Jarry Park Stadium
- David Hegler
- Jun 5
- 4 min read
Although Jarry Park Stadium was notorious for inviting both snow and rain in the middle of baseball season, it served well as the backdrop for inviting a Major League Baseball team to Montreal. Ultimately, the fans didn't care about all of the rescheduled games, they just wanted to watch their beloved Expos.
The Conception
In the old days, the main baseball park in Montreal was a 20,000 seat venue in the borough of Ville-Marie named Delorimier Stadium. That little stadium was home to the Montreal Royals, a Dodgers affiliate that had welcomed Jackie Robinson just before he broke into the majors. The Royals almost moved to the southwest corner of an 89 acre park northeast of downtown Montreal in 1961 that had been named after Raoul Jarry, a Montreal councilman who helped develop the site. But after some thought and discussion, the Royals elected to relocate all the way to Syracuse, New York instead.
At the time, Jarry Park did not have a stadium, just a simple little diamond where the youths of Montreal often played. For the rest of the decade, Montreal tried to convince the major leagues to expand to its city. Finally, in 1968, the NL awarded Montreal for its efforts. There was just one problem, Montreal lacked a proper ballpark.
So construction got underway at Jarry Park, turning a simple diamond into a quickly put together stadium. Thus, the 3,000 seat venue soon swelled to ten times that amount while more lights were installed to accommodate the growing love of televised ballgames. Since it was right by a metro station and the Metropolitan Expressway, the newly named Jarry Park Stadium was sure to draw quite a crowd.
The Glory Years
The Montreal Expos began their existence on April 8, 1969 by beating the eventual World Series champion Mets 11-10 at Shea Stadium. Jarry Park Stadium opened six days later in front of more than 29,000 fans. The game almost didn't happen as a long winter had kept snow on the ground much longer than the construction crews would have preferred. As a result, with two months to go before Opening Day, neither clubhouse had been built, the outfield fence was made of wire and stadium operators were forced to resort to using 6,000 folding chairs as there simply wasn't enough time to properly install the permanent ones. Still, when the Expos beat the storied St. Louis Cardinals 8-7 in their first game at Jarry Park Stadium, they truly felt like they belonged in the big leagues.
Even though they finished the year a paltry 52-110, the Expos drew 1.2. million to Jarry Park Stadium. Although the team hardly ever played well, they managed to draw more than one-million fans in all but two of their eight years there.
The weather was a constant struggle. In the winter of 1970-1971, 150 inches of snow covered Montreal. Crews ultimately removed 4,000 truckloads of the white, fluffy stuff from the sky before the 1971 season began.
On top of the weather maladies, the stadium itself had a couple of structural quirks. The temporary bleachers that lined up parallel to the foul lines invited sore necks as people strained to see the diamond. The sun would often shine above the left field bleachers and into the eyes of the fans sitting in the first base section. Starts and games were often delayed or paused so that the first baseman wouldn't suffer.
Due to the wind and a right field that only went as far as 340 feet, it was a hitter friendly ballpark for lefty's. On July 16, 1969, Pirates outfielder Willie Stargell blasted a 495 foot home run that splashed into a swimming pool just beyond the right field fence. It was a feet that would be repeated by the Giants' Willie McCovey in May 1976, the Expos' last year at Jarry Park Stadium.
For all its luster as a left-handed batter's paradise, Jarry Park Stadium featured very few no-hitters. Bill Stoneman threw the only one in the ballpark's history on October 2, 1972, beating the Mets 7-0 in his second career no-no.
By early 1976, it was clear to all that Jarry Park Stadium was no longer suitable to host Major League Baseball. Since Montreal had built a stadium to host the 1976 Summer Olympics and the Expos were on their way to drawing just 646,704 fans that year (easily their lowest attendance), the Expos quickly realized that the grass was indeed greener and decided to move into Olympic Stadium beginning in 1977.
The Changing Times
The Expos final homestand was reminiscent of their entire stay at Jarry Park Stadium. due to a couple of previous postponements, their final five game homestand included two double headers against the Phillies. Their final day at Jarry Park Stadium was. double header on September 26, 1976. After the Phillies clinched the division title in Game 1, the crowd of 14,000 rose to their feet and politely applauded.
In true, Jarry Park Stadium fashion, the Expos 2-1 loss in the nightcap was called after seven innings to officially close their stay. It was the last baseball game ever played at Jarry Park Stadium. Despite the damp conditions, the Expos still went through their fireworks display as a final farewell to their first home.
After the Expos left, Jarry Park Stadium became host to a number of events such as rodeos, soccer, rock concerts and tennis. Tennis legend Martina Navrativola won the first women's pro tournament there in July 1980. A year later, the Canadian Open Men's Tournament began a 30 year stay at Jarry Park. Inter-Montreal's soccer team played their lone year there in 1983 before folding.
Bands such as Supertramp (1979) and Genesis (1982) played before the masses at Jarry Park too. The Genesis concert became so raucous that the police requested that all outdoor concerts be banned at Jarry Park. That request didn't include the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II led Mass at Jarry Park in September 1984 for 350,000 in the rain. It was the largest religious gathering in Canada's history.
In 1987, Jarry Park was renamed Du Maurier Stadium and it was renovated into a tennis-only facility in 1995. It remains a tennis-only facility today, but with a new name: IGA Stadium.
References
Comments