Happy # 64 Ellis Valentine

Ellis Valentine was born in Arkansas on this day in 1954.   He was drafted by Montreal and broke with the Expos in 1975.    By 1976, he was the every day right fielder.

In the late 1970′s, the Montreal Expos had one of the best outfields in modern baseball history.   

In fact, you could argue that it was the best in quite some time:   Ellis Valentine, future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson & Warren Cromartie.

Valentine was a good hitter and had a super arm.    Wonder how often we would have seen him today in the very popular “web gems”?   My guess is that a lot!

He and team Cromartie had 24 assists in 1977.    You simply could not take an extra base on that Expos’ outfield!

Valentine survived injuries and retired with a .278 batting average and .288 in 7 seasons in Montreal.

Valentine was part of the Expos who came in second in 1978, 1979 & 1980.  They lost the NLCS to the LA Dodgers in 1981.    In today’s game, they would have clinched a wild card everyone of those years that they came in second in the NL East.