1978 Montreal Expos season

1978 Montreal Expos
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1969)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Olympic Stadium (since 1978)
Montreal (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)	Charles Bronfman
General manager(s)	Charlie Fox
Manager(s)	Dick Williams
Local television	CBC Television (Dave Van Horne, Duke Snider) Télévision de Radio-Canada (Jean-Pierre Roy, Guy Ferron)
Local radio	CFCF (English) (Dave Van Horne, Duke Snider) CKAC (French) (Claude Raymond, Jacques Doucet)
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The 1978 Montreal Expos season was the tenth in franchise history. The team finished fourth in the National League East with a record of 76-86, 14 games behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies.

Offseason

• October 25, 1977: Bombo Rivera was purchased from the Expos by the Minnesota Twins.^[1]
• November 10, 1977: Darold Knowles was purchased by the Expos from the Texas Rangers.^[2]
• December 7, 1977: Joe Kerrigan, Gary Roenicke and Don Stanhouse were traded by the Expos to the Baltimore Orioles for Rudy May, Randy Miller, and Bryn Smith.^[3]
• January 10, 1978: Tony Phillips was drafted by the Expos in the 1st round (10th pick) of the secondary phase of the 1978 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed March 10, 1978.^[4]
• March 29, 1978: Will McEnaney was traded by the Expos to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Tim Jones.^[5]

Regular season

During the season, Ross Grimsley became the last pitcher to win at least 20 games in one season for the Expos.^[6]

Highlights

• May 5, 1978: Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds became the 13th and youngest player in major league history to collect his 3,000th career hit with a single off Expos pitcher Steve Rogers.
• July 20, 1978: Shortstop Chris Speier (hitting in the number eight slot) hit for the cycle at Olympic Stadium in Montreal in front of a crowd of 14,108. Speier is the second in Expos history to hit for the cycle. Pitcher Woodie Fryman picked up the victory. Coincidentally, Fryman also got the victory when Expos shortstop Tim Foli hit for the cycle in 1976.
• July 30, 1978: The Expos set a team record (never broken while the team was in Montreal) in hits in a game when they picked up 28 as they beat the Atlanta Braves by a score of 19 to nothing. Andre Dawson, Larry Parrish, and Gary Carter led the way with 4 hits each. A crowd of 10,834 was on hand at Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium. Pitcher Woodie Fryman picked up the victory.

First Pearson Cup

The Pearson Cup was an annual mid-season exhibition between former Canadian rivals, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Expos. Named after former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, it was originally created to raise money for minor league baseball in Canada. In later years, it was incorporated into the interleague baseball schedule.

The series began in 1978, and Canadian Bill Atkinson was the winning pitcher and scored the winning run for the Expos in the first-ever Pearson Cup game at the Olympic Stadium on June 29.

Season standings

NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Phillies	90	72	0.556	—	54–28	36–44
Pittsburgh Pirates	88	73	0.547	1½	55–26	33–47
Chicago Cubs	79	83	0.488	11	44–38	35–45
Montreal Expos	76	86	0.469	14	41–39	35–47
St. Louis Cardinals	69	93	0.426	21	37–44	32–49
New York Mets	66	96	0.407	24	33–47	33–49

Record vs. opponents

1978 National League Records Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7	6–12	8–10	5–13	5–7	6–6	8–4	2–10	8–10	11–7	5–7
Chicago	7–5	—	7–5	6–6	4–8	7–11	11–7	4–14	7–11	7–5	4–8	15–3
Cincinnati	12–6	5–7	—	11–7	9–9	8–4	7–5	7–5	4–7	9–9	12–6	8–4
Houston	10–8	6–6	7–11	—	7–11	6–6	7–5	6–6	4–8	8–10	6–12	7–5
Los Angeles	13–5	8–4	9–9	11–7	—	8–4	7–5	7–5	7–5	9–9	11–7	5–7
Montreal	7–5	11–7	4–8	6–6	4–8	—	8–10	9–9	7–11	6–6	5–7	9–9
New York	6–6	7–11	5–7	5–7	5–7	10–8	—	6–12	7–11	5–7	3–9	7–11
Philadelphia	4-8	14–4	5–7	6–6	5–7	9–9	12–6	—	11–7	8–4	6–6	10–8
Pittsburgh	10–2	11–7	7–4	8–4	5–7	11–7	11–7	7–11	—	5–7	4–8	9–9
San Diego	10–8	5–7	9–9	10–8	9–9	6–6	7–5	4–8	7–5	—	8–10	9–3
San Francisco	7–11	8–4	6–12	12–6	7–11	7–5	9–3	6–6	8–4	10–8	—	9–3
St. Louis	7–5	3–15	4–8	5–7	7–5	9–9	11–7	8–10	9–9	3–9	3–9	—

