Expos 2 – Blue Jays 0

On Sunday afternoon, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted its 293rd member, former Montreal Expos Andre Dawson. This gives the now extinct Expos two players enshrined in Cooperstown. Dawson joins former Expos catcher Gary Carter. This gives the Expos a two player to nothing lead in inductees over their Canadian brothers, the Blue Jays.

Unfortunately, the Expos were moved in 2004 to Washington so the chances are slim that future players will be inducted wearing the Expos hat. The Expos are where many great players started their careers, but like Carter and Dawson, got more national exposure when they moved onto bigger clubs, the Mets and Cubs respectively. The likes of Pedro Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero, Randy Johnson, and Tim Raines are all likely additions to the walls of Cooperstown. Like Carter and Dawson though, those four all got their shine and awards with other teams, which makes it likely they will be enshrined wearing the caps of other teams. This is probably the way because the Hall has taken heat from both Carter and Dawson about being enshrined as Expos. They both wanted to be wearing the caps of other teams, but The Hall has the final decision and decided to honour their time Les Expos.

Since Les Expos, don’t have any new players that have the possibility of getting enshrined can Canada’s other team catch them in the Hall of Fame player race. The Jays have definitely had some stars, specifically from their World Series winning teams in 1993 and 1994, but like Les Expos, most of those players made their name before joining the Jays to win a world championship. The likes of Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield, and Roger Clemens are prime examples of players who played for the Jays but will be or have been enshrined wearing the caps of other teams.

So who can the Jays expect to be enshrined into Cooperstown and can they catch the Expos in terms of players in the Hall? Their best chance lies in Roberto Alomar. The 12 time all-star, 10 time gold glove winner and two time World Series champion is best known for his playing days in Toronto, but it was his actions after he moved on that garnered a lot of attention (spitting on an umpire) that may scare some voters off, but based on his play, Alomar deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and be there as a Blue Jay.

The other likely candidates include Carlos Delgado and Roy Halladay. Delgado is the Blue Jays all-time leader in most of the offensive categories including runs, home runs, runs batted in and slugging percentage. With almost 500 career home runs and 1500 RBIs Delgado was the most offensively gifted Jays player ever and therefore if any slugger was going to be enshrined it would Delgado. Since his forced “retirement” last season due to injuries, we will only have to wait another five years to see if the voters feel the same way. Without the magical 500 home run number though, it might be a tough sell for some voters.

Halladay is one of the best of the modern day pitchers and made a name for himself as a dominant starter during his years with the Jays. Although, he wasn’t part of the World Series championship teams, Halladay was the reason the Jays didn’t finish last every year. With outstanding records against the Yankees and Red Sox, Halladay proved he pitches his best when playing the best. Halladay, so far has one Cy Young and 3 other top five Cy Young finishes. Due to playing on some mediocre teams “Doc” is closing in on only 200 wins after 13 seasons, but with the pitching magical number being 300 it doesn’t look like Halladay will get there. The 300 win total for pitchers is about to move downward. The trend for specialty pitchers has put total innings and wins at a premium and Halladay bucks all those trends continually finishing either first or second in innings pitched. Although a good candidate for the Hall, Halladay will have to have some strong seasons with Philadelphia and beyond (a championship wouldn’t hurt) to be a lock for Cooperstown.

Although, the Jays are still playing and the Expos aren’t, it seems like it will be difficult for the Jays to catch the Expos soon…