Jerry Grote, beloved ex-Mets catcher and starting member of the franchise’s first-ever World Series championship team in 1969, dies during heart surgery at age 81

Jerry Grote, the catcher who helped transform the New York Mets from a perennial loser to the 1969 World Series champion, died Sunday. He was 81.

Grote suffered from heart problems and died at the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas, Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said.

Grote was scheduled for a procedure and died of respiratory failure during the procedure, Horwitz said.

A two-time All-Star, Grote played 16 Major League seasons and batted .252 with 39 home runs and 404 RBIs.

“The backbone of a young Mets team that captured the heart of New York City,” Mets owner Steve Cohen and his wife Alix said in a statement.

Grote has been active as a Met for decades, recognized as a member of the ‘Miracle Mets’

Grote had played two seasons with the Houston Colt .45s when the Mets acquired him in October 1965 to draft a player, who turned out to be pitcher Tom Parsons.

Launched as an expansion team in 1962 to replace the departed New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, the Mets finished ninth or 10th in their first seven seasons before a remarkable turnaround in 1969.

“We weren’t supposed to do anything,” Grote said at the 50th anniversary celebration in 2019. “And we did it all.”

Grote brought in a young pitching staff led by Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Gary Gentry. The Mets overtook the Chicago Cubs to reach first place for the first time in their history on September 10.

They finished 100-62 and won the NL East by eight games, then won three games against Atlanta in the first NL Championship Series and defeated heavily favored Baltimore in a five-game World Series.

“He was the glue that held the staff together,” Mets star Cleon Jones said in a statement.

Grote was an All-Star for the first time in 1968, starting for the NL in the All-Star Game in Houston’s Astrodome and hitting .282.

He hit .252 with six home runs and 40 RBIs in 1969, starting 100 games behind the plate. On the night the Mets clinched the division lead, he caught all 21 innings in a doubleheader sweep of Montreal.

Grote caught every inning of the postseason. He had a two-out single off Dave McNally in the ninth inning of World Series Game 2 that put runners on the corners, and Al Weis followed with an RBI single that lifted the Mets to a 2-1 victory.

Grote doubled off Dick Hall during the 10th inning of Game 4, and pinch-runner Rod Gaspar scored on JC Martin’s sacrifice bunt for another 2–1 victory.

“We don’t win in 1969 without Jerry,” Mets outfielder and first baseman Art Shamsky said in a statement. ‘It’s that simple.’

Grote was the Mets’ primary catcher from 1966-71 and then began sharing time with Duffy Dyer in 1972. He helped the Mets win another NL pennant in 1973. Praised for his defense, Grote made his second All-Star team in 1974.

“He was the best catcher I ever threw to,” Mets pitcher Jon Matlack said in a statement.

Grote wasn’t much of a power hitter throughout his career, hitting just 39 home runs and 404 RBIs.

Grote was not a power hitter, hitting only 39 home runs, but was a great defensive catcher

After the emergence of John Stearns, Grote was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in August 1977, became a free agent after the 1978 season and then retired.

Three years later he changed his mind and split 1981 with Kansas City and the Dodgers. He had a career-best seven RBIs on June 3, 1981, hitting a grand slam off Seattle’s Ken Clay.

Gerald Wayne Grote was born on October 6, 1942 in San Antonio.

He was a three-sport star at MacArthur High and attended Trinity University in San Antonio, where he acquired catching skills with the help of former big leaguer Del Baker, an advisor to the team.

In the days before the amateur draft, Grote was signed by Houston scout Red Murff in 1962 and made his big league debut on September 21, 1963.

Grote saw action in the fifth inning against Philadelphia at Colt Stadium, hitting a sacrifice fly off Dallas Green in his first at bat.

Grote was traded to the Mets after Murff transferred to New York and recommended his acquisition.

Twice divorced, Grote is survived by his third wife, Cheryl; son Jef; daughters Jennifer Jackson and Sandy Deloney; and stepdaughter Laurel Leudecke, according to the Mets.