Montreal Expos: tricked into the best Christmas present ever

Even though the team no longer exists, I still wear the Montreal Expos ring my mother gave me for Christmas with pride.

At the time I had no idea why my mother was asking me to try on a ring. I was in high school, though too young to get a class ring. As fast as the ring was on my finger, and my mother had taken a mental note of the size, the ring was off and I was gone, oblivious to what was going on.

Fast forward a few months to Christmas morning as the family sat around the living room opening up gifts. When I grabbed a small box to open next, my mom grabbed a camera and inched to the edge of her chair. These were the days when you had to wait for a full role of film to be used before it could be dropped off and developed.

This should have been a clue for me as well. Being the youngest child in the family, there weren’t too many pictures of me laying around. What awaited me in this box there needed to be picture proof of my reaction? I didn’t think a thing of it, as I carefully peeled back the wrapping paper.

Being a Montreal Expos fan, I had already endured the strike of 1994. With a record of 74-40, well on their way to the World Series that year, the season was wiped away, never to be completed. A fire sale of sorts followed, and as we had become accustomed to as Expos fans, our favorite players and best players were either traded away, or let leave in free agency.

Coming off another losing season, and seeing Cy Young winner Pedro Martinez traded away a month prior, I maintained my love for the Expos even though I was in a sad state of affairs.

Until I opened the gift my mother had anxiously waited for me to get to. A classic, gold plated, MLB Montreal Expos ring gleamed up at me. With an ear to ear smile, I shot up out of my seat. I felt as if the Expos had just won the World Series and I was there on the field receiving my championship ring.

As my mother smirked as well, she recalled that day earlier in the year when she had me try on a ring, to get the size. Not only are mothers the best gift givers, they use their sneaky mother ways to get the job done.

To all you baseball fans out there who unwrapped what will become your best Christmas present ever, Happy Holidays.