monday....if it was played at night - there would have been 50k + people in the stadium that day just like the Saturday game....too bad it took another 20 years for the roof to go on the stadium
Montreal drew huge crowds during the 79-81 time frame more than most American teams.Monday was a work day and unscheduled because of Sunday rain out.I hope pro baseball returns to Montreal they deserve it.
@@rozman4044 And it was a day game because the World Series was to begin the very next night at Yankee Stadium so to give the NL champ extra time for travel, although it would've been a short flight or road trip anyway from Montreal down to New York.
As a Dodger fan since I was 10 years old in 1968, justice was finally served for me in 1981. The NLDS against Houston, NLCS against Montreal, and World Series against the mighty Yankees were gut wrenching high drama games. What an incredible post season that was, all remarkable series come backs. My nerves were shot until Kenny Landreaux caught the final out at Yankees Stadium in game 6.
This is one of the most underappreciated, undervalued or underrated historic games in MLB history IMHO.
Despite how this game started on a Monday instead of Sunday and featured 35 thousand instead of over 50 thousand in the stands, I rate this among the 25 greatest MLB games ever played due to the following factors:
1. It was the most important game in Montreal Expos history, the closest they ever were to winning the NL pennant. They were just one win, one walkoff extra-base hit (from a player who won Game 3 for them with a three-run homer) away from making the World Series.
2. It was the most dramatic win for the Dodgers in their postseason championship run in 1981, which itself was a historic strike-shortened season. It was symbolic of how they kept coming back, from 0-2 down vs the Astros in the NLDS, down two games to 1 in this NLCS versus the Expos and having to win Games 4 and 5 in Montreal, and later being down 0-2 in the World Series to the Yankees before coming back to win it in 6 games. This to me was their greatest game of that postseason.
3. The game itself was a close, nerve-biting game won on a top of the ninth game-winning home run by Rick Monday. Since then, there have been more than a handful of other 9th inning home runs to win a pennant or postseason series (including World Series), but in 1981, what fans knew was that the last time it happened was on Bill Mazeroski's homer in the 1960 World Series or Bobby Thomson for the Giants in 1951. It made the home run that much more dramatic.
And Monday hit it on a Monday!
4. Aside from that dramatic home run, Rick Monday scored the other run for the Dodgers in this game. In addition to his ability, he was known as an American hero for saving the US flag from burning in a game years earlier. In this game, it seemed he symbolically struck one for a historied US franchise against a team from Francophone Canada. Ironically, as he hit his homer off Montreal starter Steve Rogers, it was like Captain America striking against Captain America.
5. In this very special season for rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela, he pitched superbly in his most clutch performance of the season. He even drove in the Dodgers' only run before the Monday homer. Had he failed, then the entire magical season would have been all for naught, especially since he finished the season at 5-7 after starting out 8-0.
And in the playoffs up to that point, he was 1-1 and the Dodgers had lost 2 of his 3 starts, including Game 2 when they lost 3-0 with Valenzuela giving up three earned runs in 6 innings. The winning pitcher (Ray Burris) was the same Expo starter he was going against in this deciding game.
The pressure was on. And Fernando delivered. With this epic performance, he completely validated the Fernandomania craze that year. It was almost like destiny.
6. Similarly, Hall of Fame base stealer Tim Raines had his own terrific rookie season for Montreal, and in this game, he delivered with a double and run scored in the bottom of the first. Another Hall of Famer, Andre Dawson, was slumping in this NLCS, but the lone Expo run scored by Raines came off his grounder in the bottom of the 1st. Still another Expo Hall of Famer, Gary Carter, went 1 for 3 and refused to be the last out of the game by drawing a two-out walk off Valenzuela in the bottom of the 9th.
The Expos had quite a lineup (they had guys like Larry Parrish too) and it's a pity they never won a pennant, much more a World Series.
7. With Gary Carter refusing to make the last out for his team, this recalls how he likewise delivered in a similar situation for him in the infamous Game 6 of the 1986 World Series when, playing as a Met, he hit a two-out single in the bottom of the 10th to jump-start the Mets' three-run rally to save the game and the Series.
It shows what a clutch player Gary Carter was. May he rest in peace.
And again, it showed how close the Expos were to actually winning this game. They had the tying and winning runs on base, with Jerry White (the Game 3 hero with the game-winning three-run homer) at the plate. But Dodgers pitcher Bob Welch got him to ground out.
