March 6, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Did you know that Marquis Grissom was originally drafted as a pitcher?

Or that the Montreal Expos were pursuing Fred McGriff prior to the 1993 trade deadline?

These are just two of the fascinating revelations (to me) that can be found in Danny Gallagher’s excellent new book, Explosion: Genesis to relocation, 1994 saga, contraction, revelations about the dying days, Moises, Lenny, Schneids and the Expos.

It was released on January 28 and it continues an impressive streak for Gallagher. He has now published a book in each of the past seven years. Overall, it’s his 14th book and 10th about the Expos.

Most impressive about the author, however, is that after all these years, he continues to uncover interesting and never-told-before stories about Expos players, coaches, executives and broadcasters. And in this case, the title “Explosion” is appropriate; some of the details revealed in chapters about Mark Grudzielanek and Hideki Irabu are, indeed, “explosive.”

Once again, Gallagher has tenaciously researched and tracked down many ex-Expos – both stars and short-term players – and has produced a book chock full of great anecdotes.

Gallagher conducted close to 100 interviews for this 262-page effort, which also includes numerous rare photos.

For those looking for star power, the foreword is written by Andre Dawson and there are noteworthy chapters about players like Grissom and Moises Alou. But for a Canadian baseball trivia buff like myself, it’s Gallagher’s determination in tracking down obscure players, scouts and even relatives of players that I appreciate the most.

For example, in chapter one, we learn more about Expos’ first manager Gene Mauch from his daughter Lee Anne Simons. In baseball history, Mauch is regarded as a brilliant – if sometimes cold-hearted – strategist, but Simons shares more about the human side of her father. She tells Gallagher that Mauch was overcome with grief when Nina, his high school sweetheart and wife of 37 years, died just three months after being diagnosed with melanoma in 1983.

“I thought I was going to lose my dad, too,” Simons told Gallagher. “My dad said one of the reasons he survived was that Gene Autry was very good to him. It was a very tough time for him.”

Mauch would eventually remarry but he was diagnosed with lung cancer in the early 2000s.

“He didn’t take care of himself,” Simons told Gallagher. “He didn’t want to tell anyone he had cancer. He thought he would live forever. He smoked a lot and he drank a lot.”

Mauch passed away on August 8, 2005 at the age of 79.

Other memorable chapters focus on less-talked-about Expos like John Strohmayer, Ron Woods and Dennis Blair. Gallagher also tracked down former Expos pinch-hitter extraordinaire Jose Morales in Florida, who as far as I can tell hasn’t done a North American media interview for many years. Fortunately for Gallagher (and for us as readers), a fiery 78-year-old Morales was happy to talk.

In one story, Morales, who set a then major league record with 25 pinch-hits in the 1976 season, recounted the time he was sent in to pinch-hit against Cincinnati Reds ace Tom Seaver in the eighth inning of a game on August 31, 1977 at Olympic Stadium.

“I carried a big stick, a heavy stick. I was a pinch-hit specialist that won many games coming off the bench. One game I faced Tom Seaver. He was a helluva right-hander and I was a helluva pinch-hitter,” recalled Morales. “I hit a line drive at goddamn Champ Summers. He caught the ball in the gap.”

The Expos lost the game 6-0, but that’s just an example of the fire and candor from Morales in the book, which is a credit to Gallagher’s interviewing skills. Then’s there the story of how Morales earned the nickname Yip-Yaw, but this is a G-rated website, so you’re going to have to buy the book to read that one.

Gallagher also delivers standout chapters on Don Stanhouse, Lenny Webster and Dave Wainhouse (Toronto, Ont.) who became the first Canadian to be selected in the first round of the MLB draft when the Expos took him 19th overall in 1988.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the chapter about Canadian left-hander Mac (Denis) McSween. Before reading this book, I knew little about the Valleyfield, Quebec-born left-hander, who was signed by the Expos as a 17-year-old in 1969. But when you examine his statistics in his six seasons in the Expos’ organization (2.65 ERA in 100 appearances (68 starts)), it’s mind-boggling that he never received a big league call-up. Gallagher caught up with the now 71-year-old McSween, who posted a 1.89 ERA in 21 appearances (17 starts) with the Expos’ double-A Quebec City Carnavals as a 22-year-old in 1974 before walking away from professional baseball. McSween made the decision after being told he was headed back to double-A in the spring of 1975.

