OK, but just for a little while

Marginally adequate – and that is debatable – Parc Jarry gets the OK 56 years ago today to be used by the Montreal Expos for their inaugural season in 1969.

Major League Baseball tells Montreal that its new team may use Parc Jarry only so long as the Expos have a new stadium ready by 1972.

Agreeing to that deal is Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau, who is seen here with, from left, catcher John Bateman, pitcher Mudcat Grant and shortstop Maury Wills at New York’s Shea Stadium before the Expos’ first game in 1969.

Alas, the Expos never build a new stadium, instead staying at Parc Jarry through the 1976 season before moving into the repurposed but equally marginal Olympic Stadium.

The Expos stay there until the end of the 2004 season, when Major League Baseball, by then running the team, unceremoniously uproots the franchise and moves it to Washington, D.C.