Quebec Carnavals

Eastern League (1971-1975)

Tombstone

Born: 1970 – Eastern League expansion franchise
Folded: May 31, 1975¹

First Game: April 19, 1971 (L 5-1 @ Reading Phillies)
Last Game: May 29, 1975 (L 6-3, W 9-6 vs. Bristol Red Sox)

Eastern League Championships: None

Stadium

Stade Municipal
Opened: 1939

Ownership & Affiliation

Owners: George Nolan & Hughes Beaudoin

Major League Affiliation: Montreal Expos

Attendance

Like their cross-province rivals, the Trois-Rivieres Aigles, the Quebec Carnavals usually ranked at or near the top of the Eastern League attendance charts during the early 1970’s. However, the Carnaval’s strong turnstile claims were not sufficient to stave off the club’s financial collapse midway through the 1975 season.

Tilting your mobile device may offer better viewing.

Print Download

Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007

Background

The Quebec Carnavals were one of two minor league baseball expansion franchises awarded to the province of Quebec during the winter of 1970-71. Both the Carnavals and Les Aigles de Trois-Rivieres were members of the Class AA Eastern League, which grew from six clubs in 1970 to eight in 1971 with the expansion into Francophone Canada.

Notable Names

Future stars who came up through Quebec City during the Carnavals years included:

Catcher Gary Carter (Carnavals ’73)
Pitcher Steve Rogers (Carnavals ’73)
Outfielder Warren Cromartie (Carnavals ’74)
Third baseman Larry Parrish (Carnavals ’74)
Outfielder Ellis Valentine (Carnavals ’74)

Gary Carter, Steve Rogers, Larry Parrish and Ellis Valentine all became National League All-Stars for the Montreal Expos. Gary Carter had the most esteemed career, winning a World Series with the New York Mets in 1986 and earning enshrinement in Cooperstown in 2003.

Warren Cromartie flashed for the Expos during a 10-year career from 1974 to 1983, but became a true Gaijin superstar in Japan during his 30’s. Cro hit .321 with 171 homers in seven seasons with Tokyo’s Yomiuri Giants from 1984-1990. In 1989, he led the Giants to the Japan Series championship and was named MVP of the Central League after hitting .378 with 15 home runs and 78 RBI.

Midseason Meltdown

Early in the Carnaval’s fifth season in 1975, the club faced a financial crisis. At the end of May, the team’s board of directors surrendered the franchise back to the Eastern League after the Montreal Expos declined to bail their farm club out of over $225,000 in debts.²

The Eastern League scrambled to grant a new franchise to new local owners two days later on May 31st, 1975. The new ball club was called the Quebec Metros and took over the Montreal Expos affiliation, the Carnavals’ lease at Stade Municipal and the remainder of the Carnavals Eastern League schedule. The Expos advanced the Metros $23,000 and a new set of uniforms and equipment to get up and running.³

Aftermath

At the end of the 1977 season, the Cincinnati Reds moved their Class AA operation from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec to Nashville of the Southern League. The shift meant the Quebec Metros would be geographically isolated in the Eastern League, with their nearest rival nearly 400 miles away in western Massachusetts. So Montreal swiftly followed Cincinnati’s example and moved their Class AA affiliate to the Southern League as well, taking up residence in Memphis for the 1978 season.

Memphis had previously hosted Montreal’s Class AAA farm team in 1974 and 1975, the Memphis Blues. Memphis had been the next destination on the developmental ladder for top Carnavals prospects like Gary Carter, Warren Cromartie and Ellis Valentine in the mid-1970’s. Now the Southern city would replace Quebec altogether on the Minor League map.

The coordinated departures by Cincinnati and Montreal brought the Eastern League’s Quebec experiment to end after seven seasons. Pro baseball would not return to Stade Municipal for more than 20 years until the debut of the Quebec Capitales of the independent Northern League in 1999.