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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

'Le Grand Orange' gets call to Canadian baseball hall

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 02/8/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

THE original face of the Montreal Expos is heading to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Six-time all-star Rusty Staub, who played 518 games for the Expos over his 23-year career, will be inducted in June in St. Marys, Ont., along with Chatham, Ont., native and Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, former pitcher Rheal Cormier, a Moncton native, and the 2011 Canadian senior national team, which captured the Pan Am Games gold medal last October.

Nicknamed "Le Grand Orange" for his colourful hair, Staub played for Montreal from 1969 to '71 and returned for a brief stint in 1979. The outfielder/first baseman also played for the New York Mets, Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers and is 12th on Major League Baseball's all-time list with 2,951 games played.

"I always kid around -- when they do an autopsy obviously New York is where most of my life has been," the 67-year-old New Orleans native said Tuesday. "But they're always going to have that little M-T-L part of my heart because that was a great time in my life."

Staub's No. 10 was the first number ever retired by the Expos franchise, which moved to Washington in 2004. His attempts to learn French, charity work and stellar play on the field endeared him to Montreal fans.

"I just have to say it was a spectacular part of my life and I totally appreciate the recognition in Canada," he said.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 8, 2012 D4

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