Bateman, Donn Clendenon, Larry Jackson, Mack Jones, Manny Mota and Maury Wills, and young players like Jack Billingham, Skip Guinn, Carl Morton and Bill Stoneman. He was forced to improvise when veteran pitcher Jackson, a five-time All-Star and winner of 194 career games, decided to retire rather than report; Fanning accepted shortstop Bobby Wine as compensation. Then he seemingly pulled off a blockbuster trade in January 1969, when he sent Alou and Clendenon to the Houston Astros for outfielder Rusty Staub, a two-time All-Star still only 24 years old. But Clendenon refused to go to Houston, and Staub declined to return there if the trade were cancelled. The matter took two months to settle, but was resolved when Fanning took back Clendenon and sent young pitchers Billingham and Guinn, with cash, to Houston to complete the trade. Dubbed le Grand Orange, Staub became one of the early folk heroes of les Expos, along with fellow outfielder Jones and no-hit pitcher (and future Expos' executive) Stoneman. Most of the other veterans were soon traded: Mota and Wills were sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 11 for veteran Ron Fairly, who became Montreal's regular first baseman four days later when Clendenon was swapped to the New York Mets for young players that included pitcher Steve Renko. The Expos improved incrementally over their first three seasons. Morton, whom Fanning knew from their days together in the Braves' organization, won 18 games in and was the NL Rookie of the Year; Renko would win a total of 28 games in 1970 and , and 27 more in and . Entering their fourth season in , Fanning reshaped the Expos through another headlining transaction, trading Staub to the Mets for three young regulars – shortstop Tim Foli, outfielder Ken Singleton and first baseman Mike Jorgensen. The trio helped Montreal contend for the NL East title in , when they finished only 3 games out of first place. Overall, with opportunistic manager Gene Mauch at the helm, Fanning achieved a degree of success during his eight years as GM. In the mid-1970s, the Expos began to harvest players from their farm system, including Steve Rogers (1973), Gary Carter, Larry Parrish and Ellis Valentine (), and Warren Cromartie and Andre Dawson (). However, when Montreal regressed in 1976 and fell back into the NL East cellar, Fanning was replaced as general manager by Charlie Fox.