Former Expos and Blue Jays scout Bob Fontaine Jr. dies at 73

October 6, 2026 

By Kevin Glew 

Cooperstowners in Canada 

Former Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays scout Bob Fontaine Jr. died on Friday at the age of 73. 

The Los Angeles Angels, whom Fontaine served as the scouting director for from 1987 to 1999, announced his passing on Sunday night. 

“The Angels mourn the passing of former scouting director Bob Fontaine Jr.,” said the Angels in a statement.  “A gifted talent evaluator and mentor, Bob helped shape generations of Angels by overseeing the signing and development of numerous Halos, including Jim Abbott, Jim Edmonds, Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon and Darin Erstad. Bob left a lasting mark on baseball by devoting over five decades to the game. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.” 

Though best known for his tenure with the Angels, Fontaine Jr. also scouted for the Expos (1982 to 1986) and the Blue Jays (2009 to 2014) 

With the Expos, he, along with fellow West Coast scout Tom Hinkle, followed a tall, lanky, wild-throwing left-hander named Randy Johnson. The duo convinced the Expos to select the towering southpaw in the second round of the 1985 MLB draft. 

Born into baseball 

Fontaine’s father pitched for the Montreal Royals in 1946 when Jackie Robinson broke the modern professional baseball colour barrier. The senior Fontaine’s pitching prowess failed to impress Dodgers GM Branch Rickey enough to promote him to the big leagues, but Rickey did offer him a scouting job after his playing career.  

When Rickey moved on to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1950, Fontaine followed and evolved into a highly respected scout. 

Fontaine Jr. spent the bulk of his youth in Pittsburgh. His first job was as a bat boy for a Pirates’ minor league club. He later sold peanuts at Forbes Field. But he realized at a young age that he wanted a career in baseball like his father’s. 

On to the Padres 

When his father was hired to be the San Diego Padres’ director of amateur scouting in 1969, Fontaine Jr. came with him. He began to scout informally for his father as a teen, but by 1974, he was on the Padres’ payroll.  

Three years later, Fontaine Jr. was dazzled by a defensively gifted shortstop at California Polytechnic State University named Ozzie Smith. And while some scouts were convinced Smith wouldn’t hit enough in the big leagues, Fontaine encouraged his father, who by then was the Padres GM, to draft Smith. They chose him in the fourth round in 1977. 

A few years later, the younger Fontaine followed a promising young outfielder from San Diego State University named Tony Gwynn. The Padres would select him in the third round in 1981. 

Moved on to the Expos 

In 1982, Fontaine Jr. was hired to be the Expos West Coast scouting director. And it was in 1985, that he and Hinkle grew enamored with Johnson. 

“In Randy’s junior year at USC, either one of us always saw him every time he pitched,” Fontaine recalled to Danny Gallagher for his excellent 2020 Expos book, Always Remembered. “Randy, like so many power pitchers and power hitters, developed one step at a time, from high school to college. We knew him from high school on. The biggest thing I noticed earlier on about him was that he was what we would call a thrower. Then he became a pitcher.” 

As noted earlier, the Expos selected Johnson in the second round, but on May 25, 1989, they traded him to the Seattle Mariners as part of the package for left-hander Mark Langston. 

Hired by Angels 

In 1987, Fontaine Jr. was hired to be the Angels’ scouting director. 

Two years later, he chose left-hander Jim Abbott with the eighth overall pick in the MLB draft. In the ensuing years, he would oversee the selection of Tim Salmon, Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad and John Lackey – players that formed the nucleus of the Angels’ 2002 World Series-winning team. 

By the time the Angels won the World Series, however, Fontaine had moved on to become the director of player development for the Chicago White Sox. 

Became M’s scouting head 

He remained with the White Sox through 2003 before being hired by the Mariners to be their scouting director from 2004 to 2008. 

While he was with the M’s, he drafted Canadian outfielder Michael Saunders (Victoria, B.C., 11th round, 2004) and right-hander Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que., 1st round, 2007). 

In 2009, Fontaine Jr. landed a position with the Blue Jays as their national crosschecker. He scouted for the Blue Jays through 2014. 

In all, Fontaine Jr. spent 48 years scouting for six different teams. 

He was an old school scout, but he also believed there was a place in scouting for statistics.  

“What the traditional scout gives you is personal reference, like with things I learned on players that I missed on,” he once told the L.A. Times. “Analytics didn’t do that. I’m a firm believer that the best video camera is your eyes, the best model is your brain, and the best way to make a tough decision is with your heart.” 

Fontaine Jr. loved his job and he enjoyed teaching scouting. 

“[My father] told me when I got started, ‘Don’t you ever, ever not appreciate where you are and what you’re doing, because you’re lucky. You’re going to a ballpark to make a living, so your bad days aren’t that bad,’” Fontaine Jr. told the L.A. Times. “I never forgot that, I never forgot how lucky I am.” 

In 2021, he co-authored a memoir with Taylor Blake Ward called, “In Search of Millionaires (The Life of a Baseball Gypsy): The Accounts of Bob Fontaine Jr.” 

“Bobby’s baseball career spoke for itself,” wrote Ward as part of a tribute on Sunday. “He was part of the signings, or the signing scout, of Ozzie Smith, Randy Johnson, Tony Gwynn, Jim Abbott and the majority share of the 2002 Angels. He worked for six different clubs and enhanced each one with his decision making. I had the great privilege of helping document Bobby’s baseball life. I had the greater privilege of getting to know and see his life away from baseball and the honour of calling him a mentor and a friend.”