Jean Claude Marc Raymond (born May 7, 1937), nicknamed "Frenchy", is a Canadian former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

relief pitcher, coach, and broadcaster. During his 12-year career in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

, he played for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

(1959), Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves (1961–63, 1967–69), Houston Colt .45s/Astros (1964–67) and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

(1969–71).

Playing career

Raymond pitched in three games for Chicago in early 1959. Although he was traded from the

National League West The National League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was created for the 1969 season when the National League (baseball), National League (NL) expanded to 12 teams by adding the San Diego Padres and the Montr ...

-leading Atlanta Braves to the expansion Montreal Expos in 1969, Raymond remarked this was one of the happiest moments of his life as he was able to play for his home province. In 12 seasons, he compiled a 46–53 record, appeared in 449 games, started 7 games, recorded 2 complete games, 270 games finished, 82 saves, 721 innings pitched, 711 hits allowed, 338 runs allowed, 293 earned runs allowed, 75 home runs allowed, 225 walks allowed, 497 strikeouts, 28 hit batsmen, 32 wild pitches, 3,048 batters faced, 54 intentional walks, 4 balks and a 3.66 ERA.

Post-playing career

After his playing career, Raymond worked as a French-language broadcaster with the Expos from 1972 to 2001. He was also an Expos English-language broadcaster in 2004, their last season in Montreal. During the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Raymond was the public address announcer for baseball. The

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

required that announcements at Olympic venues must also be made in French, which made Raymond, who had previously pitched in Atlanta, well-suited for the job. Raymond joined the Expos staff as a roving coach in 2002 and served until the team left Montreal after the 2004 campaign to become the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

Honours and awards

Raymond was named to the 1966 National League All-Star Team. Raymond was inducted into the

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum () is a museum located in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. The museum commemorates the great players, teams, and events from Canadian baseball history. History The museum was founded in November 1982 in ...

, located in St. Marys, Ontario, with the Class of 1984 in its second year of operation. In June 2019 Raymond was appointed a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

References

External links

Claude Raymond
at the

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on Au ...

(SABR BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Raymond, Claude 1937 births Living people Atlanta Braves players Atlanta Crackers players Baseball people from Quebec Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Chicago White Sox players Evansville Braves players Houston Astros players Houston Colt .45s players Jacksonville Braves players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Canada 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Members of the Order of Canada Milwaukee Braves players Montreal Expos announcers Montreal Expos coaches Montreal Expos players National League All-Stars Sportspeople from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Sacramento Solons players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Vancouver Mounties players West Palm Beach Indians players Wichita Braves players