Former Expos coach and scout Bob Oldis dies at 97

October 4, 2025

By Kevin Glew 

Cooperstowners in Canada 

Original Montreal Expos first base coach and longtime scout Bob Oldis died on September 21 at the age of 97. 

Prolific Expos book author Danny Gallagher was the first to report the news. Oldis passed away in Gilbert, Ariz. 

According to Gallagher, Oldis had been the “oldest surviving uniformed member of the Expos.” Former reliever Elroy Face, who was born six weeks after Oldis and pitched in 44 games for the Expos in 1969, now assumes that title. 

Iowa roots 

Born in Preston, Iowa on January 5, 1928, Oldis moved to Iowa City when he was four. He was an excellent all-around athlete but he played a lot of fastball during his youth because his high school didn’t have a baseball team until his junior year. 

Oldis’s father, Edward, was a semi-pro player who saw potential in his son and sent him to a five-week baseball camp in Cocoa, Fla., run by pro scout Jack Rossiter in 1949. The Washington Senators spotted him there and signed him as a right-handed hitting catcher. 

Started pro career 

Oldis hit .285 with five home runs in 79 games for the Class-D Emporia Nationals in his first pro season. In total, he spent parts of four campaigns in the minors before receiving his first big league call-up in 1953. 

From 1953 to 1955, Oldis saw spot duty as a backup catcher with the Senators.  

After spending 1956 with the Senators’ double-A Chattanooga Lookouts, Oldis was purchased by the New York Yankees. He toiled for three seasons in the Yankees’ minors prior to being chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Rule 5 draft in November 1959. 

Joined Pirates 

Oldis was on the Pirates’ big league roster for the 1960 season as their third catcher but had just 20 at bats and was used almost exclusively as a defensive replacement. 

That season, Oldis roomed with Rocky Nelson, known by Canadians for his hitting heroics with the International League’s Montreal Royals and Toronto Maple Leafs, on the road. 

“Rocky used to be the only guy who could make conversation, smoke a cigar, watch television, chew tobacco and read a pocketbook – all at the same time,” Oldis told the Montreal Star in 1969. “He was a great guy and a pretty good card player. And he could do it all on the field.” 

Oldis was on the Pirates’ postseason roster when Bill Mazeroski belted his walk-off, World Series-winning home run to defeat the New York Yankees in 1960.  

Purchased by Phillies 

After another season as a backup with the Bucs, Oldis was sold to the Philadelphia Phillies on October 13, 1961. Over the next two campaigns, he saw his most major league playing time. In 1963, he batted .224 in a career-high 47 games. 

He was released by the Phillies on April 4, 1964, but was offered the position of bullpen coach by manager Gene Mauch. Oldis served in that role for three seasons. 

In 1968, he worked in the same role for the Minnesota Twins. 

Landed with Expos 

When Mauch became the Expos first manager in 1969, he pried Oldis away from the Twins to be his bullpen coach. When Bobby Bragan left the Expos before the season to become president of the Texas League, Oldis was asked to take over as the club’s first base coach. 

“He’s picked it up very rapidly, and he’s always aware of what’s going on,” Mauch observed when asked by the Montreal Gazette about Oldis as a first base coach during the spring of 1969. “He was an instructive player and has lots of enthusiasm. He knows what to look for and what must happen in order for us to win.” 

Expos reporters discovered quickly that the upbeat Oldis could be relied upon for a good quote or a witty quip. 

For example, when the team landed in Vancouver to play an exhibition game against their triple-A affiliate in early June, Ted Blackman, of the Montreal Gazette, reported that Oldis stood up in the plane and proclaimed, “Go get’em boys. This is a sudden death game, the winner advancing to complete the remainder of the National League schedule.” 

But Oldis provided the Expos much more than levity. His eye for talent was highly respected by Mauch. 

In late April, when Face, then 41, contacted the Expos, hoping to catch on with them, Mauch agreed to come and watch the veteran throw in Pittsburgh but he brought Oldis with him.  

Moved to scouting 

After the 1969 season, Oldis asked the Expos if he could transition to a scouting role closer to his home in Iowa. He and his wife, Rosemary, had two boys, Bobby and Jay, who suffered from muscular dystrophy and Oldis needed to be around to help with their care.

So, Oldis became the Expos scout in the Midwest region and developed into one of the team’s most respected voices at the draft table. 

Some of the players he scouted and signed over the years include Casey Candaele, Jeff Huson, Scott Sanderson and Bill Gullickson. 

Signed Gullickson 

Gullickson was his most noteworthy signing. Oldis had followed the 6-foot-3 right-hander closely during his high school years in Joliet, Ill. In his senior campaign, Gullickson had gone 12-0 with a 0.43 ERA and there were rumors he was going to be difficult to sign.  

“Best I have ever seen. Worth whatever he wants and I would give it to him and sleep very well,” Oldis wrote in the scouting report about Gullickson. 

The Expos listened to him and selected Gullickson second overall in the 1977 MLB draft. The big righty would blossom into one of the club’s top starters from 1980 to 1985. 

Oldis continued as a full-time scout for the Expos through 1996. After that, he worked part-time for the club. 

In 2002, he joined the Marlins as a part-time scout and received his second World Series ring when the Marlins defeated the Yankees in the Fall Classic the following year. 

Baseball lifer 

In all, Oldis devoted parts of seven decades to pro baseball. He was a beloved and colourful character who was resilient in the face of considerable adversity. His sons, Bobby and Jay, who fought difficult battles against muscular dystrophy, died in 1980 and 1982 respectively. 

In the mid-1990s, his first wife, Rosemary, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and she passed away in 2008 

Oldis persevered and eventually remarried, but baseball was never far from his mind. 

He continued to scout part-time with the Marlins until he was 91. In more recent years, he enjoyed watching the Phillies on TV and responding to fan letters. 

“I’ve had a rather good life, if I do say so,” Oldis told the Iowa City Press Citizen in 2015.