After visiting Sherbrooke and Granby, several former Montreal Expos players will be in Quebec City Saturday as part of a softball tour organized by Expos Fest.
• Also read: Former exhibitions in Quebec
Among the players who will arrive at the Stade Canac, former helper Mel Rojas from the Dominican Republic came to take part in these charity games.
“I live in Santo Domingo now,” Rojas said. I was a pitching coach for the Padres [de San Diego] for a few years at their academy in the Dominican Republic in San Cristobal, but now at 55 I enjoy life in peace. It’s really a pleasure to be here in Quebec where I’ve had some great years with the Expos.”
Rojas, who made 109 saves with the Montreal club, played for the Expos from 1990 to 1996 before returning briefly in 1999 when he was retiring from Major League Baseball.
“I threw a line in the water and was pleasantly surprised that Mel agreed to make the trip,” confessed Perry Giannias, Expos Fest’s big boss. It’s really good to have him with us, he’s part of the Expos story. He is the nephew of manager Felipe Alou and has also been an excellent helper for the team.
Despite his retirement, baseball continues to take Rojas, whose son Mel Rojas Junior is currently playing in Japan, to the opportunity.
“He’s an outfielder and was even named South Korea’s MVP in 2020,” Rojas proudly noted, casually noting his 47 home game and 135 RBI season with a Suwon-based club. I visited him in Korea in 2019 and I plan to visit him in Japan next year.”
Almost a million dollars
With this four-part tour, concluding Sunday in Lachine, the Expos Fest events are one step closer to raising $1 million for research into a form of childhood brain cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG).
“It’s extraordinary to see how much we make people happy during this tour,” remarked Giannias. There are all these young people, even if they don’t know the players, but also the less young people who are happy to meet the ex-expos and get autographs. And all of that benefits the cause.”
Then in Quebec, representatives of the Expos, which also include Jose Vidro, Denis Boucher, Bill “Spaceman” Lee and Ross Grimsley, among others, will compete against a team made up of former Capitales of Quebec players. In particular, Eddie Lantigua, Michel Laplante, Patrick Scalabrini and Jean-Philippe Roy will be there. The former Expos softball game is scheduled for 4 p.m. before that of the Frontier Baseball League between the capitals and the Aigles of Trois-Rivières. A Capitals game ticket allows you to attend the earlier Expos game.