June 10, 2026
By Kevin Glew
Cooperstowners in Canada
Danny Gallagher is back.
After a one-year hiatus, the hardworking author has returned with his 11th book about the Montreal Expos. Published by Dundurn Press, it’s called The Tragic Story of Willie Davis and other Expos Vignettes and it’s well worth the wait.
Like Gallagher’s previous offerings, it’s chock full of never-told-before Expos stories, including six riveting chapters about Willie Davis, a longtime Dodgers star who spent one memorable season with the Expos in 1974.
There has never been an official biography written about the talented but troubled Davis, so this represents the most detailed account of his highs and lows – on and off the field.
For the book, Gallagher tracked down Davis’s first wife, Gina, once a model/dancer who performed in Sammy Davis Jr.’s troupe.
She told Gallagher that everything changed with her ex-husband on June 6, 1969. Heading into a game against the Expos at Dodger Stadium that day, Davis, in his ninth big league season, had established himself as one of the National League’s best centre fielders.
But in the first inning he was hit in the jaw by a pitch from Expos lefty Dan McGinn. Davis dropped to the ground so quickly that Expos catcher Ron Brand thought he was dead. The Dodgers star was rushed to the hospital where he underwent major reconstructive surgery.
“With that pitch, he was never the same person I married, particularly with the drugs and pain,” Davis’s ex-wife told Gallagher.
Unbelievably, Davis was back playing just 10 days later. And a little over a month after that, he was hit in the head with another pitch – this time behind the right ear – from San Francisco Giants ace Juan Marichal.
Davis’s ex-wife believes these beanings caused her ex-husband concussion-like symptoms for the rest of his life. She also thinks it also contributed to his drug use, erratic behavior and financial mismanagement.
With all of this said, Davis still managed to have four more productive seasons with the Dodgers before he was traded to the Expos on December 5, 1973 for reliever Mike Marshall.
In 1974, he performed well for the Expos – batting .295 with 12 home runs while topping the team in hits (180), triples (9) and RBIs (89).
But away from the field his behavior was growing increasingly odd. Davis would often recite Buddhist chants at his locker or while playing pepper with his teammates.
“We were in San Francisco at the Hilton,” former Expos pitcher Don DeMola told Gallagher. “I was going to eat with Pepe Frias. Willie was sitting at the flower-bed wall. I asked him if he wanted to come with us. He declined, saying that he was observing people, watching their actions and moves. Strange guy. We came back two hours later and he was still there, king of chanting something.”
Gallagher writes that Davis was using drugs during that season with the Expos. The veteran outfielder also arrived late for a game and was accused of dogging it on the field.
Then, late in the season, he called his own press conference and demanded that the Expos renegotiate his contract. According to Gallagher, Davis was seeking a three-year contract extension for $500,000. Rather than sign him, the Expos traded him to the Texas Rangers after the season.
Davis continued to play until 1979 but his off-field issues, which are documented thoroughly in the book, worsened.
And following his playing career, he found himself almost broke. Gallagher details that at one point Davis asked his mother and stepfather to loan him $5,000 and when they said no, he was arrested for threatening to kill them.
Hall of Fame worthy?
Despite Davis’s off-field drama, Gallagher contends that Davis has not received proper acknowledgement for what he did on the field. In 18 major league seasons, Davis accumulated 2,561 hits and finished with a 60.8 WAR, yet somehow he has never appeared on a National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot (not the writers ballot or the various Veterans committee ballots).
Gallagher’s chapters about Davis serve as a strong start for the book, which includes a foreword by former Expos outfielder Jerry White.
In total, Gallagher conducted more than 70 interviews for this 265-page project that includes 38 chapters and a little bit of everything about the Expos.
If you’re looking for star power, Gallagher has written a chapter about Andre Dawson’s 1983 season in which the five-tool outfielder batted .299 with 32 home runs, 113 RBIs and 25 stolen bases, while also leading the National League with 189 hits.
Gallagher also catches up with longtime Expos ace Steve Rogers who opens up about his poorly handled release by the club in 1985. In that chapter, Rogers reveals that he, as a player with 10 major league seasons under his belt and the last five with the same team, vetoed a trade to the Houston Astros in April 1985 that likely would’ve landed the Expos right-hander Mike Scott.
Lesser-known Expos
But one of Gallagher’s strengths has always been his tenacity in tracking down and sharing the stories of lesser-known former Expos.
For example, he devotes a chapter to former Expos infielder Gary Sutherland, who was a steady contact hitter in the club’s early years, but later became a highly respected scout. As a scout with the Dodgers, he evaluated and signed Pedro Martinez. Sutherland then moved on to the Angels’ scouting department to work for his former Expos teammate and Angels GM Bill Stoneman. Gallagher notes that it was Sutherland who recommended that the Angels hire former Dodgers catcher Mike Scioscia to be their field manager.
Rare interviews
And the tenacious Gallagher once again secured some rare interviews for this book. He managed to connect with elusive former Expos and Toronto Blue Jays reliever Dale Murray who has been the “foreman on a huge Texas ranch, a cow-calf operation” for close to 25 years.
“I’ve had heart problems,” Murray shared. “I’ve had a couple of heart attacks. I have a pacemaker – it keeps everything going.”
Another coup for Gallagher was speaking with volatile slugger Milton Bradley, who seemed to wear out his welcome at every big league stop, despite his otherworldly talent. It’s clear that Bradley still carries a chip on his shoulder about his tenure with the Expos in the early 2000s.
“When I played for them [the Expos], I was the best outfielder in the organization. They didn’t like my body language,” Bradley told Gallagher. “I had to walk a certain way. It was exasperating. They had a stopwatch on every ball I ran. They thought I was dogging it. I ran four seconds flat to first. I was judged unfairly.”
Great trivia
And of course, Gallagher also supplies some great trivia in this book.
For instance, did you know that Ty Cline, who played 101 games for the Expos in 1969, is the first player to be featured on a Topps baseball card in an Expos uniform (See 1969 Topps card below)?
Or that former Expos reliever Jon Rauch is the only pitcher to hit a home run off Roger Clemens?
And Gallagher provides the answer to, perhaps, the ultimate Expos trivia question: Who was the last player to wear an Expos uniform in a professional game? The answer is Josh Labandeira who donned an Expos uniform in the Arizona Fall League after the 2004 season.
It’s fascinating trivia like this, combined with Gallagher’s never-told-before Expos stories and his passion for Canada’s first major league team that make his books such an enjoyable trip down memory lane.
And this book is no different.
After a one-year hiatus, Gallagher is back and better than ever.
You can purchase the book here.
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