Ellis Valentine was born in Arkansas on this day in 1954. He was drafted by Montreal and broke with them 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 and teammate 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, Montreal would have clinched a wild card spot everyone of those years that they came in second in the NL East. Who knows what would have happened to that "wild card team" in the NL post season?
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