- Claude Brochu
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Claude Brochu, CM (born October 29, 1944), is a Quebec businessman.
He was named president of the Montreal Expos baseball club by Charles Bronfman in 1986, replacing John McHale.
On June 14, 1991, he formed a group of thirteen investors to buy the team and prevent a threatened move to Arizona. He paid two million dollars from his own pocket in this purchase.
He was the largest shareholder of the team with 7% of the shares. In 1995, he carried out a "fire sale" of the team's best players, including Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker and John Wetteland.
His plan to save the team from bankruptcy was to build a new stadium in downtown Montreal, which would be named the Labatt stadium.
He asked for subsidies from the Canadian and Quebec governments of the time, but when this attempt failed, he resigned in 1998 and sold his shares to New York businessman Jeffrey Loria.
In 2001, he published the book My Turn at Bat: The Sad Saga of the Expos, which blamed Quebec ex-premier Lucien Bouchard for the sale of the baseball team.
Awards and honors
- Canada's Baseball Man of the Year, 1990[1]
- In 1996, he received the Order of Canada along with Angèle Dubeau, Gordon A. Smith and Trevor Payne.[2]
References
- ^ Who's Who in Canadian Sport, Volume 4, p.52, Bob Ferguson, Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd., Markham, ON and Allston, MA, ISBN 1-55041-855-6
- ^ "Order of Canada: Claude R. Brochu, C.M., M.B.A.". http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=3563&t=12. Retrieved 2006-08-22.
Principal owners of the Washington Nationals franchise Montreal Expos (1969-2004) Washington Nationals (2005-present) Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals Presidents Montreal Expos (1969-2004) Washington Nationals (2005-present) Categories:- 1944 births
- Living people
- Major League Baseball executives
- Major League Baseball owners
- Montreal Expos executives
- Montreal Expos owners
- Members of the Order of Canada
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