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'Nos Expos' are the talk of the town

Play ball! From the impromptu games of "town ball" in the 1800s, through Jackie Robinson's Montreal Royals to the Expos and Blue Jays, Canadians have always been infatuated with baseball. But getting big league teams to come to Canada proved harder than hitting a grand slam. It took decades of persuading, promoting, wheeling and dealing, but eventually America's favourite pastime found a home in the great white north.

Attending an Expos game is unlike any other big league experience. For tourists, it's a chance to get close to the players and to make first contact with French Canadians. For locals, the team reaffirms Montreal's status as a first-class city (it doesn't hurt that Toronto didn't get a team.) CBC Radio's Quebec Now looks at the Expos' impact on life in Montreal and explains for anglophones what on earth la balle papillon means.
• With a maximum capacity of 28,000, Montreal's Jarry Park had the fewest seats in the major leagues. The grounds were also small and home runs to right field occasionally fell into an adjacent public swimming pool. The only covered seats were in the press box.

• Montreal officials told the league a new stadium would be ready by 1972, but the Expos didn't leave Jarry Park until 1976.

• Jarry Park featured Major League Baseball's first bilingual public address system. The organist provided a musical running commentary throughout the game, a novelty at the time.

• Despite the small stadium, the Expos attracted over 1.2 million fans in their first year; twice the attendance of the Padres, the National League's other expansion team.

• At one point, French baseball terminology was advertised on city buses in Quebec in an effort to encourage its use. Much of it failed to catch on. Local sportswriters couldn't agree on which terms to use, and most baseball games were watched in English on American television stations.

Some pitching terminology in French:

• Pitcher: Le lanceur
• Balk: Une feinte irrégulière
• Breaking ball: La balle à effet
• Knuckleball: La balle papillon
• Screwball: La balle tire-bouchon
• Sinker: La balle tombante
• Slider: La balle glissante
Medium: Radio
Program: Quebec Now
Broadcast Date: Aug. 22, 1972
Guest(s): Nick Auf der Maur, Hubert Langlois
Host: Bob Harding
Duration: 10:35

Last updated: May 14, 2013

Page consulted on May 14, 2013

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