A voice that defined an era of Canadian baseball
Canada's baseball community is mourning the loss of Jacques Doucet, the French-language broadcaster known across the country as the Voice of the Expos. Doucet died Thursday evening at the age of 86, closing out a life spent narrating one of Canada's most beloved, and ultimately most bittersweet, sports franchises.
For 33 seasons, Doucet sat behind the microphone calling Montreal Expos games for French-speaking fans, becoming as much a part of the team's identity as the players on the field. Through pennant races, near misses, and the eventual departure of the franchise from Montreal, Doucet was the steady voice that carried the Expos into the homes and cars of fans across Quebec and beyond.
More than a broadcaster
For generations of Canadian baseball fans, especially French-speaking ones, Doucet's voice was inseparable from the experience of following the Expos. Long before highlight reels and streaming apps, radio broadcasts like his were how most fans experienced the game, inning by inning, pitch by pitch. Doucet's decades-long tenure meant he wasn't just describing the action, he was part of the fabric of Expos fandom itself, a constant presence through the team's ups and downs from their 1969 inception through their final seasons in Montreal before the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2004.
His work behind the microphone helped cement baseball's place in Quebec's sporting culture at a time when the sport was competing for attention in a province deeply devoted to hockey. Doucet's steady, knowledgeable calls gave the Expos credibility and warmth in French-language media, helping the team build a loyal following that, for many fans, has never fully let go of the memory of the Expos even decades after the team left.
A loss felt nationally
News of Doucet's passing has prompted an outpouring of tributes from former players, colleagues, and fans who grew up with his voice as the soundtrack to summer nights. His decades of work represent one of the longest and most significant broadcasting careers in Canadian sports history, and his passing marks the end of an era for those who remember the Expos not just as a team, but as a cultural touchstone.
While the Expos have been gone from Montreal for over two decades, the affection for the franchise, and for the voices who brought it to life, remains strong across the country. Doucet's legacy lives on in the countless fans who first fell in love with baseball listening to his calls, a reminder of how deeply broadcasters can shape a sport's place in a nation's heart.
Doucet was 86 years old.
Source: CBC News