Notable transactions

• May 20, 1978: Larry Landreth and Gerry Hannahs were traded by the Expos to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Garman.^[7]
• June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball draft
  • Dave Hostetler was drafted by the Expos in the 4th round.^[8]
  • Bill Mooneyham was drafted by the Expos in the 6th round, but did not sign.^[9]
  • Jim Deshaies was drafted by the Expos in the 13th round, but did not sign.^[10]
  • Razor Shines was drafted by the Expos in the 18th round.^[11]
• June 9, 1978: The Expos traded a player to be named later to the Chicago Cubs for Woodie Fryman. The Expos completed the deal by sending Jerry White to the Cubs on June 23.^[12]

Roster

1978 Montreal Expos
Roster
Pitchers 42 Bill Atkinson 22 Stan Bahnsen 28 Hal Dues 35 Woodie Fryman 29 Mike Garman 48 Ross Grimsley 16 Fred Holdsworth 20 Bob James 32 Darold Knowles 43 Rudy May 47 Randy Miller 46 David Palmer 18 Gerry Pirtle 45 Steve Rogers 21 Scott Sanderson 36 Dan Schatzeder 33 Wayne Twitchell		Catchers  8 Gary Carter 39 Jerry Fry 34 Ed Herrmann 44 Bobby Ramos  9 Bob Reece Infielders 30 Dave Cash 38 Pepe Frías 11 Wayne Garrett 37 Tommy Hutton 12 Stan Papi 15 Larry Parrish 24 Tony Pérez  4 Chris Speier 25 Del Unser		Outfielders 49 Warren Cromartie 10 Andre Dawson 14 Sam Mejías 17 Ellis Valentine 37 Jerry White		Manager 23 Dick Williams Coaches  2 Jim Brewer  6 Billy Gardner 40 Norm Sherry  3 Mickey Vernon  1 Ozzie Virgil

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Carter, GaryGary Carter	157	533	136	.255	20	72
2B	Cash, DaveDave Cash	159	658	166	.252	3	43

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Hutton, TommyTommy Hutton	39	59	12	.203	0	5
Mejías, SamSam Mejías	67	56	13	.232	0	6
Frías, PepePepe Frías	73	15	4	.267	0	5

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Grimsley, RossRoss Grimsley	36	263	20	11	3.05	84
Rogers, SteveSteve Rogers	30	219	13	10	2.47	126
May, RudyRudy May	27	144	8	10	3.88	87
Fryman, WoodieWoodie Fryman	19	94.2	5	7	3.61	53

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Palmer, DavidDavid Palmer	5	9.2	0	1	2.79	7

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Knowles, DaroldDarold Knowles	60	3	3	6	2.38	34
Atkinson, BillBill Atkinson	29	2	2	3	4.37	32
Bahnsen, StanStan Bahnsen	44	1	5	7	3.84	44
Miller, RandyRandy Miller	5	0	1	0	10.29	6
Mejías, SamSam Mejías	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Awards and honors

All-Stars

1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Ross Grimsley, reserve
• Steve Rogers, reserve

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Denver Bears	American Association	Doc Edwards
AA	Memphis Chicks	Southern League	Felipe Alou
A	West Palm Beach Expos	Florida State League	Larry Bearnarth
A-Short Season	Jamestown Expos	New York–Penn League	Pat Daugherty

Notes

1. Bombo Rivera at Baseball Reference
2. Darold Knowles at Baseball Reference
3. Joe Kerrigan at Baseball Reference
4. Tony Phillips at Baseball Reference
5. Will McEnaney at Baseball-Reference
6. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 98, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
7. Mike Garman at Baseball Reference
8. Dave Hostetler at Baseball Reference
9. Bill Mooneyham at Baseball Reference
10. Jim Deshaies at Baseball Reference
11. Razor Shines at Baseball Reference
12. Woodie Fryman at Baseball Reference

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1978 Montreal Expos at Baseball Reference
• 1978 Montreal Expos at Baseball Almanac