06 July 2009

jerry grote through the mail success!

i received this 1978 topps card signed by jerry grote a little over a month after i mailed it to him.jerry spent most of 1977 with the mets (hence the bad airbrush hat job here) but was traded to the dodgers just in time to make the postseason roster. while with the dodgers, he played in 18 games, including a little third base, and he made an appearance in both the nlcs and the world series. jerry stayed with the dodgers for the 1978 season, appearing in 41 games - again with a little third base thrown in. grote didn't play in 1979 or 1980, but he signed with the royals prior to the 1981 season. when they released him in september of that year, the dodgers brought him back. it is worth noting that the final complete game that he caught was a 2-0 shutout for the royals - it was also his last game as a royal. back in dodger stadium, jerry made the final 2 appearances of his career with the dodgers.

jerry has a website with all the information i needed to send a ttm request. he does charge $10, but that's ok with me.

this is the 10th piece in my modest 1978 topps dodgers autograph project. here's the tally:

team card
dusty baker
glenn burke
ron cey - through the mail success!
vic davalillo - ebay success!
terry forster
mike garman - through the mail success!
steve garvey
ed goodson
jerry grote - through the mail success!
burt hooton
charlie hough
tommy john
lee lacy - through the mail success!
tom lasorda
dave lopes
ted martinez
manny mota - through the mail success!
rick monday
johnny oates - ebay success!
doug rau - through the mail success!
lance rautzhan - through the mail success!
rick rhoden
bill russell - through the mail success!
reggie smith
elias sosa
don sutton
steve yeager
nlcs (davey lopes)

10/29 = 34%

thanks jerry!

1 comment:

James said...

Jerry Grote is awesome! Nice autograph. He was the nicest guy when I got an autograph from him - he was at a Cancer awareness table signing autographs. His hands are huge!

Thanks for the link to his site. I didn't know he had one.