Former Montreal Expos play by play announcer Dave Van Horne retires

Dave Van Horne recently announced his retirement from doing MLB play-by-play. While Van Horne spent the last 21 years in southern Florida, he will be best remembered as the English voice of the Montréal Expos from the inaugural season of 1969 through 2000.

Van Horne might have stayed to the end of the Expos run but broadcasting the games on the Internet in 2000 was a sign of things to come. Jeffrey Loria didn't get an English radio or TV outlet in Montréal for 2000.

Van Horne called the Expos games on radio on CKGM 980 (1969), CFCF 600 (1970-1988, 1991-1999), and CJAD 800 (1989-1990).

The Expos games were broadcast during Van Horne's time on CBC (1969-1989), TSN (1985-1999), a TV Labatt syndicated package (1987-1989), and CTV (1990-1993).

Van Horne worked with a number of amazing broadcasters. His most prevalent partners were Don Drysdale (1970–1971), Duke Snider (1973–1986), and Tommy Hutton (1982–1986). Drysdale, Snider, and Jackie Robinson (1972), who also worked on Expos games, were all members of the Montréal Royals minor league team as part of the Brooklyn Dodgers organization.

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The Montréal Expos were the first MLB team for Van Horne. He spent 1966-1968 calling games for the Richmond AAA team, a farm team of Atlanta (MLB).

Van Horne received Jack Graney Award in 1996 by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011. Van Horne was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.

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Van Horne was always busy during the times the Toronto Blue Jays played exhibition games at Olympic Stadium from 2014-2019 before the pandemic. Hopefully, the exhibition games will come back and Van Horne can be coaxed into the booth back in Montréal.

photo credit: CBC Sports