From his home in suburban Detroit, baseball Hall of Famer and former Blue Jays’ longtime general manager Pat Gillick, like millions of other baseball fans in the United States and Canada, is watching the World Series.
Gillick spoke to The Epoch Times on Sunday as the Series shifted from Toronto’s Rogers Centre to Southern California for Game 3 at Dodger Stadium. With the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers tied at one game each in the best-of-seven series, buzz is lingering among MLB fans over the pitching performance on Saturday by Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The complete game pitched by the second-year Dodgers’ hurler from Japan is being remembered as nothing less than amazing. Yamamoto in nine innings allowed four hits and one earned run, and had eight strikeouts in the 5–1 Los Angeles victory.
“That was an incredible pitching performance,” Gillick said. “In today’s game, pitchers usually go five or six innings. [Yamamoto] has thrown his second straight postseason complete game.”
As special as Game 2 was for the Dodgers, Gillick, 88, has seen his share of memorable times during his 27 years leading four MLB clubs as their general manager. However, it’s Gillick’s 17 seasons (1978–1994) leading the Blue Jays organization that cemented his Hall of Fame status as an executive. Although it has been more than three decades since Toronto captured back-to-back World Series championships under his leadership, Gillick’s loyalties run deep with Toronto and Canadian citizens.
Gillick talks of having several TVs, in three separate rooms at his home, turned on at all times during the live World Series broadcasts. One TV is dedicated to baseball, while the others may be used by family members for alternate programming.
“I’m watching every inning of every game. Throughout the postseason, I watched many games,” said Gillick, who before becoming a baseball administrator with the Houston Colt 45s (the former name of the Houston Astros) in 1963 pitched in the minor leagues for four seasons.
At the top of Gillick’s Blue Jays tenure are the 1993 and 1994 World Series titles. The 1992 club constructed under Gillick’s direction is also pleasant for the former general manager to reflect on. Key members of the club—Al Leiter, Jack Morris, Roberto Alomar, and Dave Winfield (his only season in Toronto), all assembled by Gillick, led the exciting conclusion to that year’s World Series. Winfield’s two-run double in the 11th, his first World Series extra-base hit, made the score 4–2 in Atlanta, and Toronto went on to win Game 6 and the championship over the Atlanta Braves.
As rewarding at the first MLB championship remains for Gillick, who was joined by Alomar and Bert Blyleven in the Hall of Fame’s class of 2011, the 1993 World Series between Toronto and the Philadelphia Phillies topped all expectations with a fabulous finish.
“That was pretty special,” Gillick said of the one-out, three-run walk-off home run clubbed by the Blue Jays’ Joe Carter to claim a consecutive World Series championship. “That Series was a pretty good one offensively for us. I watched the pitch from Mitch Williams on its way to the plate. It all happened so quickly. When Joe (Carter) hit the ball, all of us in the press box were stunned.”
Neither time nor strategizing for other organizations has blurred Gillick’s vivid memory of where he was and who was in his presence at the time of Carter’s shot over the outfield wall at Toronto’s SkyDome on October 23, 1993.
“Winning that first [championship] was a thrill for everyone in the organization. The whole country of Canada went crazy,” he said.
When pressed for one special story from the current Blue Jays squad, Gillick points to Trey Yesavage. Toronto’s starting pitcher for Game 1, Yesavage at 22 is the second youngest pitcher in over 75 years to take to the mound in such a role. Gillick is impressed with the Blue Jays rookie, and regrets that “it didn’t work out” for him in Game 1.
While keeping his eyes on the upcoming three games scheduled for broadcast from Los Angeles, Florida is also on Gillick’s mind. Still associated in an advisory role with the Philadelphia Phillies, Gillick will be leaving Michigan in January for Clearwater, Florida, spring training home for the Phillies.
Back in 2008, while Philadelphia’s general manager, Gillick led the Phillies to a World Series championship.
Division championships, pennants, and World Series trophies aside, even a Hall of Famer like Gillick is captivated at this time of year by the game’s Fall Classic.
And Gillick doesn’t apologize for rooting for the Blue Jays to collect their third World Series title in franchise history. Once a Blue Jays fan, always a Blue Jays fan—especially for someone who dedicated 18 years of his career to the club.
