M. Donald Grant
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M. Donald Grant (1904-1998) was the chairman of the New York Mets baseball club from its beginnings in the early 1960's, to 1978.
Michael Donald Grant was born in Montreal in 1904, the son of Hockey Hall of Fame member Mike Grant. The younger Grant tried his hand at amateur hockey in Canada before coming to the United States in the mid-1920's.
Grant's interest in baseball stemmed from a long-standing friendship with Joan Whitney Payson, who in the 1960's became the Mets' principal owner. Grant was a member of the New York Giants (baseball) board of directors in the 1950's.
With the Mets, Grant was known for bringing fan favorite and former Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman Gil Hodges back to New York in 1968 to manage the team. Only one year later in 1969, the Mets won their first World Series, beating the Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 1.
A controversial part of Grant's history with the Mets was his work that triggered the 1977 trade of pitcher Tom Seaver from the Mets to the Cincinnati Reds. Seaver's contract negotiations and subsequent trade was fully played out on the back pages of New York's tabloid newspapers, with Seaver angrily accusing Grant of planting a negative article about his wife with the famed sports columnist Dick Young. The Mets finished in last place the next year, and Grant was fired from his position with the club. At one point, due to the Mets' futility on the field and low attendance records, Shea Stadium was dubbed by fans as "Grant's Tomb."
Critics said at the time that Grant did not like Major League Baseball's move to player free agency, a stance that made the Mets a second division team, especially when compared with the cross-town New York Yankees, run by majority owner George Steinbrenner.
Grant was also the managing director of the Wall Street brokerage Fahnestock & Company.
Grant was married, and had three children and nine grandchildren.
[edit] External Links
- Ultimate Mets Database
- "M. Donald Grant, 94, Dies; Executive Angered Mets Fans" by Murray Chass, New York Times, November 30, 1998 (subscription needed to access).
