Jerry Grote
 

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Jerry Grote: Mets Catcher and 1969 World Series Champion

A catcher built for the big moments

Jerry Grote is a former major league catcher from San Antonio, Texas, best remembered for sixteen seasons behind the plate, most of them in a New York Mets uniform. Teammates and observers of his era regularly described him as one of the finest defensive receivers in the National League, a player with a strong throwing arm and a knack for handling a pitching staff. This site collects background on his playing career, his time as a coach and manager, and the memories that fans and former teammates have attached to the 1969 Miracle Mets.

In his own telling

In reflections that appeared on the original version of this site, Grote spoke about the thrill of reaching the big leagues, a childhood dream that came true. He counted three National League pennants, two World Series titles and two All-Star selections among the highlights, yet said that few moments topped crouching behind the plate and signalling for a fastball from Nolan Ryan or asking Tom Seaver to work the ball low and away.

He also credited his knees, which carried him through a long career of squatting and throwing, and joked that the only serious knee trouble he ever had came from a slip during a golf outing as he tried to get out of the way of a violent thunderstorm in Washington, D.C. He compared the years in New York to a movie script: a city that loved baseball, a young pitching staff on the rise, and a stadium at Shea that did not need special effects to feel electric.

Career at a glance

  • Early years (1962 to 1965): Winter ball in Arizona and Venezuela, minor league stops in San Antonio and Oklahoma City, and first major league appearances with the Houston Colt .45s, beginning in September 1963.
  • New York Mets (1966 to August 1977): More than a decade as the club’s regular catcher, including the pennant-winning years of 1969 and 1973.
  • Los Angeles Dodgers (1977 to 1978): Joined the club for the stretch run in 1977 and was part of the pennant winners of 1977 and 1978.
  • Late career (1981): A short stint with the Kansas City Royals, followed by a return to the Dodgers, who went on to win the 1981 World Series.
  • Managing (1985): Led the Lakeland club in the Detroit Tigers system at the start of the season, then moved up to manage Birmingham in Double-A.

Honours

Grote started for the National League in the 1968 All-Star Game and was named to the squad again in 1974. His name appears on several regional and club honour rolls, including the San Antonio Missions Wall of Fame, the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame, the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame and the New York Mets Hall of Fame. See the Stat Sheet for career numbers.

How he saw the catcher’s job

The archived pages describe a player who believed that a catcher should act as an extra coach on the field. He credited manager Gil Hodges with encouraging him to take charge of the pitching staff in 1968, and he pointed to veteran teammates from his Houston days, such as Pete Runnels, Nellie Fox and Eddie Kasko, as sources of ideas about setting up hitters. He said he paid close attention to batting practice to judge who was swinging well, and tried to plan innings so that the weaker part of the lineup would face his pitchers late in games.

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