Expos’ lovable lid still a favourite

The Montreal Expos’ logo and hat — as worn by Tim Raines in 1989 — remain big sellers in Canada. Expos when they began play in 1969, vividly recounted the moment when he saw the logo design.

“One morning (former team president and GM) John McHale phoned and said that Clair Stewart wanted to show us uniform designs,” Bronfman said last fall. “I walked over. There were two designs. One was traditional, the other was fabulous in my eyes.” hated it,” Bronfman said. “Mauch was a traditionalist. He said the players won’t wear it. He wouldn’t wear it. ‘They will think it’s a kids’ cap.’ The tricolour reminded him of a beanie.”

But when Bronfman explained that they were going to sell millions of those caps, doubters in Expos management quickly changed their minds.

“I don’t think the players heroes in a town where hockey is king. Though the socalled “small market” team competed against clubs with budgets as much as 10 times larger, the Expos, at 74-40, had the best record in baseball in 1994 before a strike ended the season.

The 1994 strike marked the beginning of the end for the team. During the seasons that followed fans endured a series of fire sales as the Expos jettisoned stars while reducing payroll. The on-field product suffered and attendance at Olympic Stadium plummeted. In 1999, art dealer Jeffrey Loria bought a minority ownership stake in the team. He later became majority owner before selling the team in 2002 to MLB, which relocated the Expos to Washington, D.C., where they became the Nationals after the 2004 season.

The Expos’ downfall represented a loss of innocence in sports, but there’s a movement afoot to bring an MLB team back to Montreal.

Bronfman’s son, Stephen, is part of a group of investors in talks to land an MLB team for Montreal, through expansion or relocation of an existing franchise. A feasibility study has been conducted and Stephen Bronfman said last week he has no intention of seeking money from Montreal taxpayers, but he does need “help” from Mayor Valérie Plante and will meet with her “in a few weeks.”

But MLB issued an email statement last week, which said, in part: “What we’ve always said is that we will not return to Montreal without a firm plan for construction of a new stadium, including its financing.”

While the team played its last game in Montreal in 2004, wearing an Expos cap has become more than just donning the cool logo of a former baseball team — it has become a statement.