“I had pitched in double-A for three years and maybe three and a half. I wanted something more than that,” McSween told Gallagher. “Gene Mauch didn’t like me, oh for sure. That’s a true story.”

So in the spring of 1975, McSween packed up his stuff and headed home to Valleyfield and never looked back. He took a job in sales for Molson and worked for the company for 32 years.

As noted earlier, the book also offers an interesting chapter about the Expos’ pursuit of Fred McGriff prior to the 1993 trade deadline. Gallagher spoke to former Expos GM Dan Duquette who confirmed that the Expos were interested in McGriff but that the slugger had a no-trade clause to Montreal.

“I always liked McGriff and he would have fit into our club while we were waiting for our farm system to mature,” Duquette told Gallagher. “And he would have been an excellent veteran bat in the middle of the order which is the reason for our interest.”

Duquette said the trade talks with the San Diego Padres never got serious enough for him to try to talk McGriff into waiving his no-trade clause, and the Hall of Fame first baseman was dealt to the Atlanta Braves.

“We ended up with a very, very limited market for Fred due to his no-trade rights and that we could not take money back . . . We did have some early conversations (with Montreal) and probably could have been a match, but we never got very far due to the no-trade clause and that San Diego could not take back any money,” former Padres GM Randy Smith told Gallagher.

In another memorable chapter, Gallagher shares more details about legendary quarterback Tom Brady’s only batting practice session with the Expos. It took place on June 11, 1995 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco shortly after the Expos chose Brady, an 18-year-old catcher at the time, in the 18th round of the 1995 draft. It was Canadian Pierre Arsenault (Roberval, Que.), the Expos bullpen coordinator, who threw BP to Brady that day.

“He was a classic high school kid with lots of tools that were still raw,” Arsenault told Gallagher about Brady. “You could see the potential for power in the bat but it was hard to tell in one session of BP, especially on a windy day in a big MLB ballpark. At first glance, his frame and size were impressive.”

The Expos hosted Brady that day in an attempt to convince him to sign with the club. But Brady and his father, also named Tom, whom Gallagher interviewed, made it clear that Brady was headed to the University of Michigan to play football.

The most “explosive” details in the book can be found in the chapters about Mark Grudzielanek and Hideki Irabu. You can read the book for all of the sordid details, but after securing a report from the Scottsdale Arizona police department, Gallagher is able to share that Grudzielanek was accused of child abuse in March 2021 after spraying a bottle with a liquid (“a chemical or vinegar solution”) in it into the eyes of his fiancée’s 12-year-old son who had been taunting him and spraying him with the same bottle. The child also happens to be former Expo David Segui‘s son. Grudzielanek was dating Segui’s ex-wife.

Segui, who is interviewed for the book, has nothing good to say about Grudzielanek. After the police investigation, no charges were laid against Grudzielanek.

Irabu’s story is a sad one. The Expos had high hopes for the once vaunted Japanese right-hander when they acquired him from the New York Yankees on December 22, 1999. Unfortunately, injuries and his off-the-field lifestyle limited him to just 14 starts in two seasons with them. By the end of his tenure in the Expos’ organization, Irabu’s drinking was out of control. The details of his final night in the Expos’ organization where his drinking landed him in the hospital are detailed in the book, as are allegations that he physically beat up his translator multiple times. Irabu ended up taking his own life on July 27, 2011 in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

The Irabu and Grudzielanek chapters are the two most “explosive” in “Explosion,” which is another outstanding effort from Gallagher, who continues to deliver riveting stories about former Expos.

As mentioned, this is the seventh consecutive year in which Gallagher has published a book. He recently announced on social media that he’d be taking a break from book writing in 2025. But after reading, Explosion: Genesis to relocation, 1994 saga, contraction, revelations about the dying days, Moises, Lenny, Schneids and the Expos, I can’t help but hope there’s another Expos book in him — in 2026 or beyond.

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You can purchase Explosion: Genesis to relocation, 1994 saga, contraction, revelations about the dying days, Moises, Lenny, Schneids and the Expos here.