Former Mets general manager Joe McDonald died at the age of 97, according to the team.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
The infamous Tom Seaver trade happened during McDonald’s tenure as the top executive, and the team won its first championship in 1969 while he worked in the front office.
He won six World Series with the Mets, Cardinals and Red Sox during his multi-decade career.
McDonald, a Fordham grad from Staten Island who reportedly worked at Ebbets Field in his youth, spent 15 years with the Amazin’s from 1965-80 and moved his way up through the organization.
He earned a promotion to director of scouting in 1965 and became the team’s director of minor league operations in 1968, serving in that role during the team’s first championship.
In 1974, McDonald took the reins as the team’s general manager and he facilitated the Seaver trade in 1977 that remains one of the darkest days in franchise history.
That trade, though, stemmed more from a dispute between Seaver and chairman and minority owner M. Donald Grant.
McDonald served as the team’s general manager until 1979 and left the team in 1980, being succeeded by 1986 title-team architect Frank Cashen, and then joined the Cardinals.
He became the team’s general manager in 1982 and won his second championship when St. Louis bested the Brewers in seven games in the Fall Classic.
McDonald left the organization in 1985 and spent his final years as an executive with the Tigers from 1987-92, serving as the team’s general manager for the final two years.
He later transitioned into scouting and won four titles with the Red Sox after joining the organization in 2004, and he retired in 2019 at the age of 90.
“It’s the last game I’m going to be attending,” McDonald told the Boston Globe at the time. “I’m going to miss the game after 69-70 years of going to the ballpark.
“I can still go, and I will go to an occasional game. But it won’t be a challenge. Every time I go to the game as a scout, I get the feeling that, ‘Hey, I hope I see something today that will enlighten me and my organization and make a contribution.’”
Red Sox executive Gus Quattlebaum praised him upon his retirement.
“He’s a hero of mine,” Quattlebaum told the Boston Globe seven years ago. “I just think the fact that someone who is that accomplished and willing to grind it out in the Florida State League with tough conditions tells you how committed he is to the game.”
