John Bateman (baseball) - Montreal Expos

Montreal Expos

Bateman and Brand shared catching duties for the Astros through the 1968 season. On October 14, 1968, Bateman was drafted by the Montreal Expos as the sixth overall pick in the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft; 52 picks later, the Expos selected Brand, and the two resumed their platoon in Montreal.

Like his unique first with the Astros, Bateman also caught the Expos' first no-hitter: the first of Bill Stoneman's two, on April 17, 1969 against the Philadelphia Phillies—in only the ninth game in the franchise's history.

Bateman had a unique, if not trivial, place in Canadian history. He was a member of the Expos in October 1970, the same time the October Crisis was happening in the city. This was one of the most notorious and tense time in recent Canadian political history. On November 6, the hiding place of one of the FLQ terrorist cells was discovered. John Bateman loved hanging out with the police, and being a star on the new pro team in town, the Montreal police also loved his company. As retold on a television documentary about the history of the Expos, the manager Gene Mauch was watching these events with his staff on TV, and the camera focused on the hiding place in the house. And what do they see, on national TV, but John Bateman's bulky frame coming out of the hiding place. Evidently the police let him have some fun. Mauch was not amused.