1969 Topps #55 Jerry Grote
About Jerry Grote
In the Mets' 1969 championship season Grote batted .252 with career-high totals of six home runs and 40 RBIs, and his defense proved decisive as the club overtook the Chicago Cubs, swept the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, and upset the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series while he caught nearly every postseason inning. Card number 55 in the first series pictures him with the New York Mets.
Gerald Wayne Grote was a catcher from San Antonio, Texas who played sixteen major league seasons from 1963 to 1981 for the Houston Colt .45s/Astros, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and Kansas City Royals. After splitting time behind the plate in Houston, he was traded to the Mets in October 1965 and became their regular catcher from 1966 through 1977. Grote earned two All-Star selections, in 1968 and 1974, and built a reputation as one of the finest defensive catchers of his era, known for a strong throwing arm and a knack for handling young pitching staffs including Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. He caught every inning of the Mets' 1969 postseason run, helping the club upset the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, and returned to the World Series again in 1973 and with the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978. He finished his career with a .252 batting average over 1,421 games.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 415 | 2 | 63 | 201 | 88 | 33 | 18 | 10 | 0 |
| SGC | 26 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
More New York Mets cards:
- #31 Mets 1969 Rookie Stars
- #72 Ron Taylor
- #90 Jerry Koosman
- #112 J.C. Martin
- #127 Kevin Collins
- #144 Bob Hendley
- #193 Don Cardwell
- #221 Art Shamsky
- #245 Ed Charles
- #269 Al Weis
- #303 Cal Koonce
- #321 Jim McAndrew
- #343 Dan Frisella
- #364 Tommie Agee
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #55 card?
It is card #55 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jerry Grote of the New York Mets.
How many cards are in the 1969 Topps Baseball set?
664 cards, tracked as 696 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 664 with none skipped and no printed number shared by two cards; 32 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately, 23 of them the yellow- and white-letter name pairs of #440-511.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-12.