On Aug. 30, 2008, Philadelphia Phillies general manager Pat Gillick made a seemingly innocent waiver trade, which turned out to be one of the most impactful deals in franchise history. Gillick, who would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011, traded Fabio Castro to the Toronto Blue Jays for 40-year-old Matt Stairs. All Stairs would do is hit a go-ahead pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning of Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS, which helped to give the Phillies a commanding 3-1 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Phillies ultimately won the 2008 World Series, cementing Stairs’ legacy as a folk hero in Philadelphia.
MLB reportedly will eliminate August waiver trades in 2019
