JERRY Grote was a no-nonsense tough guy, in so many ways the heart and soul of the ’69 Mets.
Grote was in the eye of the storm, guiding that talented staff that included Hall of Famers Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan to the Mets’ first World Series championship, but it’s what happened to him as a youngster that helped shape his world.
Not many people live to tell about being pulled up into the center of an F-4 tornado, but that’s exactly what happened to 10-year-old Jerry Grote, his mom, dad and two sisters back in Belton, Texas, in 1952.
“The tornado came out of nowhere,” Grote told The Post. “And we just got pulled up into it. It was like we were astronauts, weightless, floating around.”
His grandmother did not make it to the room in the house where the rest of the family rushed, and she was killed. Her body was found in the debris. The winds of an F-4 can reach as high as 260 mph.
“My dad said he couldn’t even recognize her,” Grote said of that horrific day.
Amazingly, Grote said, the tornado carried the family about 100 yards as they were blown upward by air rushing into the vortex.
“Then we just tumbled down softly onto the ground,” he said. “It was unbelievable.”
Grote, 66, played 16 seasons in the majors, 11 with the Mets. He said he believed in that 1969 team long before anyone else, telling teammates in spring training that the team had the talent to win it all.
“I felt we had the pitching and the defense,” said Grote, who will be at Citi Field on Aug. 22 when the Mets celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ’69 team. “All we needed was that one more person.”
That turned out to be slugger Donn Clendenon, who was traded to the Mets from Montreal on June 15 and immediately went on a tear. In the World Series win over the Orioles, Clendenon batted .357 with three home runs.
“It was no miracle,” Grote said of the 1969 team. “Now, ’73 was a miracle.”
That Mets team finished 82-79, beat the Reds in the NLCS and pushed the World Series to seven games before losing to the A’s. The ’69 Mets finished 100-62, swept the Braves in the NLCS and won the World Series in five games.
The team ERA that season was 2.99. The Mets pitched 51 complete games. Forty years later, the 2009 Mets have one complete game. Tom Seaver produced 18 complete games and Jerry Koosman added 16. Grote caught 112 games during the season and every inning of the postseason.
When Grote caught Ryan, he had to make sure he sat up straighter in his catching stance because the Ryan Express was so fast. If Grote were in the same crouch he used to catch Seaver, he would not be able to react quickly enough to catch Ryan’s fastball.
“Ryan’s ball was three feet faster than anyone else’s,” Grote said.
Grote, who is retired from ranching, remains close to Seaver. He said he was happy when Seaver started his vineyard. One day Seaver called him and said he loved driving his pickup truck. The only problem was Seaver’s wife Nancy loved the pickup so much she always used it. His old catcher had the answer.
“Take the dog inside the truck,” Grote told Seaver. Soon enough the truck was back in Seaver’s complete possession.
Grote was the best catcher of his day, so much so that Hall of Famer Johnny Bench once said if he were on the same team with Grote, he would be the third baseman and Grote would be behind the plate.
“That almost happened,” Grote revealed.
In 1975, Mets general manager Joe McDonald asked Grote, a 10-and-5 player, if he would OK a trade to Cincinnati. Grote’s response was direct.
“When do I leave?” he asked. “But they never got the deal done. I would have loved to have gone over there and played.”
Grote would have added two more World Series rings with the Big Red Machine, but he always will have 1969, though, the greatest time of his baseball life.
“Nothing,” he said, “tops that.”