updated 5:28 p.m. ET Dec. 29, 2004

WASHINGTON - Beaming like a kid who just met his favorite sports star, Mayor Anthony A. Williams signed legislation Wednesday to bring major league baseball back to the nation’s capital.

“This is one of my proudest days as mayor,” Williams said.

His signature came after weeks of political wrangling as several members of the District of Columbia Council balked at an earlier plan to finance a new stadium along the Southeast waterfront.

Under the resolution approved by baseball owners on Dec. 3, the last step for the Montreal Expos to become the Washington Nationals is for commissioner Bud Selig to declare that “arrangements (are) being made that are satisfactory to the commissioner for the use of RFK Stadium for the 2005 season.”

It would be the first move by a major league team since the expansion Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers after the 1971 season.

Supporters and opponents of building a new, publicly financed stadium for the Washington-bound Montreal Expos watched officials amend their initial deal with Major League Baseball to include private financing. Big league baseball officials responded by suspending the team’s promotional and business operations.

So Williams, Council Chairwoman Linda Cropp and MLB officials negotiated a deal that would allow some private financing. MLB and the city also agreed to split the price of insurance to cover cost overruns or construction delays.

“Together we worked through our differences and developed the legislation that I’m proud to sign,” Williams said Wednesday, sporting a red and white Washington Nationals cap.

He called the signing a “symbol of how we are keeping our commitments. Yes, to Major League Baseball, but also to keeping our city moving forward.”

The legislation clears the way to renovate RFK Stadium, where the Nationals will play beginning in 2005. It also allows the city to sell up to $584 million in bonds for construction of a 41,000-seat stadium.

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