Former Mets catcher and World Series champion Jerry Groat dies at age 81

MLB

by christian arnold

Jerry Groat, the starting catcher for the Mets’ first World Series championship team in 1969, died Sunday afternoon of respiratory failure following heart surgery, his wife Sheryl announced on Facebook.

He was 81 years old.

“It is with great sadness that I write this post to all of Jerry’s fans. Today, April 7, 2024 at 4:29 p.m., I lost my beloved catcher,” she wrote in part. I wrote it. “He fought hard to the end, as we all expected. He is now at home with Jesus. Thank you for all the memories and support.”

The Mets announced in their own statement that Groat died at the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute in Austin, Texas.

Groat was a member of both the Mets’ beloved 1969 championship team and 1973 National League pennant championship team, and spent most of his 16-year major league career with the Mets from 1966 until being traded to the Dodgers. Ta. 1977 season.

Grote was considered one of the best defensive catchers in baseball at the time.

He was named to the All-Star team twice during his career as a Met, in 1968 and 1974, and is the franchise’s all-time leader in games played as a catcher.

“We are very saddened to hear of Jerry Groat’s passing. The Mets Hall of Famer was the backbone of a young Mets team that took control of the heart of New York City in 1969,” said Mets owner Steve. Cohen and Alex Cohen said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Cheryl, her family and friends.”

Groat was praised throughout his career for his ability to work with young pitchers, and was famous for catching some of the best pitchers in Mets history.

That list included Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Jerry Koosman and Tug McGraw.

“He was a really great defensive catcher. It was great to work with him,” Koosman told The Post’s Steve Serby in 2019.

Grote’s personality can be said to embody the miraculous 1969 Mets, who shocked the world by defeating the Orioles in the World Series and winning the franchise’s first championship.

The team achieved 100 wins that season, one year after their previous franchise-best 73 wins.

In a 2009 interview with the Post, Grothe said in spring training that season that he believed the ball club was capable of doing the unthinkable.

“I felt like we had the pitching and the defense,” he said at the time. “All we needed was one more person.”

Grote’s reputation as one of baseball’s top catchers is so great that Hall of Famer Johnny Bench once said that if he was on the same team as Grote, he would have to play third base, and Grote He even said that he would be behind the bat.

Grote, who debuted with Houston in 1963 at the age of 20 and finished his playing days with the Dodgers and Royals in 1981, played in 1,421 games, had 1,092 hits and a .252 batting average.

Grote, a San Antonio native, was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

The Mets inducted him into the Hall of Fame in 1992.