Pat Gillick quotes:

I was trying to land an 18-year-old strapping first baseman from Blanco, Texas, population 200. His name was Willie Upshaw. It turned out there were only three scouts who knew about Willie - Dave Yocum and I working for the Yankees, and Al LaMacchia from the Atlanta Braves.

No matter how much technology changes scouting, no matter how much free agency and big TV contracts change the business of baseball, I hope and pray that the heart of the game will never change.

Building a baseball team is like building a house. You look for the best architects, the best builders - and then you let them do their jobs.

Philadelphia loves its team, and being able to win a World Series for the city, fans, players and our Phillies organization meant so much to me.

When you talk about the American League, you think of Fenway. When you talk about the National League, you think of Wrigley and the fan base that they have in Chicago.

What was the first name of the Houston club? It wasn't the Astros. It was the Colt .45s. A lot of guys now will say Colt 45 is a beer. But it was also a pistol, and it went right with Texas.

Baseball is about talent, hard work, and strategy. But at the deepest level, it's about love, integrity, and respect.

At the high school level, the coaches get these kids in revenue-driven sports and take them away from baseball. There's so much pressure on these kids to even play spring football. We need to get the African-American players back in the game, which I think would make it not only a better game, but more exciting and entertaining for everyone.

My label in Toronto was Stand Pat and I think that was a fair assessment. I tried to be patient, but if a trade came along - big or small - that I thought should be made, I would make it.

My label in Toronto was 'Stand Pat' and I think that was a fair assessment. I tried to be patient, but if a trade came along - big or small - that I thought should be made, I would make it.

Texting is a lot like an answering machine. If you don't want to talk to somebody, it's like screening your calls. To me, it's a way of communication, but not one that I favor.

There's always, I guess, a philosophy that if you come in, you want to change all the parts, you want to change everything over. I've always tried to preach that consistency and continuity are very, very important. So if I know the baseball people, and I know they're competent and could do the job, I don't see any reason to replace them.

You need to have camaraderie in the clubhouse. Wherever you're working, be it a baseball team or at a business, you want to walk in there and say, 'Geez, it's great to be at work. Let's go get 'em,' as opposed to walking in there knowing there's going to be a commotion.

I was lucky to go to work every day for 50 years, to a job that I loved.

For me, the most important thing is running a good clubhouse. The X's and the O's - you sit up in the stands and, for the most part, a lot of fans go to the game and they know what's going to happen. You're going to hit and run, steal, put a pitcher in, take a pitcher out.