The first time I wore this, I felt like I’d been traded. Not only was I wearing another team’s hat, but the Expos hat and team were the opposites of the Tigers.
Detroit was one of the original entries to the American League in 1901. The team spanned the twentieth century, infused with baseball tradition. Their stadium predated World War I. The Tigers had worn the same home uniforms since my grandparents were young: white with a midnight Olde English D and a midnight blue hat with a slightly different white Olde English D. Classic. Even the name, Tigers, is iconic.
In contrast, the Expos were named after Expo 67, the International and Universal Exposition held in Montreal the year before the team was established. Their road uniforms were bright blue, white, and red, with a logo that takes a while to figure out. It’s an M made from a small red “e” for Expos and a blue “b” for baseball. I swear I heard that the white part is an “l” for “les Expos Baseball” but I’ve never been able to confirm it. Let’s just pretend it’s true so that all three sections of the logo have a purpose. The hats would not look out of place on a guy in face paint making balloon animals at a kid’s birthday party. But I love these hats.
I love the Expos.
When I started watching sports with my friends in high school, we watched the Expos on CBC television every Saturday night. Montreal was a great team in the 1980s. It was easy to get invested in the Kid, the Hawk, and the speedy Tim Raines. We were glued to the games when they made the playoffs in 1981. The end of the final game of their series with the Dodgers ran into our senior football practice. We had to leave—not easy to do while the score was tied.
While we were tackling each other in the cold mud, Tim Cattani, my brother Scott’s teammate on the junior football team, came running out of the school and onto the field, hands stretched in the air, cheering his lungs out. Everyone knew what that meant. Tim was the lone Dodgers fan at the school. He may have given us the details of Rick Monday’s dramatic home run as we dragged him face-first around the field. I can’t quite remember. Tim was cool with it, though. His team won.
When we got older, my friends and I would go out to watch the Expos play. One local watering hole had a TV above the bar on the first floor. When the bartender saw us walking downstairs, he’d pull out our favorite beers and have them open by the time we reached the rail. My friend JohnO, a tall, fiercely opinionated ginger, hated that. He had only himself to blame for being so predictable.
The Tigers connected me to my family in Michigan, but the Expos tied me to my friends in Thunder Bay.
About the Author:
Craig Colby is a writer, director, and producer whose productions have appeared on Discovery Channel, TSN, BBC, and Smithsonian Channel among others. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Nancy, and two sons, Shane and Curtis.
He maintains a website at https://www.colbyvision.net/ and a blog at https://www.colbyvision.net/theswissaccount