Tommie Agee
Tommie Agee | ||
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Runs batted in | 433 | |
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Tommie Lee Agee (August 9, 1942 – January 22, 2001) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a center fielder from 1962 through 1973, most notably as a member of the New York Mets team that became known as the Miracle Mets when, they rose from being perennial losers to defeat the favored Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 World Series for one of the most improbable upsets in World Series history.[1] Agee performed two impressive defensive plays in center field to help preserve a Mets victory in the third game of the series.
A two-time
Early life
Agee was born in
Career
Cleveland Indians
After two seasons in the Indians' farm system with the AAA
Chicago White Sox
Agee batted just .226 with the
Agee was batting .247 with ten home runs and 35 RBIs to earn his second consecutive All-Star selection in 1967. His production fell off considerably in the second half of the season (he hit only four home runs after the All-Star break), and ended the season batting .234 with 52 RBIs. Though they finished the season in fourth place, Chicago finished only three games back of the first place Boston Red Sox, and battled Boston, the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins until the final week of the season. On a team loaded with pitching and short on offense (no regular batted over .241), the team's lack of offense possibly cost the White Sox the American League pennant.
To alleviate this problem, the White Sox imported perennial .300 hitter Tommy Davis, along with pitcher Jack Fisher and two minor leaguers, from the New York Mets for Agee and Al Weis.
New York Mets
Agee was hit in the head by Bob Gibson on the very first pitch thrown to a Mets batter in spring training 1968. At the beginning of the regular season, he went 0-for-10 in a 24-inning affair with the Houston Astros[8] that saw his batting average go from .313 to .192. It led to an 0-for-34 slump that brought his average down to .102. For the season, he batted .217 with five home runs and 17 RBIs.[9]
1969 season
Agee got his first career multi-home run game in the third game of the
By May 21, Agee was batting over .300, and the Mets won their third game in a row for a .500 winning percentage 36 games into the season for the first time in franchise history. This was followed by a five-game losing streak that saw the Mets fall into fourth place in the newly aligned National League East.
The Mets then went on an 11-game winning streak that included a two-home run, four-hit performance by Agee against the San Francisco Giants in the final game of the streak.[12] By this point, the Mets were in second place, seven games back of the Chicago Cubs.
The Mets were two and a-half games back on September 8 when the Cubs came to Shea to open a crucial two game series with the Mets. Cubs starter Bill Hands knocked down the first batter he faced, Agee, who had been moved into the lead-off spot in the line-up, in the bottom half of the first inning. Jerry Koosman hit the next Cubs batter he faced, Ron Santo, in the hand, breaking it. Agee himself retaliated by hitting a two-run home run in the third, and scored the winning run of the game on a Wayne Garrett single in the sixth inning.[13]
The Mets swept the Expos in a double header on September 10. Coupled with a Cubs loss, the Mets moved into first place for the first time ever during the 1969 season. The Mets would not relinquish their lead from this point. On September 24, the New York Mets clinched the NL East as Donn Clendenon hit two home runs in a 6-0 Mets win over Steve Carlton and the St. Louis Cardinals (who struck out a record 19 Mets nine days earlier in a losing effort). For the season, Agee batted .271 while leading his team with 26 home runs, 97 runs scored and 76 RBIs. Along with Cy Young Award winner Tom Seaver and Cleon Jones, he was one of three Mets to finish in the top ten in NL MVP Award balloting, being also named the Sporting News NL Comeback Player of the Year.
1969 World Series
Agee batted .357 with two home runs and four RBIs in the Mets' three-game sweep of the
1970–72
Agee began the
Chronic knee injuries hampered Agee in 1971 and 1972, though he still batted .285 and tied for the Mets lead with 14 home runs in 1971. In 1972, he finished second on the Mets with 47 RBIs despite batting only .227.
Later career
Agee was traded from the Mets to the Houston Astros for Rich Chiles and Buddy Harris at the Winter Meetings on November 27, 1972.[21] He faced the Mets for the first time in his career on April 24, and went two for three with a walk and a run scored in the Astros' 4-2 victory.[22] He was batting .235 with eight home runs and 15 RBIs when the Astros dealt him to the St. Louis Cardinals on August 18, who were in a battle with the Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL East.
He was dealt from the Cardinals to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Pete Richert at the Winter Meetings on December 5, 1973.[23] He was released during spring training. Though he never made a regular season appearance with the Dodgers, his final baseball card was #630T in the 1974 Topps Traded series, which depicted him as a Dodger.
