I look at the ages of these guys on Baseball-Reference and they’re all well into their 70s and 80s now. Where has the time gone?
Jerry Grote, the backbone behind the plate for the Miracle Mets, passed away Sunday at the age of 81. Here’s his obituary by Richard Goldstein in The New York Times. Still working on a project about the first sentences in a player’s obituary that appeared in the Times. Here’s the one for Grote:
Jerry Grote, who was among the National League’s leading catchers of his time and guided the pitching staff that propelled the New York Mets to their astonishing 1969 World Series championship, died on Sunday in Austin, Texas. He was 81.
Grote called the games for one of the best rotations in Mets history: Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Don Cardwell, and Jim McAndrew (who just died last month). He spent 12 of his 16 big league seasons with the Mets after debuting with the Houston Colt 45 in 1963 at the age of 20. he also spent time with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kansas City Royals, finishing with a .252 batting average, 39 homers, and 404 RBIs. Sorry if putting up these stats — as opposed to the new ones deemed more indicative of a players career/worth — makes me an old coot.
No book specifically by or about Grote, but he’s a major component of any book about that ’69 team.
Among the other Mets from that memorable season who are no longer with us (with the year of their passing):
- Tom Seaver (2020)
- Don Cardwell (2008)
- Jim McAndrew (2024)
- Tug McGraw (2004)
- Cal Koonce (1993)
- Al Jackson (2019)
- Danny Frisella (1977)
- Les Rohr (2020)
- Donn Clendenon (2005)
- Ed Charles (2018)
- Kevin Collins (2016)
- Bud Harrelson (2024)
- Tommie Agee (2001)
Frisella was killed in a dune buggy accident at the age of thirty. Agee and Koonce passed at 58 and 52, respectively.
Grote’s departure reminded me of an old joke. I’ll paraphrase using him and his old batterymate, Tom Seaver.
Seaver is dying and calls his Grote for a last visit. Grote asks him, “If you can, let me know if there’s baseball in heaven.”
The day before Grote’s death, he gets a visit from Seaver’s ghost.
“How are you, pard,” the Texan asks? “So tell me, is there baseball in heaven?” Seaver replies, “Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news: there is baseball in heaven. The bad news: you’re catching tomorrow.”