As baseball continues to wait things out along with the rest of the sports world, TSN digs into the archives to bring you a bundle of classic Montreal Expos games. Relive some of the best memories from the 36-year history of Canada’s first Major League franchise right here on TSN. Today’s offering is a little bit different as the legendary Tony Gwynn picks up his 3,000th hit in a game against the Expos.

For the past week, TSN has brought you classic Montreal Expos moments that served as milestones during the franchise’s tenure. But tonight’s matchup features the Expos on the other side of history for the first time.

Coming off three hits the day before, it looked like Tony Gwynn was going to pick up his 3,000th in St. Louis as the San Diego Padres’ series with the Cardinals headed for a fourth and final game on Aug. 5 of 1999. But Gwynn picked up just one base knock in five plate appearances that day, almost ensuring the milestone would come north of the border as the Padres packed up and headed for a four-game set in Montreal.
Initially, Gwynn was disappointed on missing out, especially considering Mark McGwire hit his 500th career home run in the last game of the series.

“I really wanted to get No. 3,000 in St. Louis,” San Diego Union-Tribune writer Bill Center remembers Gwynn saying prior to the opener at Olympic Stadium. "The crowd was really electric. And with Mark McGwire and his 500th homer on the same night, it would really have been special.”

No, Montreal wasn’t the baseball city St. Louis was. The 45,000-plus that attended the game at Busch Stadium II that day dwarfs the Expos’ average attendance of just under 10,000 that season.

But that didn’t mean Aug. 6 wasn’t a special day, too.

Relive history tonight on TSN as Tony Gwynn picks up his 3,000th career hit in a game against the Expos on TSN4, TSN.ca, the TSN App and on TSN Direct at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.

In the roundabout way that often only baseball can be, Gwynn’s 3,000th was meant to come on Aug. 6. Not the day before.
Exactly six years earlier, Gwynn picked up his 2,000th hit in a game against the Colorado Rockies at Jack Murphy Stadium. Even more fitting, the 6th of August was his mother’s birthday. And there she was watching anxiously in the stands at Olympic Stadium as Gwynn stepped to the plate in the first inning against right-hander Dan Smith.

On a 1-2 count, Gwynn dropped the bathead on a breaking ball down and in and lined it over the glove of Expos second baseman Mike Mordecai for the milestone.

History.

Gwynn became the 22nd member of baseball’s 3,000 hit club. His teammates and, of course, his mother Vandella, came on the field to congratulate him on the accomplishment.

Gwynn’s mother gave him a hug and thanked him for giving her the perfect birthday present.

“You’re thanking me?” Gywnn said.

“When you talk about 3,000 hits, you talk about passion and a love for the game,” Gwynn told reporters after the game. “I love playing the game.”

Gwynn got three more hits that night to finish with four in the game for the first time that season. The Padres would need every single one of them as they held on for a back and forth 12-10 win.

As a 39-year-old at the time, Gwynn’s playing days were nearing an end. He would finish with only 111 games played in 1999 and managed only a combined 107 games played over the next two seasons before his retirement in 2001. The quality of Gwynn’s at-bats didn’t dwindle much though as he hit a combined .333 over his final three seasons.

Mr. Padre finished his 20-year career with 3,141 hits – as his name would suggest, all with the Padres – and currently sits 21st on the all-time list. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Tragically, Gwynn died in 2014 due to complications from cancer, though his memory lives on as one of the greatest pure hitters the game has ever seen.

“How do you defend a hitter who hits the ball down the left-field line, the right-field line and up the middle?” said long-time Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda of Gwynn.