8. Likewise, by getting it done in the bottom of the ninth instead of spoilng it for Valenzuela and his team, troubled Dodger pitcher Bob Welch had one of the highlights of his career with that tough save, his biggest contribution for the Dodgers that postseason. He did pitch well out of the bullpen throughout that NLCS, but this was his biggest moment. And he didn't pout despite being demoted to the bullpen after he had drinking problems again late in the season. He got it done when he faced the biggest situation of his career (he was later to win a Cy Young Award with Oakland).
May he also rest in peace.
9. Conversely, Montreal ace starter Steve Rodgers had the misfortune of surrendering that home run when he came out of the bullpen. The wheel of fortune turned a different way for both him and Welch. Even as Steve Rogers was great in that 1981 postseason (even defeating Steve Carlton twice in their earlier series vs the defending champion Phillies), this might be what Rogers and the fans remembered from the entire year.
Meanwhile, as earlier said, Bob Welch had his save and the World Series ring to remember this season by, despite his late season problems.
That’s baseball.
10. The game also reflected how in baseball, you could win a game, even the biggest game of the season, without your big stars delivering at all, or even with the other team having a seemingly more impressive lineup. In addition to guys like slugger Larry Parrish and .304 hitter Warren Cromartie, there were 3 future Hall of Famers at bat for the Expos compared to zero Hall of Famers for the Dodgers, and even then, the Dodgers' three biggest guns (Steve Garvey, Dusty Baker and Ron Cey) all went hitless in this game. Together with sluggers Davey Lopes and Pedro Guerrero, they had a combined 2-19 for the Dodgers. But Rick Monday's heroics were enough.
And you just can't have that in other sports, where it is very doubtful that you can win a big game with your big star/s delivering absolutely nothing. The Patriots don't win 6 Super Bowls if Tom Brady can't throw a single touchdown pass, only interceptions. If both Michael Jordan and Pippen, Shaq and Kobe, or LeBron and Dwyane or Kyrie shoot badly and score less than 15 points in the same game, it's doubtful their teams can pull it out. Hockey or socccer teams won't win if their star goalkeepers can't make tough saves at all throughout the game and keep letting the other team score goals, and that’s why they’re often the winners of the Conn Smythe Trophy in the NHL playoffs or The Man of the Match in futbol.
But in baseball, teams can win even with their MVP batting champions going 0-4 or 0-5. It can happen, so long as the pitching holds and other hitters (sometimes even just one) can pick up the slack for the main stars' oh-fers.
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I'm sure Dodger and Expo fans know of or remember this game avidly, but it seems not too many others do.
But it remains one of the 25 greatest MLB games of all time in my book, and even if I expanded the list to include the 100 greatest games ever played in all North American major league sports (counting MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, even AFL, ABA, WHL, NASL and MLS), this game would still merit a place on such list.
All the factors which I mentioned have something to do with it, including this game's place in the history of the Montreal Expos. They were but one win, one walkoff extra-base hit away from winning their only National League pennant, but Fernando Valenzuela, Rick Monday and Bob Welch shut them down, in perhaps the most pivotal game of their noted careers. On the other hand, it is unfortunate that Steve Rogers' stellar career as an Expos ace would be marred by this loss, but that's sports.
And that's another reason why this game is one of the greatest or most significant games ever for me. The outcome symbolizes just how sports fortunes could turn in ways fans, players and coaches can never understand.
What a game, I was 10 years old, thanks for sharing, this is awesome!
Stayed home from school to watch....what a great day
I had to go to school but brought my radio and provided the class with crucial updates.
I stayed home from school too...lol....wasn't so great here....hahahaha
1981 was a great time for ⚾️🧢baseball🧢⚾️fans! I started going to games with my Mom and Dad in 1977. I was 9 years old. I loved doing the Scorecards. The Statistics, AB's, hits, doubles, triples, HR's, RBI's, BB's, K's, IP, etc. I loved it! I was also playing Little League and ⚾️🧢Baseball🧢⚾️became MY GAME! The players back then were HOF's too. Robin Yount for my Brewers, George Brett for the Royals, Andre Dawson for Montréal, Steve Garvey for the Dodgers, and so many others. They were all fun to watch, especially Nolan Ryan, Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro, and Steve Carlton. We were BLESSED in that we were privileged to see these iconic players perform and just dominate the game, and it was GLORIOUS! I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!
