Pat Gillick is Possible Hall of Famer for Torturing; Elating Phils Fans
By Justin Klugh
I had the luxury of being a child in 1993. It was handy because, when all that Joe Carter happened, I never had to pass out apology notes for filling a room and screams, shitting myself, and having a cry-stroke.
15 years later, I was tearing apart Broad Street with all of Philadelphia burning around me.
To think the same man was responsible for both actions staggers the mind a bit further than it was meant to go.
Pat Gillick, seen below hoisting the World Series trophy over his head just seconds before it came crashing down on his skull, is depending 16 men a month from now to decide if he will receive baseball’s greatest honor.
Pat spent 27 years general managing, and only had to spend 16 of them without trips to the playoffs. Now, he’s the special advisor to David Montgomery, who is currently trying to lure the owner of a stationery store in Indiana to come coach within the Phillies minor league system.
Pat was the predecessor of Ruben Amaro, Jr., and coalesced the Phillies to a World Series championship 28 years after their first one, back in an age when U.S. presidents bothered to call and congratulate the best team in the league.
But even before that, Pat got a ring as the GM of those hilarious Blue Jays, where he signed Jack Morris and David Cone in the off season, and everybody celebrated a World Series win in Canada while the Phillies finished with 92 losses. The next year, the Phillies muscled their way into that same Series, only to have Pat Gillick’s Blue Jays aoaifh8tdjsvns&UY^RGYEgbfr
Yet, we must take the always challenging objective viewpoint when dealing with the Hall of Fame. We may suffer hat-estrokes all over the keyboard when the thoughts of ’93 flicker through our heads, but Pat Gillick is without a doubt a man whose victories are more than coincidence.
As an exec, his glory goes beyond mere uniforms; and while he is assuredly a man with loyalty, he is above all, a man who is going to do his job with unwaivering precision, no matter whose colors he’s flying.
Joining Marvin Miller and George Steinbrenner as baseball executives on the Hall of Fame ballot, which will be voted on December 6, gives Pat a spot in history few will be able to match.
Besides. Anybody young enough to excusably poop themselves with rage at the ’93 loss was probably old enough to go on a celebratory bender in 2008.
Timing couldn’t have been better, Pat.