Montreal Royals

• Location: Montreal, QC

• League: Eastern League 1897-1905, 1907-1911; International League 1912-1917; Eastern Canada League 1922-1923; Quebec-Ontario-Vermont League 1924; International League 1928-1960

• Affiliation: Philadelphia A's 1933-1934; Brooklyn Dodgers 1939-1957; Los Angeles Dodgers 1958-1960

• Ballpark: Atwater Stadium and Shamrock Park (-1917, 1922-1924); Delorimier Stadium 1928-1960

Team History

JackieRobinson with the Royals.

The Montreal Royals, also known as les Royaux de Montréal in French, played in the International League's fore-runner, the Eastern League, from 1897 to 1902, then were bought by Ned Hanlon and moved to Baltimore. The Worcester franchise was moved to Montreal in mid-1903 and played in the EL until 1911 (known as the Montreal Canucks in 1906 only) and the International League from 1912 to 1917. The Royals returned to the IL from 1928 to 1960. In between they were part of the Eastern Canada League in 1922 and 1923, which became the Quebec-Ontario-Vermont League in 1924. In 1922, the team briefly featured one of the few African-American players to appear in Organized Baseball between 1890 and 1945, P/SS Charlie Culver.

They played their home games at Montreal Stadium (better known as Delorimier Stadium) starting in 1928. The Royals won the pennant in 1935, and in 1939 they were bought by the Brooklyn Dodgers, who made them their top minor league club. Between 1941 and 1958, the Royals made the playoffs 16 times and won 7 league titles. In 1946, Jackie Robinson spent a season with the Royals, breaking the minor leagues' color barrier on his way to breaking the major league color barrier. Don Drysdale, Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella and Duke Snider are among the other Dodger greats to wear a Royals uniform, as did Roberto Clemente before being plucked away by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1954 Rule V Draft. Tom Lasorda also pitched for the Royals for much of the 1950s. When the Dodgers dropped from three AAA clubs to two, they decided to drop out of the International League and on September 7, 1960, the Montreal Royals played their last game.

Year-by-Year Record

Year	Record	Finish	Manager	Playoffs	Notes
1897	21-34 (45-76 overall)	7th	George Wiedman (8/__) Charles Dooley		Rochester moved to Montreal July 23 (1st game)
1898	68-48	1st	Charles Dooley	none League Champs
1899	61-50	2nd	Charles Dooley	none
1900	53-71	7th	Charles Dooley	none
1901	64-66	5th	Charles Dooley	none
1902	58-78	7th	Charles Dooley	none
1903	12-54 (37-93 overall)	7th	Zeke Wrigley / Bill Clancy (interim) / Gene DeMontreville	none	Worcester moved to Montreal July 21
1904	67-62	5th	Charlie Atherton / Ed Barrow	none
1905	56-80	6th	Jimmy Bannon	none
1907	46-85	8th	Mal Kittridge / Red Morgan	none
1908	64-75	5th	Doc Casey	none
1909	68-83	6th	Doc Casey	none
1910	71-80	5th	Ed Barrow	none
1911	72-80	5th	Ed McCafferty	none
1912	71-81	6th	Billy Lush (35-54) / Joe Yeager (0-1) / Kitty Bransfield (36-26)	none
1913	74-77	5th	Kitty Bransfield	none
1914	60-89	7th	Kitty Bransfield (13-36) / Dan Howley (47-53)	none
1915	67-70	5th	Dan Howley	none
1916	75-64	3rd	Dan Howley	none
1917	56-94	7th	Dan Howley	none
1922	55-69	4th	Larry Carmel / Bill Innes	none
1923	66-52	1st	Harry Hoffman	none League Champs
1924	54-55	2nd	Patsy O'Rourke / Oscar Zilenziger	none
1928	84-84	5th (t)	George Stallings (21-16) / Ed Holly (73-68)	none
1929	88-79	4th	Ed Holly	none
1930	96-72	3rd	Ed Holly	none
1931	85-80	4th	Ed Holly	none
1932	90-78	4th	Ed Holly (64-58) / Doc Gautreau (26-20)	none
1933	81-84	6th	Doc Gautreau (18-20) / Oscar Roettger (63-64)
1934	73-77	6th	Frank Shaughnessy
1935	92-62	1st	Frank Shaughnessy	Lost League Finals
1936	71-81	6th	Frank Shaughnessy (55-60) / Harry Smythe (16-21)
1937	82-67	2nd	Rabbit Maranville	Lost in 1st round
1938	69-84	6th	Rabbit Maranville (48-66) / Alex Hooks (21-18)
1939	64-88	7th	Burleigh Grimes
1940	80-80	5th	Clyde Sukeforth
1941	90-64	2nd	Clyde Sukeforth	League Champs
1942	82-71	2nd	Clyde Sukeforth	Lost in 1st round
1943	76-76	4th	Fresco Thompson	Lost in 1st round
1944	73-80	6th	Bruno Betzel
1945	95-58	1st	Bruno Betzel	Lost League Finals
1946	100-54	1st	Clay Hopper	League Champs
1947	93-60	2nd	Clay Hopper	Lost in 1st round
1948	94-59	1st	Clay Hopper	League Champs
1949	84-70	3rd	Clay Hopper	League Champs
1950	86-67	2nd	Walter Alston	Lost in 1st round
1951	95-59	1st	Walter Alston	League Champs
1952	95-56	1st	Walter Alston	Lost League Finals
1953	89-63	2nd	Walter Alston	League Champs
1954	88-66	2nd	Max Macon	Lost League Finals
1955	95-59	1st	Greg Mulleavy	Lost in 1st round
1956	80-72	4th	Greg Mulleavy	Lost in 1st round
1957	68-86	8th	Greg Mulleavy (19-35) / Al Campanis (6-5) / Al Ronning (2-2) / Tommy Holmes (41-44)
1958	90-63	1st	Clay Bryant	League Champs
1959	72-82	6th	Clay Bryant
1960	62-92	8th	Clay Bryant

1909 team members

Further Reading

• Gary Belleville: "July 18, 1933: Night baseball makes its debut in Montreal," SABR Baseball Games Project.
• Gary Belleville: "October 2, 1946: Jackie Robinson leads Montreal to thrilling 10-inning victory over Louisville," SABR Baseball Games Project.
• Gary Belleville: "October 3, 1946: Jackie Robinson’s heroics put Montreal on verge of first Junior World Series title," SABR Baseball Games Project.
• Gary Belleville: "July 25, 1954: Montreal Royals defeat Havana on Roberto Clemente’s walk-off home run," SABR Baseball Games Project.
• William Brown: Baseball's Fabulous Montreal Royals, Robert Davies Publishing, Montreal, QC, 1996.
• Marcel Dugas: Jackie Robinson: un été à Montréal, Hurtubise, Montréal, QC, 2019. ISBN 9782897813147

Related Sites

• 1946 Montreal Royals
• Montreal Royals team ownership history