Montreal Expos: Henry Rodriguez and the candy bar craze

With the continued display of power by Montreal Expos hitman Henry Rodriguez came the ongoing showers of the ‘Oh Henry!’ candy bar from above.

He was a little known outfielder with the Montreal Expos with even less power when Henry Rodriguez busted onto the scene in 1996. He played north of the border for a small market team, and the rest of the league did not know who he was.

The Expos finished fourteen games over .500 mainly because they were carried on the broad shoulders of Big Hank.

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In the four years prior to the ’96 season, Rodriguez had totaled just 21 home runs. He finished his first full season with the Expos with a team-leading 36 jacks, which drove in a team-high 103 runs. Rodriguez had arrived, and along with him a gimmick.

The hockey-crazed fans of Canada shower the ice with their hats when a hockey player earns a hat trick, or scores three goals in one contest. Taking the idea to the baseball diamond, fans brought their ‘Oh Henry!’ candy bars to Expos games and heaved them on the field whenever Rodriguez hit a home run.

My father took me to baseball games, though he was not an avid fan. He probably wouldn’t even be considered a luke-warm fan. He saw how much I loved the game, so he took me to a few contests each year. A father and son spending time together at a baseball game, exactly what America’s game was built on.

My father was an academic mind who didn’t talk much about baseball during the games, other than to comment on how fast certain pitches appeared on the video board radar gun.

As we sat together in the upper deck, his fitted Montreal Expos hat perched atop his head, my ‘Oh Henry!’ candy bar gripped in my hand, I eagerly anticipated each Henry Rodriguez at-bat.

Mid-way through the game Rodriguez was able to connect with an offering from the pitcher and send it high and deep into the night. As my dad sat expressionlessly, he really didn’t care who won or lost, I jumped up and down trying to garner the courage to throw my candy bar on the field.

I knew my father would disapprove of this act, one, because he had paid for the candy bar and wouldn’t want it to go to waste. Two, because even though this was becoming a tradition to Expos fans, my father would view it as disrespectful to the game.

Respect for my old man prevailed, and as the game wore on, I unwrapped my melted ‘Oh Henry!’  candy bar and ate it.

Though the Expos never tallied any division titles when Hank was in town, he provided a lot of entertainment and memories.