NY Mets trade retrospective: October deal with the Astros for a franchise catcher

October trades are rarer these days than they were in 1965. The MLB playoffs included only one round which meant October 19th was already the start of the offseason. For the New York Mets, after another losing year, they went on the prowl and picked up one of the franchise’s early success stories.

The trade wasn’t completed until November. However, with Halloween still almost two weeks away, the Mets got busy and said they’d give the Astros a PTBNL. In the meantime, the Mets picked up a kid from Texas hitting .182 in the major leagues. It would take him a while, but when he did start to hit, he became a fan-favorite whose contributions are still appreciated today.

The 1965 Mets trade for Jerry Grote might be their best October deal of all-time

It was none other than Jerry Grote, a future two-time All-Star and should’ve been multi-time Gold Glove winner the Mets added on that October day. He spent the 1965 season hitting well in Triple-A. He raised his batting average to .237 in 1965 before cratering to .195 the next year. Perhaps they didn’t get anything of value from the Astros.

Tom Parsons was the player the Mets sent over in the deal. He was 2-12 with a 4.58 ERA in two seasons with the Mets. Despite some decent numbers in the minor leagues with the Astros, he never pitched a game in the major leagues again after the trade. It was an early trade win for the Mets that only grew as the years went on.

An All-Star in 1968, Grote hit a light .282 while getting overlooked for the Gold Glove in comparison to Johnny Bench for the first time. Bench’s quote about how if the Cincinnati Reds had Grote on their team that he [Bench] would be playing third base shows some humility but also an assessment of just how good Grote was as a catcher.

Grote never had any monster year at the plate with a consistent handful of home runs maxing out at 6 and an RBI total topping out at 40. The timing was perfect, though. Both highs were set in 1969.

In comparison to some other Mets catchers, Grote doesn’t have the same flair. He didn’t slug like Mike Piazza. He didn’t bring the all-around greatness of Gary Carter. In an era primarily focused on pitching for the Mets and the sport itself, Grote seemed to be the right choice to pair up with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Jon Matlack, and every other notable pitcher for the team in his decade with the organization. The measurables of how impactful a catcher is with the pitching staff isn’t always the easiest to measure. Considering how strong Mets pitching often was, we need to tip our caps to Grote and this October trade for how well it worked out.

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