1981 a great year for fans? My father took me to Cooperstown during the strike. He planned the trip months ahead of time. He was so angry that they stopped play just before he took his 10-year old to the Hall of Fame. And the improvised playoff format had the Cincinnati Reds not even making the playoffs despite the best record in the majors. And 1981 brought us the only losing team to ever qualify for the playoffs. The Royals finished under .500 and still made it.
That was heartbreak for me as a fourth grader in late '81! My father had taken me to see my first MLB game during the summer of '79 between the eventual world champion Pirates and of course the then-Expos at old Three Rivers! I became a Montreal and mostly Tim Raines fan that very day and have stuck with them to present-day as the Washington Nationals! Sorry Dodger fans, but it made our 2019 world championship that much sweeter having gone through ya all en route because in beating you, the Cardinals and Astros we truly earned it like the Dodgers did in beating us en route back then! I can still see Rick Monday's HR like it was yesterday and I pulled for the Dodgers against the Yankees in that WS! To prove there's no hard or ill feelings and out of the fact I'm always respectful, congratulations out to the Dodgers on your 2020 WS crown! And Corey Seager being named WS MVP redeemed this October for me because he's a fellow NW Cabarrus HS (Concord, NC) alum! Rural school to the big time! My boys had an off year defending our title, but LA was long overdue! Kudos to the Dodgers and mostly Corey! Well done!
Thanks for this one! I was a Montréal Expos fan as a kid. I loved their uniform and hat. I remember going to a Brewers game at old County 🏟Stadium🏟 back in the 70's and as we were heading inside I stopped at the MLB stand. They had hats, caps, visors, seat cushions, pennants, team hemet banks, bobble heads, cups, ⚾️⚾️Baseballs⚾️⚾️, yearbooks, programs, 🖊pens🖊 shaped like bats, and basically anything you could imagine selling at a baseball game. ⚾️🧢⚾️🧢⚾️🧢⚾️🧢⚾️🧢 ⚾️🧢⚾️ I however had my sights set on the replica batting helmets. I collected those back then. I had the Brewers of course, the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays, even the Yankees, all from the AL East. I had the Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, Oakland A's, from the AL West. I really wanted the Montréal Expos though. I loved Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Steve Rogers and some of the best all-time pitchers started here. RANDY JOHNSON was one. Look at their history and it'll surprise you who they had as rookies. They were set up really well!
I remember hearing about the Monday homerun during 6th period my freshmen year at Newbury Park High in So.Cal.
ah being in Chicago I got home in time to see the homer. Congrats to the Expos franchise for finally winning a pennant in their 50th anniversary season.
I just got home from school here in NY and saw it live on TV. Wild game and memorable moment.
This game also had an early start time for a weekday postseason game(It came on the air at 1 PM ET)
Monday homer was profound and stunning
Great series wish my dodgers had heart like the 81 and 88 teams
They broke my heart in both the '77 & '78 World Series, with back to back losses to the Reggie Jackson led Yankees. I do remember I think game five of the '81 World Series on a Sunday, with the Series all even at 2 games a piece. I was living in Lake Tahoe, and was in the stands at Candlestick Park, watching that year's Super Bowl Champion 49ers, play a division game against LA Rams. I had the baseball game on a transistor radio, and Ron Guidry was throwing a gem, and I think leading in a pitcher's duel late, 1-0. Then out of the blue (Dodger Blue that is), Guerro and Yeager hit back to back solo home runs, to give the Dodger's a late one run lead, which they held onto, to win 2-1, and two days later, win game six in NY, to FINALLY beat their nemesis the NY Yankees. Great memories, great time in life. (26 yrs old)
Ray they finally showed you that heart and resiliency in 2020! Congrats
And especially so considering the circus with which we dealt this year! Society threw that at the Dodgers and they extra responded
Gotta feel for Steve Rogers. One of most dominant post seasons ever. He had to be tired, lost a little off fastball. Cey hits one to wall, and Monday over wall. Almost back to back homers off a guy who on 3 days rest in post season gave up almost nothing.
Magistral game for the great
Fernando Valenzuela
I had to go to school but brought my radio and provided the class with crucial updates.
It's a shame the game on Sunday was rained out, if it had of been played I think the game would have been a sell out 59,000. The Monday game barely drew 30,000 for a deciding game 5.
