Blue Monday
CBC Books | | Posted: December 5, 2018 9:11 PM | Last Updated: December 13, 2018
Danny Gallagher
Danny Gallagher leads readers up to that infamous day in October 1981 when Rick Monday of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit a home run off of Montreal Expos pitcher Steve Rogers in the ninth inning, giving the Dodgers a berth in the World Series.
Readers will be taken back to 1976 when a five-year plan for winning the National League championship was set in place by the Expos with the hiring of experienced manager Dick Williams.
Gallagher examines old narratives about Blue Monday and talks to all the key players involved in the game, unearthing secrets and stories never before told. (From Dundurn)
From the book
From 1969 to 2004, the Montreal Expos were a mainstay in Major League Baseball, although barely, at the end, before their departure to Washington, D.C.
Montreal has been too long without a Major League Baseball club.
During the strike-shortened 1981 season, the Expos captured the hearts of Canadian baseball fans by making the playoffs for the only time in franchise history. Even though the Toronto Blue Jays were in the midst of their fifth season, they didn't yet enjoy the lofty status in Canada that the Expos had.
The Expos played 10 playoffs games that October, only to be rocked on Blue Monday, the 19th, later in the afternoon, by a player named Monday.
Rick Monday.
From Blue Monday by Danny Gallagher ©2018. Published by Dundurn.