COOPERSTOWN, NY - The day that the Blue Jays franchise shed it’s ugly monicker of the “Blow Jays,” Pat Gillick phoned home with news from the winter meetings.
Gillick called his wife Doris from the Jays suite at the Grand Hyatt in Rosmont, Ill.
It went like this Dec. 5, 1990:
Gillick: “Hi Dor ... well, we made a trade?”
Doris: “Whom did you trade?”
Gillick: “Well ... we traded Tony Fernandez and Freddie McGriff to San Diego for Robbie Alomar and Joe Carter.”
Doris: “PATRICK! Come on home before you completely ruin the whole team.”
Doris was reminded of the conversation Tuesday.
“You know I’ve only been reminded of that 2,000 times. Now, I think it was a good trade,” Doris said. “But Fred McGriff is still one of my favorites and I think he belongs in the Hall of Fame.”
McGriff, who hit 493 homers, was named of 21.5% of the ballots in December, far short of the required 75% in his first year of eligibility.
