RIP Jerry Grote \ stacker news ~Stacker

798 sats \ 12 comments \ @siggy47 10 Apr Stacker_Sports

https://m.stacker.news/26044

As a kid my father would take me to one ball game a year. I was a rabid Mets fan. I always bugged him to get there early enough for batting practice, so I could get autographs. I remember Grote as being the guy who would keep signing until the last minute, while chatting with the kids.

He wasn't the biggest star on that team, but he was a very solid catcher. Neither Seaver not Koosman ever shook off his signs. Mistakes weren't a part of his game.

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105 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 10 Apr

I wish more athletes were like that.

One of the biggest tests of character is how you treat people who can't do anything for you in return.

105 sats \ 8 replies \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 10 Apr

Aw, man. I'd missed this.

I wasn't alive for the '69 Mets, or aware enough for the '73 ones. I became a fan in the late '70s (RIP Pat Zachry). But as you know, I played a lot of computer games growing up, and I was obsessed with Micro League Baseball. Naturally, I played the '69 Mets, using them to try to stomp the '27 Yanks as best I could, and so Grote and all of his teammates became as familiar to me as the contemporary players.

Grote didn't have the numbers to win games like Jones or Agee (especially with the metrics used back then), but I had that entire lineup memorized, and read about them all obsessively. While '86 was "my" big World Series, I've got a huge fondness for that '69 team.

81 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 OP 10 Apr

I think Johnny Bench was quoted as saying "If Jerry Grote was on the Reds, I would be playing third base." Impressive tribute. I also played a Stratomatic type game called "Be A Manager, where that team was included. Of course, it wasn't as cool as Olympic Decathlon.

95 sats \ 0 replies \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 10 Apr

Man, that's incredibly high praise from Bench.

51 sats \ 2 replies \ @siggy47 OP 10 Apr

I just realized I missed Pat Zachry's passing. Sad news. Of course the Seaver trade left a bad taste, but he was a silver lining.

95 sats \ 1 reply \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 10 Apr

I always felt bad for the players. One of the first people I grew up loathing in sports was Dick Young.

51 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 10 Apr

Asshole. He really damaged Seaver's reputation. Management guy.

71 sats \ 2 replies \ @siggy47 OP 10 Apr

The Mets and Jets won it all within a year of each other. It's still by far my greatest sports year. As a kid I had no idea how rare it would be.

75 sats \ 1 reply \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 10 Apr

Seriously. If I'd been a Giants fan, I could have gotten that experience in '86, but I've never been able to be a fair weather fan.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 10 Apr

Me neither. I rooted against the Giants every Super Bowl until the Brady Era. Then my hatred for the Patriots trumped all. It still wasn't like MY TEAM won.

75 sats \ 1 reply \ @grayruby 10 Apr

I had never heard of Jerry Grote until this post. Was he part of the Amazin' Mets?

50 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 10 Apr

Oh yes. An integral part. He controlled that pitching staff.