Career statistics
Games | PA
|
AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
BB | SO
|
HBP | AVG | OBP | SLG | FLD% |
1130 | 4324 | 3912 | 558 | 999 | 170 | 27 | 130 | 433 | 167 | 342 | 918 | 34 | .255 | .320 | .412 | .975 |
Retirement
After retirement, he operated the Outfielder's Lounge near Shea Stadium. Agee was also known as the most active former Met, taking part in many charitable events and children's baseball clinics around both the New York area and Mobile. He appeared as himself in a 1999 episode of Everybody Loves Raymond along with several other members of the 1969 Mets.[24]
Tommie visited Shea Stadium often and appeared at old timers games and card shows. He was later inducted into the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Agee met his wife Maxcine at a nightclub and restaurant he ran.[25] The couple had a daughter, Jnelle.[26]
Agee suffered a
Legacy
Agee was posthumously inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 2002.
Agee was also posthumously inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022.
A middle school was built on the property of Agee's former nightclub in East Elmhurst, Queens. It opened in 2022 and was called the Tommie L. Agee Educational Campus in his honor.[25]
See also
- List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
- List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle
References
- ^ "1969: The Amazin' Mets". thisgreatgame.com. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
- ^ "New York Mets Hall of Fame at MLB.com". mlb.com. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
- ^ "Minnesota Twins 11, Cleveland Indians 1". Baseball-Reference.com. 1962-09-14.
- ^ "Tommie Agee Stats | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
- ^ "Chicago White Sox 3, California Angels 2". Baseball-Reference.com. 1966-04-12.
- ^ "1966 All-Star Game". Baseball-Reference.com. 1966-07-12.
- ^ a b "Carroll continues ROY chase as 4th rookie of 20/40 club". mlb.com. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
- ^ "Houston Astros 1, New York Mets 0". Baseball-Reference.com. 1968-04-15.
- ^ "Tommie Agee". Ultimate Mets Database. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
- ^ "New York Mets 4, Montreal Expos 2". Baseball-Reference.com. 1969-04-10.
- ^ "Chicago Cubs 6, New York Mets 4". Baseball-Reference.com. 1969-05-02.
- ^ "New York Mets 9, San Francisco Giants 4". Baseball-Reference.com. 1969-06-10.
- ^ "New York Mets 3, Chicago Cubs 2". Baseball-Reference.com. 1969-09-08.
- ^ "Agee steals the show in four-hit shutout by Gentry & Ryan". 1969-10-14.
- ^ "1969 World Series, Game 3". mlb.com. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
- ^ "Tommie Agee: 1969 World Series, Game 3". ESPN. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
- ^ "New York Mets 5, Baltimore Orioles 0". Retrosheet. October 14, 1969.
- ^ "New York Mets 6, Atlanta Braves 1". Baseball-Reference.com. 1970-06-12.
- ^ "New York Mets 10, St. Louis Cardinals 3". Baseball-Reference.com. 1970-07-06.
- ^ "Tommy Agee Steals Home in the 10th Inning".
- ^ Durso, Joseph. "Mets Send Agee to the Astros for Pair; Yanks Trade Four to Get Graig Nettles," The New York Times, Tuesday, November 28, 1972. Retrieved October 24, 2020
- ^ "Houston Astros 4, New York Mets 2". Baseball-Reference.com. 1973-04-24.
- ^ Koppett, Leonard. "Dodgers Also Acquire Agee From Cards," The New York Times, Thursday, December 6, 1973. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
- ^ "Big Shots". Everybody Loves Raymond. 1999-03-01.
- ^ a b Mayor, Queens officials celebrate opening of new East Elmhurst school named after late 1969 Mets star Tommie Agee
- ^ a b Goldstein, Richard (2001-01-23). "Tommie Agee, of Miracle Mets, Dies at 58". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More than 14000 Famous Persons, Scott Wilson
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Baseball Almanac, or Retrosheet
- Tommie Agee at Find a Grave
- Tommie Agee at the SABR Baseball Biography Project
- Silverman, Rob (January 29, 2015). "Tell Them Tommie Agee Was Here". MetsMerizedOnline.com.
- "1969 WS Gm3: Agee homers and makes two great catches". MLB.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22 – via YouTube.