Montreal Expos: Butch Henry the sleeper of the ’94 team
There were several All-Stars on the 1994 version of the Montreal Expos. Even though pitcher Butch Henry was not one of them, he may have been the most valuable asset.
At 74-39 the Montreal Expos stood atop the National League East division, having won six games in a row entering play on August 11th, 1994. Pitcher Butch Henry would pitch five innings for the Expos that night, giving up two runs without surrendering a walk. The Expos would not score any runs and Henry would be saddled with the loss.
At midnight following that loss, midnight struck on the ’94 baseball season. A baseball strike would ultimately end the season and wash away the Montreal Expos hope of playing postseason baseball.
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The Expos pitching staff was a good mixture of up and comers and solidified veterans. Kenny Hill was a 16 game-winner. Pedro Martinez was just a couple years away from a Cy Young campaign. Kirk Rueter had won 15 of his first 18 decisions in the majors. John Wetteland was just a couple years away from winning a World Series MVP.
Then there was Butch Henry.
By 1994 Henry had lost twice as many games as he’d won and was already pitching for his third major league team in just his third year in the league.
Beginning the year in the bullpen, Henry would soon join the rotation for good in mid-June, pitching lights out. In 11 of his 15 starts, he gave up two or fewer runs. In the month of July, he was 4-1, pitching into the 8th inning twice.
The league expected these numbers from Pedro and Hill, but not from a vagabond reliever turned rotation man.
Even though Henry lost the last game of the year, he’d finish with an 8-3 record and team-leading 2.43 earned run average. His WHIP was 1.09.
When the least known man in the starting rotation is putting up the best numbers on the staff, you know that team is headed to the playoffs. And the 1994 Montreal Expos surely would have been.
Next. MTL Expos: August 12, 1994 forever remembered. dark
We will never know what would have become of that season. We do know Butch Henry was a key part of getting the Expos to where they were when it stopped.