I FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO LEAVE THE CITY WHERE I HAD COME OF AGE AND BECOME A MAN

At some point, those records will probably get claimed by members of the Washington Nationals, the organization the Expos became in 2005 when Major League Baseball determined Montreal could no longer support a team.

My nostalgic feelings for Montreal are that much stronger because the team is no longer there. I’ll never forget the 1982 All- Star Game at Olympic Stadium, an evening dominated by Expos. Or my first game back after missing the first month of the 1987 season. The biggest disappointment of my career is that we never got over the hump in Montreal. The 1981 season represented our best chance to bring a championship to Canada, but we fell a game short of reaching the World Series. That is a regret that will always be with me.

My friendships with my former Expos teammates have stood the test of time. In some cases, I’ve struck up close relationships with guys I only got to know after our respective careers ended. When we played together, I had a ton of respect for Steve Rogers, but he and I didn’t talk a lot. Part of that had to do with the fact that position players and pitchers didn’t tend to hang out much. In recent years, however, Steve and I have grown close. He’s worked for many years for the Major League Baseball Players Association, and whenever I’m in New York City for an event, I get together with Steve and we reminisce about the good ol’ Expos days.

As Steve and others have pointed out, history would view the Expos in a much different light if the wild-card format had been in existence in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In that hypothetical universe, we would have made the playoffs four times, instead of just once. Depending on how we performed in the postseason, we might even have been considered a dynasty. Nothing can change history, but that doesn’t mean we can’t think about what might have been.

Andre Dawson and I also remain extremely close, talking on the phone several times a month and catching up in person whenever our schedules permit. I love Andre like a brother, and I know he feels the same way about me. Warren Cromartie’s loyalty to Andre and me knows no bounds. During the years that Hawk and I waited to get elected to the Hall of Fame, Cro served as one of our strongest advocates. At Hawk’s induction ceremony, Cro leaned over and told me, “You’re gonna be up there in five years, and I’ll be sitting with Hawk watching you give your speech.” I’m happy to say that he’d be proven right. Unlike players who suited up for other clubs that still exist, my former teammates and I don’t gather for annual alumni weekends during the season. But we find ways to keep in touch, to honor our time with the Expos, to give our fans a dose of nostalgia, and to keep the flame of baseball in Montreal burning. Excerpt from: Rock Solid by Tim Raines with Alan Maimon © 2017. Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. All rights reserved.