Montreal Expos
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50 free Montreal Expos trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
For 36 seasons, Montreal had a major league team of its own: the first one based outside the United States, with bilingual broadcasts, a tricolour cap and a following that stretched across Canada. The Expos never reached a World Series, but they produced Hall of Fame talent, unforgettable characters and some of the game's great what-ifs. This quiz covers the whole story: the team's birth as an expansion club, its two very different ballparks, the heroes of the 1970s and 1980s, the brilliant 1994 squad, the owners and managers who shaped the franchise, and the long goodbye that ended in 2004. It is written for fans who remember the team, for baseball lovers who only know the logo from a retro cap, and for anyone getting ready for a sports trivia night. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will pick up a story or two along the way.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which future NFL quarterback did the Montreal Expos pick in the 1995 baseball draft?
Tom Brady
Tom Brady stuck with football, and when he retired from the NFL in 2023 he was the last Expos draft pick active in any professional sport.
Q 02Bonnie Erickson, designer of the Expos' furry orange mascot, also designed which Muppets character?
Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy was Erickson's work for Jim Henson. The Expos chose her mascot design after their first attempt, Souki, frightened children and was retired after one season.
Q 03The Montreal Expos, who began play in 1969, took their name from which kind of event?
A world's fair
A world's fair called Expo 67 had just closed in Montreal when the team was named. The name appealed partly because it is spelled the same in French and English.
Q 04Which pioneer played for Montreal's minor-league Royals in 1946, a year before his major league debut?
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson led the Royals to a Junior World Series title that season. When the club folded in 1960, Montreal's politicians began lobbying for a major league team.
Q 05What halted the 1994 season in August while the Montreal Expos owned the best record in baseball?
A players' strike
A players' strike led to the rest of the season being cancelled with Montreal at 74–40. The Expos never reached the playoffs again.
Q 06To which city did Major League Baseball move the Montreal Expos franchise for the 2005 season?
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. got the team, which took the name Nationals. Montreal's owners had considered that very name for their own club back in 1968.
Q 07Which feat did Dennis Martínez achieve for the Expos in 1991, only the 13th in major league history?
A perfect game
A perfect game, 27 Dodgers up and 27 down, made the Nicaraguan the first Latin American-born pitcher to throw one. Two days earlier a teammate had lost a no-hitter in the 10th inning.
Q 08Which shaggy orange mascot joined the Montreal Expos in 1979 and later switched to hockey's Canadiens?
Youppi
Youppi, whose name is French for "Yippee!", spent a year in storage before the Canadiens bought him. He was also the first mascot ever thrown out of a major league game.
Q 09Why did Montrealers mockingly call Olympic Stadium, the Expos' home from 1977, "The Big Owe"?
Its runaway cost
Its runaway cost took 30 years to pay off. The name plays on "The Big O", the nickname the stadium earned from the doughnut shape of its roof.
Q 10Which catcher nicknamed "the Kid" became the first player to enter the Hall of Fame in an Expos cap?
Gary Carter
Gary Carter picked up the nickname at his first Expos spring training. He endeared himself to Montreal by learning French and being one of the team's most accessible players.
Q 11Which slugger, the first Expos hero, did Montreal fans nickname "Le Grand Orange"?
Rusty Staub
Rusty Staub earned the name for his red hair and won Montreal over by learning French. The team's mascot was later made orange in his honour.
Q 12Which Expos outfielder nicknamed "the Hawk" handed the Cubs a signed blank contract in 1987?
Andre Dawson
Andre Dawson wanted off Olympic Stadium's artificial turf, which was punishing his knees. The Cubs filled in $500,000, and he answered with 49 home runs and the MVP award.
Q 13Which Expos leadoff man nicknamed "Rock" stole at least 70 bases in six straight seasons from 1981?
Tim Raines
Q 21Which visiting manager's complaint got the Expos' mascot ejected from a 22-inning game in 1989?
Tommy Lasorda
Tommy Lasorda objected when the mascot paraded on top of the visitors' dugout in the 11th inning. The Dodgers went on to win 1–0 in the longest game in Expos history.
Q 22Which Dodgers outfielder's ninth-inning home run ended the Expos' only playoff run in October 1981?
