The Montreal Royals () were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club (Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; pioneering African-American player Jackie Robinson was a member for the 1946 season. The 1946 Royals were recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time.
History
In 1928, George Stallings, a former Major League Baseball executive and Southern United States planter, formed a partnership with Montreal lawyer and politician Athanase David and businessman Ernest Savard to resurrect the Montreal Royals. Among the team's other local affluent notables were close friends Lucien Beauregard, Romeo Gauvreau, Hector H. Racine, and Charles E. Trudeau. Trudeau, businessman and father of the future 15th Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Trudeau (and grandfather to the 23rd Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau), would remain on the Montreal Baseball Club Inc. Board of Directors until his death in 1935. Together these men financed and built Delorimier Stadium (also known as Montreal Stadium, Hector Racine Stadium and Delorimier Downs) at Delorimier Avenue and Ontario Street in east-end Montreal to serve as the team's home field.
This version of the Montreal Royals enjoyed great success, particularly after it became the top farm team of the Dodgers in 1939. The Royals launched the baseball careers of Sparky Anderson, Gene Mauch, Roberto Clemente and the man who broke Major League Baseball's color barrier with Montreal in 1946, Jackie Robinson. Other Royals' players of note include Duke Snider, Don Drysdale, Chuck Connors, Walter Alston, Roy Campanella, Johnny Podres and the winningest pitcher in the history of the team, Tommy Lasorda.
The team holds a unique place in baseball history for being the first major-league affiliate to break the so-called "baseball colour barrier". On October 23, 1945, two members of the Brooklyn National League Baseball Club Inc. Board of Directors, Montreal Royals owner and team president, Hector Racine, and Brooklyn Dodgers general manager, Branch Rickey, signed Jackie Robinson, an African-American. Robinson played with the Royals during the 1946 season. John Wright and Roy Partlow, black pitchers, also played with the Royals that year.
During that season, Robinson faced the race-related resistance from his manager (a Mississippian, Clay Hopper) and teammates but soon won them over with his masterful play (beginning with his spectacular debut in the opening game against the Jersey City Giants) and courage facing hostile crowds and opponents. As for his home city, he was welcomed immediately by the public, who followed his performance that season with intense adoration. For the rest of his life, Robinson remained grateful to the people of Montreal for making the city a welcoming oasis for him and his wife during that difficult 1946 season. They lived in an apartment in a white, Francophone neighbourhood of Montreal that summer at 832 avenue de Gaspé.
Robinson then left to play for the Dodgers the following year, but not before winning the Little World Series and being chased by exultant Montreal fans right to the train as he left. In Ken Burns' documentary film Baseball, the narrator quotes Sam Maltin, a sports journalist with the Montreal Herald: "It was probably the only day in history that a black man ran from a white mob with love instead of lynching on its mind."
The Royals continued through the 1960 season, two years after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. On September 13, 1960, Dodgers President Walter O'Malley announced that due to weak attendance, the Dodgers were ending their 21-year affiliation with the team. While a new affiliation with the Minnesota Twins was arranged, efforts to keep the team in Montreal failed, and the franchise was relocated to Syracuse, New York, for 1961, and became the Syracuse Chiefs. Montreal would gain an MLB team, the Expos, in 1969; "Royals" was suggested as a nickname for that team but was taken instead by the new American League club in Kansas City.
Titles The Royals won the Governors' Cup, the championship of the IL, 7 times, and played in the championship series 11 times.