Then expos would’ve won the game to have a creative Yankee-Expo WS (lots of expo fans in NYC back then).
Retrosheet.com shows an announced attendance of a bit over 36K for this game
@@paulsonj72 yes that seems correct, I think a lot of no shows that day. I remember watching the game on TV Plattsburg NY feed. Bryant Gumble with his ski gloves for the pre-game show!! lol
Closest the Montreal Expos ever came to playing in a World Series
1994 Season we were #1 but the Strike fucked us!
@@mitcht.410 omg did it ever! That was the best team we ever had during the Expos era! 74-40 at the time the season was cancelled! Had an absolutely loaded ball club!
Andres Galarraga, Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker, Pedro, Ken Hill, Wil Cordero, Rondell White! U name 'em, and we had 'em! The talent never stopped! I have no doubt we would have won the WS that season! But 2019 made my 40 yr wait so worthwhile because our hard working nature was so a cut from the scrappy Expo '79-'81 and '94 mold!
@@bradlewis6514 Cliff Floyd, Curtis Pride, F P Santangelo etc...
If the Expos has actually won this game, is it really much of a leap to think that the team might still be going strong in Montreal today? Imagine what might have been... Ironically, I live in Quebec, but am a longtime Dodger fan.
Great series, great post!
I told mom I wasn’t feeling well. She let me skip school to watch this!
25 years later to day I was at Shea Stadium watching my Mets play the Cardinals in Game 7 At the end of 8 in a 1-1 tie, I thought to myself. We might have a Rick Monday moment or a Chris Chambliss moment unfortunatley for me and my fellow Met fans Yadier Molina gave us a Rick Monday moment
You know they had a damn good lineup when Pedro Guerrero was hitting 7th..
He only had about 500 career AB before this game, not fully established yet.
This is great, except the audio is out of sync. Did not know Enberg called the game for NBC.
With Tom Seaver. Byron Day in the Dodgers clubhouse.
Bob Costas started doing baseball in 1982. For 81, Garagiola and Kubek were the main team on the Game of the Week, and they did the ALCS. The nearly-forgotten Merle Harmon and Ron Luciano did other regular-season games, but were let go before the playoffs.
@@brianoneill7186 I wonder why Merle and Ron didn't call the LCS being in 81, they were the backup team?
@@tommyparkerparkerHarmon and Luciano's contracts were about to expire, and, since that team had not gotten good reviews or ratings, NBC had already made up its mind to move on.
Harmon signed with NBC mostly to do the 1980 Moscow Olympics(with Dick Enberg in the 'Jim McKay' host role), along with MLB, NFL, and college basketball, but when the Olympics fell through due to the boycott, Harmon became disenchanted with his role, and NBC started downgrading his assignments(he felt he should have been the main announcer for baseball). Instead, Enberg, Bob Costas, Marv Albert, and Don Criqui picked up the sort of assignments that Harmon had been getting.
Luciano, who was supposed to be a 'wacky' Bob Uecker type, instead grated on viewers and many people within baseball, both players and his former umpiring colleagues, who didn't take kindly to his criticisms.
There was precedent for a network dismissing its baseball announcers before the playoffs; ABC did it for the ALCS in 1976, dropping Bob Prince and Warner Wolf, and replacing them with Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell(and Tom Seaver, who subsequently did postseason work for NBC). Only Bob Uecker remained for that series, doing play by play for the first game, while Jackson did football, then doing pre and postgame interviews the rest of the series. ABC routinely used active players and managers in the booth for postseason games, notably Jim Palmer, Johnny Bench and Reggie Jackson. Billy Martin, Tommy Lasorda, and Earl Weaver also worked the playoffs in the early 80s, with Weaver staying on for two seasons of Monday night games.
@@brianoneill7186 Fox did one better by dismissing one of their baseball announcers DURING the playoffs. Steve Lyons was fired right before the fourth and deciding game of the 2006 ALCS (Detroit vs. Oakland) for a remark that he made on-air about Spanish people stealing his wallet. This was after his broadcast colleague Lou Piniellia spoke some Spanish on-air when making analogies about luck. Lyons was already getting in hot water for his idiotic and downright offensive comments. Like when he criticized Shawn Green of the LA Dodgers for choosing not to play on the holy day in the Jewish faith, Yom Kipper. Lyons pretty implied that Green had no business choosing not to play on Yom Kipper because in his mind, Green wasn't "Jewish enough".
