The Bookshelf Conversation #195: Terry Mosher

This is really getting to be old-home month, give or take. First it was Danny Gallagher, author of several titles about the Montreal Expos. Then it was Robbie Hart, with his new documentary. Next week, Curtis Pride, the deaf ballplayer who made his Major League debut with the team in 1993, the first of six organizations in The Show and part of a 23-year professional career.

Now we have Terry Mosher, aka Aislin, a long-time popular political cartoonist for the Montreal Gazette who just happens to love baseball in general and the Expos in particular as evidenced by his recent release, Aislin’s Montreal Expos: A Cartoonists Love Affair.

I still recall fondly those times visiting my Aunt Lily in the Outremont section of the city, reading the Gazette every morning. To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to Aislin’s political stuff but was tickled to find his occasional caricatures of the ballplayers or scenes from the park. The first big leaguer I ever saw was Mike Torrez who was doing an appearance at one of the city’s major department stores. Since he was dressed in civvies, I didn’t know who he was but they were handing out postcards of him in uniform so there you go. (My mother claimed to have seen Jackie Robinson when he played in Montreal in 1946, but who knows?)

I enjoy any book about the team for the Montreal nostalgia factor, but Mosher’s is different in that it’s much more personal, as opposed to a piece of historical non-fiction. He had his favorites but he also refuses to skimp when it comes to criticizing those who had a hand in turning the Expos into ex-‘Spos.

My major regret is that I wasn’t able to attend Expos Fest, the annual celebration of the team that brings together former players and fans (and Mosher) to relive past glories and swap stories, which ends this week. It also serves as a great fundraising event for the Montreal Children’s Hospital, to which Mosher is donating a percentage of proceeds from his book’s sales as well.