Rick Monday
Rick Monday hit it with two out in the deciding fifth game, one win short of the World Series. Montreal fans have called the day Blue Monday ever since.
Q 23In French-language Expos broadcasts, which pitch was called a "balle-papillon", literally a butterfly ball?
Knuckleball
Tim Raines also won the 1986 NL batting title, yet had to wait until 2017, his final year of eligibility, to reach the Hall of Fame.
Q 14Which Dominican outfielder, famed for hitting pitches outside the zone, leads the Expos in career home runs?
Vladimir Guerrero
Vladimir Guerrero hit 234 of his 449 homers for Montreal, and once got a base hit on a pitch that bounced before it reached the plate.
Q 15Which award did Pedro Martínez win in 1997, the only time an Expos player ever claimed it?
The Cy Young
The Cy Young Award came after he posted a 1.90 earned run average. One week after it was announced, Montreal traded him to Boston in another salary purge.
Q 16Which future Hall of Fame pitcher did the Expos trade to Seattle in 1989 to land Mark Langston?
Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson reached the Hall of Fame in 2015. Langston and the Expos collapsed that August, and he left as a free agent after the season.
Q 17Which Expos manager, promoted in 1992, became the first Dominican-born skipper in major league history?
Felipe Alou
Felipe Alou had worked for the organization since 1976 as a coach and minor league manager. He went on to manage 1,409 Expos games, more than anyone else.
Q 18Which family liquor empire made the fortune of Charles Bronfman, the Montreal Expos' founding owner?
Seagram
Seagram's heir chaired the club from 1968. He threatened to move his family and company out of Quebec if the Parti Québécois won the 1976 election, then stayed when it did.
Q 19Which team did the Expos face in both their first game in 1969 and their last in 2004?
New York Mets
The New York Mets lost that first game 11–10 at Shea Stadium, then won the finale 8–1 in the same ballpark 35 years later.
Q 20Which small ballpark, meant as a temporary home, hosted the Montreal Expos from 1969 through 1976?
Jarry Park
Jarry Park was a 3,000-seat community field hurriedly expanded for the big leagues. Its open grandstands left everyone exposed to Montreal's cold spring weather.
Knuckleball became "butterfly ball" in a French glossary built with Expos broadcasters Jacques Doucet and Claude Raymond, which also gave fans "coup de circuit" for a home run.
Q 24Which future Red Sox manager caught the final out when the Expos clinched their only playoff berth in 1981?
Terry Francona
Terry Francona gloved a fly ball hit by slugger Dave Kingman to seal a 5–4 win. Montreal had won 11 of its last 15 games to finish half a game ahead of St. Louis.
Q 25Which ex-Expos pitcher nicknamed "Spaceman" ran for U.S. president on the satirical Rhinoceros Party ticket?
Bill Lee
Bill Lee promised to bulldoze the Rocky Mountains so Alberta could get more sunlight. The Expos had released him in 1982 after he staged a one-game walkout over a friend's dismissal.
Q 26Which city joined the National League as an expansion team alongside Montreal for the 1969 season?
San Diego
San Diego and Montreal each paid US$10 million to join, and the two newcomers tied for the league's worst record that first year at 52–110.
Q 27In which Caribbean city did the Expos play 22 "home" games in each of their final two seasons?
San Juan
San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium hosted the games in 2003 and 2004. Major League Baseball, which owned the club by then, was looking for extra revenue.
Q 28Which defending World Series champions did the Expos beat in 1981 for their only playoff series victory?
Phillies
The Phillies fell 3–0 in the deciding fifth game, when Montreal's ace outpitched Hall of Famer Carlton with a complete-game shutout.
Q 29Which pitcher, the only ten-year veteran to spend his whole career as an Expo, holds the club wins record?
Steve Rogers
Steve Rogers won 158 games for Montreal between 1973 and 1985. He never reached 20 in a season, peaking at 19 in 1982, when he led the National League in earned run average.
Q 30In 1982, Montreal's Olympic Stadium hosted which showcase for the first time outside the United States?
The All-Star Game
The All-Star Game drew 59,057 fans and put four Expos in the National League's starting lineup. One historian later wrote that baseball in Montreal peaked that night.