44: Jerry Grote

(This is the latest installment in an ongoing series at Y2K focusing on topics raised in Matthew Silverman's "100 Things Mets Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die". Today's installment? Number 44: Jerry Grote.)Why 44? In honor of the newest Met, Jason Bay.On a scale of 1-to-10, necessity of knowing or doing before you die? 5.Jerry Grote... not a Met I knew a ton about. I'd heard of him before, and I guess I kind of figured he was a member of the '69 team or maybe '73. In truth, most of what I knew about him began and ended with the assonance of his name. That all changed last night as I leafed through Matt Silverman's book for the fist time in about a year.What do I know about Grote now? Well, from the sound of it he was a typical light-hitting catcher, but behind the plate he was as good as they got, nurturing the talent of young standout pitchers like Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. He had one passed ball all season in 1968, when he made the Al...