December 10, 2020

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

A big reason Billy DeMars wanted to join the Expos in 1982 as their hitting coach stemmed from his friendship with third baseman Larry Parrish, who likewise had pushed for the Expos to bring DeMars into the fold.

"I was also third-base coach with the Phillies so I got to know Larry because he played third. We'd always get talking about hitting,'' DeMars told me on the phone a few years ago. "I always liked Larry because he was a very good third baseman and he was a good hitter with tremendous power. So I got to spring training and they traded him before the season started.''

DeMars couldn't believe McHale had traded Parrish. Of course, Parrish himself was floored and so were his teammates and many fans. Parrish was traded to the Texas Rangers along with Dave Hostetler in exchange for Al Oliver so that Tim Wallach could come in and play third.

"I was thinking of it later after the trade that, 'Why not put Parrish in right field? Why didn't we do that?' He had a great arm. I think it would have been an excellent move. Gosh, he would have been successful in right. That was too bad.''

What happened, though, is that when spring training started, Expos executive Jim Fanning sidled up to DeMars and said, "Hey, can you help Tim Wallach?''

So through DeMars' magic and patience, Wallach flourished after his rookie season of 1981 when he managed four homers, 13 RBI and a .236 average in 212 at-bats as a part-time player. The Expos felt Wallach could do more and DeMars worked with him.

And without DeMars having to look the stats up, this is what he correctly remembered from the top of his head, "Wallach went out and hit 28 homers and had 97 RBI.''

The baseball world is mourning the loss of DeMars, who died Dec. 10 in Florida at the age of 95. He was the Expos oldest surviving coach.

"I only got to work with him for a few weeks,'' Parrish told me when I advised him of DeMars' passing. "He lived a good, long time.''

Pete Rose once said DeMars was the best hitting coach he ever worked with.DeMars had worked with Rose with the Phillies in 1980-81 and then again in 1984 when the hit king played part of that season with the Expos. DeMars later hooked up with Rose for three seasons when he was manager of the Reds.

"Billy was one of the smartest and hardest working coaches I ever worked with and a great person,'' Wallach said a few years ago.

It was in 1982 when DeMars gave movie director Ron Howard the thrill of a lifetime by getting approval for Howard to put an Expos uniform on and sit on the bench during a game in Los Angeles.

When photographers created a commotion by taking numerous shots of Howard, the umpiring crew asked that Howard leave the dugout.

DeMars played four seasons as an infielder for the International league's Toronto Maple Leafs from 1952-55 and spent two weeks with a minor-league team in Vancouver in 1958.

DeMars was one of the last surviving members of the St. Louis Browns. With his death, Billy Gardner, 93, becomes the Expos oldest surviving coach. Gardner played third base for the 1951 triple-A Ottawa Giants of the International League.