Bidding adieu
Parc Jarry during the Expos stay there from 1969-1977
A couple of rather noteworthy events happen 49 years ago today in Montreal.
First, the Expos play their final games at Parc Jarry, losing both of them in a doubleheader to the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 and 2-1 before a Sunday afternoon crowd of 14,166.
Second, the seemingly always enigmatic Dick Allen appears to play in his last game for the Phillies as the first baseman abruptly walks away from the team in protest of management’s decision to leave Tony Taylor – Allen’s longtime friend but, by then, an aging bench player – off the roster for the upcoming National League playoffs.
Dick Allen, left, with Tony Taylor
Coincidentally, the Phillies clinch a spot in the playoffs after winning the first game of the doubleheader.
Allen goes 0-for-4 in that game before the future Hall of Famer – like nearly all of the Phillies regulars – sits out the second game.
Among those joining Allen on the bench in the second game is the 40-year-old Taylor. Taylor, almost exclusively used as a pinch-hitter in his final season as a player.
Up to that point in 1976, Taylor appears in only 25 games when Allen walks away after finding out his friend will not be on the playoff roster.
While Taylor does pick up six hits in 22 at-bats in those 25 games, the production hardly is enough for the Phillies to find a roster spot for him in their upcoming playoff series against the vaunted Cincinnati Reds.
As for Allen, his walkout only lasts less than a week as he returns to the Phillies’ lineup five days later, going 1-for-2 against the New York Mets with an RBI single off Jerry Koosman in a 2-1 victory at Veterans Stadium.
Allen, though, finishes the regular season in a 3-for-18 skid before managing just two singles in nine at-bats as the Phillies lose three straight games to Cincinnati in the National League Championship Series.
Parc Jarry today
Those playoff games are the last in Philadelphia for the once-stellar Allen, who becomes a free agent after the season and signs with Oakland for a final, less-than-stellar season in 1977.
As for the Expos, they will move into Olympic Stadium in time for the 1977 season and stay there through 2004, after which Major League Baseball unceremoniously uproots the franchise and moves it to Washington, D.C.
As for Parc Jarry, the stadium eventually becomes a highly acclaimed tennis facility that remains in use today with 11 outdoor courts and 12 indoor courts.
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