ESPN.com: MLB - Great (and not so great) moments in Expos' history

May 27, 1968: The National League awards an expansion franchise to Montreal. The new team is called Les Expos, after the 1967 world's fair and exposition. The Expos logo looks suspiciously like the initials of owner Charles Bronfman.

April 14, 1969: In their home opener, the Expos beat the Cards 8-7 before 29,184 fans at Jarry Park, an expanded recreational facility used because the city refuses to spend $7 million on a stadium. Parc Jarry features a pool beyond right field -- a municipal pool, not like the one at the BOB. In honor of Pirate Willie Stargell's 500-foot splash shot on July 16, 1969, the pool is still known as piscine de Willie -- Willie's pool.

April 6, 1972: Rusty Staub is traded to the Mets for Ken Singleton, Mike Jorgensen and Tim Foli. Staub, nicknamed "Le Grand Orange" for his shock of red hair, was beloved for his flamboyance, love of fine dining and embracing of the city's culture.

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Aug. 29, 1986: A game between the Expos and Padres is postponed after two 200-pound oxygen cylinders explode inside the unfinished Olympic Stadium tower.

Aug. 23, 1989: The Dodgers edge the Expos 1-0 in 22 innings in the longest game in club history. Expos mascot Youppi! is ejected by umpire Bob Davidson after manager Tommy Lasorda complains that the furry creature is pounding on the top of the dugout.

Jan. 7, 1976: Eric Gagne is born in Montreal.

April 15, 1977: The Expos play their first-ever game at Olympic Stadium and 57,592 look on as they lose 7-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies. The ballpark has a huge scoreboard that uses cartoon chickens to keep track of the number of times an opposing pitcher throws to first base. It will have a beer garden with an oompah band and fans that sing "The Happy Wanderer" when the team is winning. It will have a roof, too, eventually.

July 13, 1981: Montreal hosts the first All-Star Game held outside the United Sates. Gary Carter, Steve Rogers, Andre Dawson and Tim Raines are starters.

Oct. 3, 1981: After finishing 1½ games behind the Phillies in 1980, the Expos win the second half NL East pennant in a strike-shortened year. Al Oliver becomes the first and only Expos player to win a batting title, hitting .331.

Oct. 19, 1981: "Blue Monday". The Dodgers' Rick Monday homers off Steve Rogers in the ninth inning of the fifth and deciding game of the NL championship series at Olympic Stadium. It was the Expos' last playoff appearance.

May 9, 1982: Angry at the release of second baseman Rodney Scott, left-hander Bill "Spaceman" Lee spends the first six innings of a game shooting pool and drinking beer at a local tavern. He returns to the ballpark in the seventh and, after the game, leaves his uniform in manager Jim Fanning's office. Shortly thereafter, Lee is released.

Oct. 12, 1982: Tim Raines enters treatment for drug abuse. Raines claims to have spent a fifth of his salary on cocaine when he stole a National League-leading 78 bases in 1982, and says he started sliding head first to avoid breaking the vial of cocaine he kept in his back pocket.

Dec. 11, 1984: Gary Carter is traded to the Mets for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans. "The Expos will never be the same," Steve Rogers says.

April 25, 1987: The first game at Olympic Stadium with the retractable roof finally in place is held on an unseasonably hot day. "I have a tremendous headache and my eyes are burning," second baseman Vance Law said, after a 4-3 win over the Phillies. "I could smell the Canadian cigarettes. They have a distinctive smell."

July 13, 1989: A game against the Dodgers is rained out because the Olympic Stadium roof -- ripped by 62 mile per hour winds on June 27 -- cannot be lowered from its retracted position. Zamboni machines were used in an attempt to remove the water. "I thought we sold our Zambonis," says Jim Fanning, then-Expos senior consultant for baseball operations. "I thought we had a roof."

July 28, 1991: Dennis Martinez pitches the 15th perfect game in major-league history, beating the Dodgers 2-0 at Dodger Stadium.

Sept. 13, 1991: A 55-ton concrete support beam collapses at Olympic Stadium, forcing the Expos to play their final 26 games on the road.

May 22, 1992: Felipe Alou becomes the first native of the Dominican Republic to manage in the majors. His popularity is enhanced because his wife, Lucie Gagnon, is from the Montreal suburb of Laval. "Laval man manages Expos," reads a headline in one of the French-language dailies.

Aug. 12, 1994: The Expos have the best record in the major leagues (74-40) at the time of the player's strike that ends the season.

April 6, 1995: The cash-strapped Expos trade Marquis Grissom to the Braves, one day after sending John Wetteland to the Yankees and Ken Hill to the Cardinals. Larry Walker later leaves the team as a free agent. "You wait years to get All-Star leadoff hitters, closers, staring pitchers and cleanup hitters," says Felipe Alou. "We had them and gave them away." The Expos finish 66-78.

Nov. 18, 1997: Pedro Martinez becomes the first ever native of the Dominican Republic to win the Cy Young Award. Less than a month later, he's traded to the Boston Red Sox for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr.

Sept. 2, 1998: One hour before a meeting at which he expects to hear he has received financial support from the province of Quebec for construction of a new ballpark, managing partner Claude Brochu finds out that Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard has pulled the responsibilities for dealing with the Expos away from finance minister Bernard Landry, with whom Brochu was negotiating. Bouchard kills the deal.

Sept. 11, 1998: Vladimir Guerrero signs the richest contract in Expos history, a $28-million, five-year deal.

Nov. 29, 1999: New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria replaces Brochu as the new managing general partner of the Expos, paying $12 million (U.S.) for 24 percent of the franchise.

Feb. 12, 2002: Major League Baseball approves the sale of the Florida Marlins to Loria, and takes over operation of the Expos naming Omar Minaya general manager and Frank Robinson manager. The Expos go on to an 83-79 record, their first season of 80 or more wins since 1996.

July 15, 2002: The 14 former Canadian limited partners sue Jeffrey Loria and Major League Baseball under the RICO Act, citing a conspiracy to kill baseball in Montreal. A U.S. federal judge will later order the partners to first settle with Loria in arbitration and stays the case against baseball.

Jan. 7, 2003: Gary Carter is elected to the Hall of Fame. While Carter prefers a Mets cap on his plaque -- "I didn't want my grandchildren to ask me what an Expo was," he says -- the Hall decrees he will become the first player enshrined as an Expo. Sorry, Kid.