Inside the Pack: The Only Pat in the Baseball Hall of Fame

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, so what better time is there to celebrate the only Pat or Patrick in the baseball Hall of Fame?

That honor belongs not to a player or coach, but to Pat Gillick, a general manager. In the 90s, Gillick built powerhouse teams in Toronto and led the Blue Jays to back-to-back World Series titles. He then went to Baltimore, making the playoffs in back to back years, and followed it up with a stint in Seattle, where he assembled a Mariners team that set the record for most wins in MLB history despite having just traded Ken Griffey, Jr. Gillick’s swan song would be in Philadelphia, where he assembled another World Series champion in 2008.

Despite all of his success, Gillick has very few cards to collect, and surprisingly, none of them are from Topps. Even more amazingly, his first card wasn’t a baseball card, but rather pictured him holding a hockey stick as the honorary chairman of the 1992 Markham Waxers, a Canadian Junior League team.

Gillick’s first pack-issued card didn’t come until after he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame. In 2012, Panini put him in their Cooperstown set. He also appeared with autographs in several Leaf sets. Gillick showed up in Panini’s Hall of Fame product each year until 2015. After a year off, he appeared in 2017 Donruss Optic, and outside of a few cut 1/1 autographs, has been absent ever since.

He may not have many cards, and none of them may be from Topps, but there’s one thing Pat Gillick can say proudly: he’s the only Pat in the baseball Hall of Fame.