On this day 30 years ago, then-Toronto Blue Jays General Manager Pat Gillick met with his counterpart Joe McIlvaine of the San Diego Padres at the annual baseball Winter Meetings to discuss the acquisition of Padres power-hitting outfielder Joe Carter. The Blue Jays were willing to part with power-hitting first baseman Fred McGriff, mainly because they had the promising John Olerud waiting in the wings. Tony Fernandez and Roberto Alomar were added to the mix and the trade was made. The four players involved in the deal combined for more than 182 bWAR over the course of their careers, and all four were All-Stars. A true blockbuster if there ever was one.

This is about the biggest trade I can remember,” Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston told the Associated Press right after the deal was completed. “Roberto Alomar is already one of the best second basemen in the American League.

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Although the Blue Jays didn’t win the World Series that year, that trade help them win back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993. Carter hit the game-winning (and World Series-winning) home run in 19993; Alomar went on to have a Hall-of-Fame career. While both Fernandez and McGriff played well in San Diego, the Padres bungled the their end of the trade by trading both Fernandez and McGriff away (to the Mets and Braves respectively) for next-to-nothing.

Here’s a clip featuring both Gillick and McIlvaine discussing the trade and some highlights featuring Carter and Alomar during their first season as Blue Jays in 1991: