lit a candle 1d agoWatched him at a Red Sox game in 2015, must have been 86 or so, notebook in hand like he was still hunting for the next big thing. That kind of dedication stays with you.
Their story
Joseph Anthony McDonald was born on 5 July 1929. Standard biographies, including Wikipedia, the New York Post, and MiLB.com, place that birth in Staten Island, New York. In a 2019 interview with the Boston Globe he described himself as born and raised in Brooklyn. The two accounts are recorded here…
Joseph Anthony McDonald was born on 5 July 1929. Standard biographies, including Wikipedia, the New York Post, and MiLB.com, place that birth in Staten Island, New York. In a 2019 interview with the Boston Globe he described himself as born and raised in Brooklyn. The two accounts are recorded here as published. What is not in dispute is that his baseball life began at Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, where as a teenager he helped take tickets. He later told the Globe he earned about 50 cents a game, then 49 after a supervisor took a penny said to be for Social Security. "A guy was going south with a lot of pennies," he said. "I'm not an idiot." The real pay was the chance to watch games in an era without regular television. He studied Joe Medwick taking extra batting practice, and he watched Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Carl Furillo, and Duke Snider. Newsweek, quoting a 2017 interview, has him saying: "I saw Jackie Robinson play 200 games. He used to come through my gate, with his wife and little baby."
He graduated from Fordham University in 1951. MiLB.com reports that he then served two years in the U.S. Air Force, playing and coaching baseball at Ardmore Air Force Base in Gene Autry, Oklahoma. When he came home the Dodgers had moved to California. He played sandlot ball in Brooklyn and, in 1962, became the official statistician for the expansion New York Mets in their first season. He traveled with the club and saw the 120-loss team that remains one of the worst in modern baseball history. That job led to a full-time post. He was minor-league administrative secretary in 1965 and 1966, director of scouting in 1967, and director of minor league operations from 1968 to 1971, working closely with Whitey Herzog. In 1972 he was director of player development. In 1973 he was again director of minor league operations.
Newsweek notes that as a young executive he was involved in the Mets' first three amateur drafts, which produced Nolan Ryan, Ken Singleton, and Jon Matlack, and that he was part of the structure that developed the players of the 1969 world champions. He called that 1969 ring, in the MiLB account, the one he was most proud of. The New York Times reported on 2 October 1974 that he had been chosen for a key Mets post. He became general manager that autumn and held the title through the late 1970s. Wikipedia dates the GM years as running until 1978, with a 1979 title of vice president and assistant general manager, and records that he was fired on 21 February 1980 when the club was sold, succeeded by Frank Cashen. The New York Post's 2026 obituary says he was general manager until 1979 and left in 1980. This profile prefers the more granular Wikipedia and Times sequence and notes the Post's slightly broader GM window.
His years as the top baseball executive in New York coincided with a hard stretch for the franchise. Newsweek says he was in the front office during the 1977 dismantling that included the trades of Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman. The New York Post, which reported his death on 8 September 2026, calls the Seaver deal one of the darkest days in Mets history and notes that it grew out of a dispute between Seaver and chairman M. Donald Grant more than out of a scouting theory. A Globe anecdote, not dated in that interview, has McDonald recalling a bet with Eddie Mathews that he would one day have to release Willie Mays from the Mets. Mathews did not think he would do it. McDonald said he did.
In 1981 he joined Herzog in St. Louis as executive assistant and assistant general manager. On 10 April 1982 he became the Cardinals' general manager so Herzog could concentrate on managing. That first season St. Louis won the National League pennant and the World Series, his second championship ring. He left the GM post on 3 January 1985. RetroSimba, citing The Sporting News and the Associated Press, reports that ownership language did not sound fully voluntary. McDonald, then 55, said he would look for another job and was too young to retire.
In 1987 he joined the Detroit Tigers as director of player development and a vice president, and he was the club's general manager in 1991 and 1992. Scouting was the longer calling. He later worked for the California Angels and the Colorado Rockies. MiLB also lists a Phillies scouting stint. In 2004 he became a professional scout for the Boston Red Sox, based in Lakeland, Florida. He was with the organization for the 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018 World Series titles. Counting 1969 and 1982, obituaries and his own career summaries credit him with six World Series rings. In 2012 the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation gave him its Legends of Scouting Award. In March 2019 he threw a ceremonial first pitch before a Red Sox spring game.
He retired after the 2019 season at 90. The Globe found him at home in Lakeland on the morning of his last scouted game, an instructional-league contest at Joker Marchant Stadium, a short drive from the house he shared with his wife Virginia, then his wife of 38 years. Colleagues including Gus Quattlebaum and Alex Gimenez called him a living encyclopedia and a hero of the scouting department. At the park he was handed a joke pink slip, "the last day," and staff and scouts stood to applaud. "I've had a charmed life, to say the least," he said. "So many good things have happened. I'm so fortunate." Kiner's Korner records a 2022 induction into the Killebrew Root Beer Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame.
Joe McDonald died on 28 August 2026 at the age of 97. Newsweek and Wikipedia give that date. His son Jody, a sports-talk host, confirmed the death on WIP-FM, as reported by The Big Lead. The New York Post said the Mets confirmed the death and that a cause was not disclosed. No obituary reviewed here states a death place, a resting place, or funeral plans. Public tributes on 6 September 2026 included posts from MetsRewind and from Yankees reporter Sweeny Murti, who wrote that he had seen McDonald at spring training for more than 20 years and sent prayers to "Jody Mac and his family."
He is not Country Joe McDonald, the Woodstock-era singer with Country Joe and the Fish. He is not the MLB umpire known as Joey Mac, and not other living namesakes in energy, real estate, or coaching. This memorial is for the Mets, Cardinals, and Tigers executive and longtime scout Joseph Anthony McDonald. No official personal website or social homepage was found. No verified youtube.com/watch URL of this man was used here.
Biography adapted from Newsweek (Hoornstra, 2026-09-06); New York Post (Ehalt, 2026-09-08); The Big Lead; Wikipedia; Boston Globe (2019-10-04); MiLB.com; Kiner's Korner; RetroSimba..
In their own words
“I saw Jackie Robinson play 200 games. He used to come through my gate, with his wife and little baby.”
2017 interview, quoted by Newsweek, 6 September 2026, on his Ebbets Field ticket job.
“We enjoyed life. We enjoyed developing players. I like to think we had success because we developed half of the players who constituted the Amazin' Mets in 1969. Then when my time was done with the Mets, (Herzog) asked me to join him with the Cardinals and we won another World Series.”
2015 interview, quoted by Newsweek, 6 September 2026, on developing players with Whitey Herzog.
“It's the last game I'm going to be attending. I'm going to miss the game after 69-70 years of going to the ballpark.”
Boston Globe, 4 October 2019, from his Lakeland home before his last scouted game.
“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.'”
Boston Globe, 4 October 2019, on the daily point of scouting.
“I've had a charmed life, to say the least. So many good things have happened. I'm so fortunate.”
Boston Globe, 4 October 2019, after colleagues applauded him at Joker Marchant Stadium.
“I didn't know where I was going, but I was intrigued by their performance, and I still to this day utilize what I learned about playing our wonderful game.”
Boston Globe, 4 October 2019, on watching Dodgers and visitors at Ebbets Field.
“He's a hero of mine.”
About him. Red Sox vice president of pro scouting Gus Quattlebaum, to the Boston Globe, 4 October 2019.
“A fountain of knowledge and a legendary front office career.”
About him. Yankees reporter Sweeny Murti, on X, 6 September 2026, in a tribute after McDonald's death. Murti also wrote that he had seen him at spring training for more than 20 years.
Photos
3Joe McDonald is on the left, in the light jacket, talking trade with Atlanta Braves general manager Eddie Robinson on 10 December 1975 at the winter meetings. Associated Press photograph as published by the New York Post. This is Mets executive Joseph Anthony McDonald, not Country Joe McDonald.
Dec 1975
by People Forever
Mickey Lolich signing at Shea Stadium, 19 December 1975. New York Post caption places attorney Robert Fenton on the left and Mets general manager Joe McDonald with them. The frame includes more than three people, so identity follows the caption only. Not used as the solo portrait.
Dec 1975
by People Forever
Joe McDonald is the center figure at the table, in front of the Mets skyline logo, on 31 May 1977. New York Post caption: new Mets manager Joe Torres (right), Donald Grant (left), and Joe McDonald (center). The published caption spells the manager's surname Torres. Joe Torre was named Mets manager i
May 1977
by People Forever
That's the Joe I knew. Never stopped looking.