M. Donald Grant

Michael Donald Grant (May 1, 1904 – November 28, 1998) was the chairman and a minority owner of the New York Mets baseball club from its beginnings in 1962 to 1978.

Grant was born in Montreal in 1904, the son of Hockey Hall of Fame defenceman Mike Grant. The younger Grant tried his hand at amateur hockey in Canada before coming to the United States in the mid-1920s.

Grant's interest in baseball stemmed from a long-standing friendship with Joan Whitney Payson, who in the 1960s became the Mets' principal owner. Grant was a member of the New York Giants board of directors in the 1950s. He and Payson were the only members of the Giants board who opposed the team's move to San Francisco after the 1957 season.

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. The Mets first manager during their first years at the Polo Grounds, former home of the New York Giants was former NY Giants player, Boston Braves and NY Yankees manager, Casey Stengel.

After Payson's death, her daughter, Lorinda de Roulet, assumed ownership of the team and delegated a great deal of authority to Grant.

However, even with the success of the 1969 Mets, Grant's baseball knowledge was often questioned by lifelong baseball professionals. Whitey Herzog, Director of Player Development for the Mets when they won the 1969 World Series, said that Grant "didn't know beans about baseball."

Grant opposed Major League Baseball's move to player free agency, a stance that particularly affected the Mets as its cross-town rival, the New York Yankees, aggressively pursued free agents under majority owner George Steinbrenner.

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