TTM Stats
- Sent: 12/21/2021 | Received: 1/18/2022 | 27 Days
- ’76 Topps, ’79 Topps, ’89 Pacific Senior League
- Address: Home (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Jerry Grote is a former catcher in the major leagues. He played from 1963 to 1981 with the Houston Colt .45s, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers (twice) and Kansas City Royals.
Grote is a native of San Antonio, Texas. He played as a pitcher, catcher and third baseman in high school. He then with to Trinity University and spent one season there. The Colt .45s signed him as an amateur free agent and he spent very little time in the minors, making his debut on September 21, 1963. In 1964 he played in 100 games in Houston.
Houston moved him to the Mets for a player to be named later (Tom Parsons). He would become a legendary Met and one the Miracle Mets that won the World Series in 1969. He made two All-Star games with the Mets in 1968 and 1974. He would spend a total of twelve seasons in New York. But in the mid-to-late 70’s the Mets started trading off players from their “Amazin'” years.
He was traded to Los Angeles where spent two seasons and was part of the Dodgers making the postseason in consecutive years. Both years facing the Yankees in the World Series and losing. He wasn’t a bit player in those post seasons though. He went to Kansas City for a year before returning to the Dodgers for this final season in 1981.
After retiring he coached in the minor leagues, played in the Senior Professional Baseball Association and is a member of the Mets’, Trinity’s, and a few Texas sport Hall of Fames. He caught some of the greatest pitchers in the game during his time (Seaver, Ryan, Sutton, etc.). He was also recognized as a great catcher. Lou Brock said he was on of the most difficult to steal on and Johnny Bench said he would be a third baseman if he was on the same team as Grote.
The Score on Jerry Grote – 6.0
Jerry has a bit of a small signature. That doesn’t help it stand out. It also doesn’t help that both of these cards don’t really have a great place to sign. But this one is of course special to me because of my Mets fandom. I met Mr. Grote years ago when I was a kid and he seemed nice in the times I interacted with him.
Thanks Mr. Grote! I’m giving this return a 6 overall.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.