Love the days of our lives reference
A lotta people were rooting for the Dodgers didn't want to see a world series on Canada
Commentators:
Dick Enberg & Tom Seaver
Umpires (Game 5)
HP Harry Wendelstedt
1B Joe West
2B Paul Pryor (Crew Chief)
3B Eric Gregg
LF Paul Runge
RF Dutch Rennert
Nobody cares
NL umpiring legends!
40 years later Joe West is still on the field
@@foregoinfront2196 And 4 of those 6 umpires are dead today.. only Joe West and Paul Runge are still alive.
Since I am dodger fan I feel so bad for the expos it’s so sad to see them loose
I know was televised back to Los Angeles on KTTV Channel 11 that day with Vin Scully & Ross Porter. I wonder if anyone has the KTTV telecast of the game.
That would be great!
@@rockyracoon3233 Thank you.
Vin would not have done the game had the game been played on Sunday. He had an NFL assignment for CBS on Sunday in Minnesota doing the Vikings/Eagles game. That game is on RUclips
Blue Monday game?😮
yes
@@ShmuelWeintraub :-(
Monday, on a Monday. Yep 👍
Who was Jay Johnstone impersoating Tommy Lasorda? RIP Jay Johnstone
It's Rick Monday Day!
Monday already sounds like a broadcaster in his post game interview.
Valenzuela detuvo a los expos en su propio estadio en un decisivo 5 juego y con todo y Gary Carter, André Dawson, Tim Raines, Larry Parrish e incluso Tim Wallach!!!
You’re right! The only pitcher who could have beaten this all-star Expos club! Worst sporting moment in our city’s history…. But we tip our hat to Fernando !
Miss those Expos teams.
Dick Enberg: "Hit to center. And hit well. Dawson back. And Monday WILL TOUCH THEM ALL!!" 2:15:57 (not caught up)
The audio is behind the video by 20+ seconds
The “Blue Monday” Game.
Last time Washington Nationals made the NLCS until this year.
@Charles George Charles, Matthew means as a franchise! Anyone who knows baseball or follows it is fully aware the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals!
Us Nationals fans who go back before the move never forget where they originated from, that's a certainty! I've been one of those since summer of '79! Expos Pirates my first MLB game (I was between first and second grade) so I lived all the losing and heartbreak associated with the team but never gave up that they would bust down the door some day!
12 00 pm
3 pm Eastern time
Why wasn't Cincinnati in the playoffs?
Because due to the 1981 Baseball strike, the Reds were 1/2 a game below the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West for the first half of the season, and 1 1/2 games below the Houston Astros for the second half. Thus, Cincinnati had to watch the Dodgers and the Astros duke it out to see who makes the NLCS. If it were by the whole year, the Reds would have won the division, being 4 games ahead of the Dodgers. For extra information, the Reds would have faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS in this scenario.
Bring the expo’s back
Poor Attendence The Last Few Years, Of The Montreal Expos, That I Saw On 'SportsCenter', Back In The 20th Century! 📺😳🧐🤔🙄😁😅😂🤣
The Montreal Expos Are Not Coming Back. Sorry. 😐🤔🙄😁😅😂🤣
Typed This On Thursday Morning 🌁🏙️ , 10:14 a.m. , June 29, 2023.
I wish my dodgers can beat the Houston astors
A good reason why there shoul never be baseball in Montreal. A game 5 with only 30k? Ridiculous.
- Because of the rain whic pushed the game back a day, in which it fell on a Monday work day, people who would’ve attended the game originally couldn’t make it, probably because of school & work. Not to mention the weather kept most of the people away, but they still managed to draw 35,000+ even on a cold, dreary Monday afternoon.
If it is Sunday, it would have 59k crowd
36k people is hardly ridiculous for a DAY game on a Monday....if it was played at night - there would have been 50k + people in the stadium that day just like the Saturday game....too bad it took another 20 years for the roof to go on the stadium
Montreal drew huge crowds during the 79-81 time frame more than most American teams.Monday was a work day and unscheduled because of Sunday rain out.I hope pro baseball returns to Montreal they deserve it.
@@rozman4044 And it was a day game because the World Series was to begin the very next night at Yankee Stadium so to give the NL champ extra time for travel, although it would've been a short flight or road trip anyway from Montreal down to New York.