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Jerry Grote (Part One) 1969 World Champion Mets Catcher (1966 - 1969)

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Gerald Wayne Grote was born October 6, 1942, in San Antonio, Texas to Mr. & Mrs. Clarence Grote.  Jerry had two younger sisters, Iris & Debra. During his high school days he was a pitcher, played third base & caught behind the plate. He was a three-sport star in baseball, cross country, track & field. The five-foot ten right hand hitting catcher was sought after by the Houston Colt 45's but chose to attend Trinity University instead. By 1962, scout Red Murf sought him out again & this time Jerry felt he was ready for baseball, as he signed with the Houston Colt 45’s. He spent 1963 at AA San Antonio batting .268 getting voted the best prospect in the Texas League to make the majors.  MLB Debut:   On September 21st, 1963,  Grote made his MLB debut, replacing John Bateman at catcher in the 5th inning, in a loss to the Phillies. He went 0-1 against Phillies pitcher Dallas Green. Grote appeared in three games that September. O...
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Remembering Mets History (1999) Mets Beat Reds In One Game Tie Breaker & Advance to the NLDS

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Monday October 4, 1999:   On September 19th, Bobby Valentines Mets had a four-game lead in the wild card race.  But a seven-game losing streak, that included dropping five of six to the first place Braves had them in jeopardy of missing the playoffs.  But New York won five of their last six games finishing the year at  96-66, the  team's  best finish since they had won 100 games in 1988.  Although  they finished second to the Atlanta Braves, they finished tied with the Cincinnati Reds for the lone NL Wild Card spot. The Mets lost home field advantage in a league coin toss & traveled to Cincinnati to play Jack McKeon's Reds (96-67) in the one game tie breaker to decide the NL Wild Card winner.  On the mound for the Mets was their ace Al Leiter going for his 13th win of the season facing  the Reds Steve Parris (11-3). For Al Leiter he stepped into the spotlight  & threw a complete game two hit shutout winning his 13th game...
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Remembering Mets History (1991) HoJo Is First Met to Lead NL in Both HRs & RBIs as David Cone Ties NL Record with 19 K's the Same Day He's Accused of Possible Rape Charges

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Sunday October 6th, 1991: Today was the last day of the 1991 season. Although the Mets had competed in the first half of the season (44-34) ten games over .500 & 2.5 games out of first place by the All-Star break, they went 31-50 in the second half finishing a  disappointing (77-84) 21.5 games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates.    During the last week of the season, the team fired manager Bud Harrelson & replaced him with interim manager, Met coach Mike Cubbage.  It was the teams worst finish in nine years, dating back to 1983 when they last finished under .500 at 68-94. This year aw the team trade Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda & Tim Teufel.  Although it was just five years since the Championship of 1986 & just five players from that team were still around by the end of this season, Dwight Gooden, Sid Fernandez, Kevin Elster, Dave Magadan & Howard Johnson. Howard Johnson was now the teams hitting star & became the third Mets player in...
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