1935 – Lost to Syracuse 1941 – Defeated Newark 1945 – Lost to Newark 1946 – Defeated Syracuse 1948 – Defeated Syracuse 1949 – Defeated Buffalo 1951 – Defeated Syracuse 1952 – Lost to Rochester 1953 – Defeated Rochester 1954 – Lost to Syracuse 1958 – Defeated Toronto
Montreal Royals records
YearWinsLossesPercentageFinish18974976.3927th18986848.5861st18996251.5492nd19005472.4297th19016567.4926th19025977.4346th19033795.2807th19046762.5195th19055680.4126th19065783.4077th19074685.3518th19086475.4615th19096883.4506th19107180.4705th19117280.4745th19127181.4676th19137477.4905th19146089.4037th19156770.4895th19167564.5393rd19175694.3737th19288484.5005th19298879.5274th19309672.5713rd19318580.5154th19329078.5364th19338184.4906th19347377.4876th19359262.5971st19367181.4676th19378267.5502nd19386984.4516th19396488.4217th19408080.5005th19419064.5842nd19428271.5362nd19437676.5004th19447380.4776th19459558.6211st194610054.6491st19479360.6082nd19489459.6141st19498470.5453rd19508667.5622nd19519559.6171st19529556.6291st195389635862nd19548866.5712nd19559559.6171st19568072.5264th19576886.4428th19589063.5881st19597282.4686th19606292.4038th
Junior World Series appearances
YearWinnerLoserMargin of victory1941Columbus Red BirdsRoyals4 games to 21946RoyalsLouisville Colonels4 games to 21948RoyalsSt. Paul Saints4 games to 11949Indianapolis IndiansRoyals4 games to 21951Milwaukee BrewersRoyals4 games to 21953RoyalsKansas City Blues4 games to 11958Minneapolis MillersRoyals4 games to 2
Montreal Royals managers Year(s)Name1897George Weidman1897–1902Charles Dooley1903Gene DeMontreville1904Charlie Atherton1904Ed Barrow1905–1906Jimmy Bannon1906–1907Malachi Kittridge1907James Morgan1908–1909Doc Casey1910Ed Barrow1911Edward J. McCafferty1912Billy Lush1912–1914Kitty Bransfield1914–1917Dan Howley1928George Stallings1928–1932Ed Holly1932–1933Doc Gautreau1933–1934Oscar Roettger1934–1936Frank Shaughnessy1936Harry Smythe1937–1938Walter "Rabbit" Maranville1938Alex Hooks1939Burleigh Grimes1940–1942Clyde Sukeforth1943Fresco Thompson1944–1945Bruno Betzel1946–1949Clay Hopper1950–1953Walter Alston1954Max Macon1955–1957Greg Mulleavy1957Al Campanis1957Al Ronning1957Tommy Holmes1958–1960Clay Bryant
Notable former players
Sparky Anderson – Major League Hall of Famer Joe Altobelli – World Series-winning manager Roy Campanella – Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Al Campanis – Major League scout and general manager Roberto Clemente – Major League Hall of Famer Chuck Connors – Major League first baseman and pinch-hitter Tommy Davis – Major League outfielder and corner infielder Don Drysdale – Major League Hall of Famer Carl Erskine – Major League pitcher George Gibson – Major League catcher and manager Jim Gilliam – Major League infielder Al Gionfriddo – Major League outfielder Carl Furillo – Major League outfielder Waite Hoyt – Major League Hall of Famer Sam Jethroe – Negro league and Major League center fielder Tommy Lasorda – Major League Hall of Famer Van Lingle Mungo – Major League pitcher Sam Nahem – Major League pitcher Don Newcombe – Major League pitcher Johnny Podres – Major League pitcher Pete Reiser – Major League outfielder Jackie Robinson – Major League Hall of Famer John Roseboro – Major League catcher Goody Rosen – Major League All Star outfielder Schoolboy Rowe – Major League All Star pitcher Duke Snider – Major League Hall of Famer George Shuba - Major League outfielder Bucky Walters – Major League pitcher Dick Williams – Major League outfielder-third baseman and World-Series-winning manager
Montreal Royals in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame
NameTenureWalter AlstonManager, 1950–1953Ed BarrowManager, 1904, 1910Roy Campanella1947Roberto Clemente1954Jocko Conlan1931–1932Don Drysdale1955Burleigh GrimesManager, 1939Waite Hoyt1917Rabbit MaranvilleManager, 1937-1938Jackie Robinson1946Duke Snider1948
International League awards Most Valuable Pitcher First Awarded in 1953
YearPlayerStatistics1958Tommy Lasorda18 Wins, 6 Losses, 2.50 Earned Run Average
Most Valuable Player YearPlayerPositionHome RunsRBIBatting AverageSpecial Notes1948Jimmy BloodworthSecond Base2499.294.976 Fielding Percentage1949Bobby MorganShortstop19112.337Led league in batting average1952Jim GilliamSecond Base and Outfield9112.301Led league with 18 stolen bases1953Rocky NelsonFirst Base34136.308Led league in RBIs1955Rocky NelsonFirst Base37130.364Won Triple Crown
Rookie of the Year First Awarded in 1950.
YearPlayerPositionStatistics1951Hector RodriguezThird Base8 HR, 95 RBI, .302 Batting Average, 26 stolen bases1956Fred KippPitcher20 Wins, 7 Losses, 3.33 ERA, 127 Strikeouts
Triple Crown Winner Given to the player who leads the league in Home Runs, Runs Batted In, and Batting Average
YearPlayerStatistics1955Rocky Nelson37 HR, 130 RBI, .364 Batting Average
Notable media personnel Charles Mayer – French language radio broadcaster
Bibliography William Brown (foreword by Ken Singleton): Baseball's Fabulous Montreal Royals (1996) Robert Davies Publishing, 1996 –
References