Pete Rose has long been one of the most polarizing figures in Major League Baseball history due to his gambling scandal and placement on baseball’s permanently ineligible list in 1989. However, Rose was also an incredibly talented and determined player who holds the career records for most hits and games played in baseball. This makes his brief but eventful tenure playing for the Montreal Expos in the early 1980s an interesting footnote in his legendary career.
After a storied 17-year career playing primarily for the Cincinnati Reds where he established himself as one of the game’s great hitters and was a key member of the Big Red Machine championship teams, Rose’s performance began to decline in the late 1970s. Following the 1978 season, the Reds negotiated a trade that sent the 37-year old Rose to the Expos in exchange for catcher Bo Diaz and minor league outfielder Dave Collins. Rose had expressed a desire to remain close to his Ohio home so the move to Montreal was somewhat unexpected.
Rose joined an Expos team that had talent but was still looking to break through as a legitimate contender in the NL East division. Some questioned if Rose had enough left in the tank to be a meaningful contributor but he was determined to prove the doubters wrong. In his first season with Montreal in 1979, Rose responded by batting .275 with 11 home runs and 65 RBI in 139 games, showing he could still be a productive regular despite his advancing age.
Rose’s contributions helped lead the Expos to an 88-74 record and second place finish, their best season to date. His presence in the lineup and clubhouse also had a positive influence on the team’s young core of pitcher Steve Rogers, third baseman Larry Parrish, and outfielders Andre Dawson and Tim Raines. Rose had taken on a player-coach role and worked hard to impart his winning attitude and hard-nosed style of play to his Expos teammates.
Upper Deck was one of the pioneers of modern baseball cards when they began producing sets in 1989 that focused on photography and highlighting players’ career stats on the back of the cards. In 1991, Upper Deck released cards featuring Pete Rose as a member of the Montreal Expos from his playing days with the club in 1979-1981. Seeing Rose in an Expos uniform was still a strange sight for many collectors and fans accustomed to associating him primarily with the Reds.
The Expos cards highlighted Rose’s productivity despite his advancing age while with Montreal over those three seasons. They featured key stats like his .292 batting average, 46 home runs, and 208 RBI as an Expo. The photography on the cards also captured Rose’s intense and gritty style of play. Many felt these Expos cards help round out and tell the full story of Rose’s Hall of Fame career that spanned multiple franchises late in his career despite his offensive numbers starting to decline.
While Rose enjoyed a successful first season with the Expos in 1979 leading them to their best season at that point, 1980 was a disappointing campaign for both Rose and the club. Rose battled injuries and saw his production dip to a .260 average with 7 home runs and 47 RBI in 102 games. The Expos finished 78-84 and out of playoff contention in a tightly contested NL East race.
Hopes were high for a bounce back in 1981 but it was another frustrating season. Rose began the year sidelined with an injury and struggled to regain his form upon returning, batting just .264 with 4 homers and 41 RBI over 88 games. Meanwhile, the Expos scuffled to a 75-87 record, their lowest finish in years. Rose’s desire to remain in Cincinnati and be closer to his family also grew stronger as his on-field performance continued declining.
Late in the 1981 season, the Expos granted Rose his request and traded him back to the Reds. While his two-plus seasons in Montreal didn’t result in a playoff berth or rekindling of his offensive prime, Rose had proven he could still produce at an older age and left lasting impressions with Expos fans with his gritty play. His Montreal tenure also represented in baseball card form helped tell the full story of a legendary career that saw him contribute for multiple franchises in the latter stages.
Over the ensuing decades, Pete Rose’s Expos baseball cards from his 1979-1981 tenure with the club have become highly collectible and hold historical significance. They represent a unique period where one of baseball’s all-time great hitters suited up in Montreal’s silvers and blues rather than Cincinnati’s famous red uniform. While Rose is no longer actively involved in the game due to his gambling ban, his Expos cards serve as an artifact from his later career chapters and remind fans of a time when the feisty Rose took his talents north of the border to contribute to a rising Expos ballclub.
Whether discussing his stats and contributions to getting the Expos to new heights or capturing his tenacious style of play through the cards’ photography, Rose’s Montreal Expos baseball cards tell an important part of his legendary career story. They preserve the memory of a period that saw a fading but still driven superstar take his talents to a new franchise’s uniform. For collectors and historians of the sport, Rose’s Expos cards serve as intriguing remnants from this unique interlude and further cement his place as one of baseball’s most famous and colorfully complex figures.
