# 1972 Montreal Expos season

The 1972 Montreal Expos season was the fourth season in the history of the franchise. The Expos finished in fifth place in the National League East with a record of 70–86, 26+1⁄2 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates.

## Offseason

* November 29, 1971: Tom Walker was drafted by the Expos from the Baltimore Orioles in the 1971 rule 5 draft.
* December 6, 1971: Adolfo Phillips was purchased by the Expos from the Cleveland Indians.
* January 28, 1972: Claude Raymond was released by the Expos.
* March 24, 1972: César Gutiérrez was purchased by the Expos from the Detroit Tigers.

## Spring training

The Expos held spring training at West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach, Florida, a facility they shared with the Atlanta Braves. It was their fourth season at the stadium. The following season, the Expos would move their spring training activities to City Island Ball Park in Daytona Beach, Florida, where they would train through 1980 before returning to West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium for the 1981 through 1997 seasons.

## Regular season

* October 2, 1972: Bill Stoneman pitched his second career no-hitter (the final score of this one was also 7–0) in the first game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets at Jarry Park. The no-hitter was the first ever pitched outside the United States. Future broadcaster Tim McCarver was Stoneman's catcher.

### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 96 | 59 | .619 | — | 49‍–‍29 | 47‍–‍30 |
| Chicago Cubs | 85 | 70 | .548 | 11 | 46‍–‍31 | 39‍–‍39 |
| New York Mets | 83 | 73 | .532 | 13½ | 41‍–‍37 | 42‍–‍36 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 75 | 81 | .481 | 21½ | 40‍–‍37 | 35‍–‍44 |
| Montreal Expos | 70 | 86 | .449 | 26½ | 35‍–‍43 | 35‍–‍43 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 59 | 97 | .378 | 37½ | 28‍–‍51 | 31‍–‍46 |

### Record vs. opponents

1972 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 5–7–1 | 9–9 | 7–7 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 7–5–1 | — | 8–4 | 3–9 | 8–4 | 10–5 | 10–8 | 10–7 | 3–12 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 10–8 |
| Cincinnati | 9–9 | 4–8 | — | 11–6 | 9–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 10–5 | 10–2 |
| Houston | 7–7 | 9–3 | 6–11 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 3–9 | 12–2 | 13–5 | 4–8 |
| Los Angeles | 8–7 | 4–8 | 5–9 | 11–7 | — | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 8–4 |
| Montreal | 8–4 | 5–10 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 6–12 | 10–6 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 9–8 |
| New York | 5–7 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 12–6 | — | 13–5 | 8–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–9 |
| Philadelphia | 6-6 | 7–10 | 2–10 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–10 | 5–13 | — | 5–13 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 8–7 |
| Pittsburgh | 6–6 | 12–3 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 6–8 | 13–5 | — | 10–2 | 9–3 | 10–8 |
| San Diego | 11–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 2–12 | 5–13 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 2–10 | — | 4–10 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 11–7 | 5–7 | 5–10 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–4 | — | 5–7 |
| St. Louis | 6–6 | 8–10 | 2–10 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 8–9 | 9–7 | 7–8 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 7–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 5, 1972: Rusty Staub was traded by the Expos to the New York Mets for Ken Singleton, Mike Jorgensen, and Tim Foli.
* July 10, 1972: Bobby Wine was released by the Expos.

#### Draft picks

* June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball draft
** Ellis Valentine was drafted by the Expos in the 2nd round.
** Gary Carter was drafted by the Expos in the 3rd round.
** Mike Hart was drafted by the Expos in the 11th round.
** Keith Drumright was drafted by the Expos in the 18th round, but did not sign.

## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Terry Humphrey | 69 | 215 | 40 | .186 | 1 | 9 |
| 1B | Mike Jorgensen | 113 | 372 | 86 | .231 | 13 | 47 |
| 2B | Ron Hunt | 129 | 443 | 112 | .253 | 0 | 18 |
| SS | Tim Foli | 149 | 540 | 130 | .241 | 2 | 35 |
| 3B | Bob Bailey | 143 | 489 | 114 | .233 | 16 | 57 |
| LF | Ken Singleton | 142 | 507 | 139 | .274 | 14 | 50 |
| CF | Boots Day | 128 | 386 | 90 | .233 | 0 | 30 |
| RF | Ron Fairly | 140 | 446 | 124 | .278 | 17 | 68 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Tim McCarver | 77 | 239 | 60 | .251 | 5 | 20 |
| Ron Woods | 97 | 221 | 57 | .258 | 10 | 31 |
| John Boccabella | 83 | 207 | 47 | .227 | 1 | 10 |
| Héctor Torres | 83 | 181 | 28 | .155 | 2 | 7 |
| Clyde Mashore | 93 | 176 | 40 | .227 | 3 | 23 |
| Jim Fairey | 86 | 141 | 33 | .234 | 1 | 15 |
| Hal Breeden | 42 | 87 | 20 | .230 | 3 | 10 |
| Coco Laboy | 28 | 69 | 18 | .261 | 3 | 14 |
| John Bateman | 18 | 29 | 7 | .241 | 0 | 3 |
| Bobby Wine | 34 | 18 | 4 | .222 | 0 | 0 |
| Pepe Mangual | 8 | 11 | 3 | .273 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Bill Stoneman | 36 | 250.2 | 12 | 14 | 2.98 | 171 |
| Mike Torrez | 34 | 243.1 | 16 | 12 | 3.33 | 112 |
| Carl Morton | 27 | 172.0 | 7 | 13 | 3.92 | 51 |
| Ernie McAnally | 29 | 170.0 | 6 | 15 | 3.81 | 102 |
| Balor Moore | 22 | 147.2 | 9 | 9 | 3.47 | 161 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Steve Renko | 30 | 97.0 | 1 | 10 | 5.20 | 66 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Mike Marshall | 65 | 14 | 8 | 18 | 1.78 | 95 |
| John Strohmayer | 48 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3.52 | 50 |
| Tom Walker | 46 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2.89 | 42 |
| Joe Gilbert | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8.45 | 25 |
| Denny Lemaster | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7.78 | 13 |
| Héctor Torres | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

1972 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Peninsula Whips | International League | Bill Adair |
| AA | Québec Carnavals | Eastern League | Karl Kuehl |
| A | West Palm Beach Expos | Florida State League | Lance Nichols |
| A-Short Season | Jamestown Falcons | New York–Penn League | Walt Hriniak |
| Rookie | Cocoa Expos | Florida East Coast League | Pat Daugherty |