| Tommie Agee | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Agee with theNew York Metsc. 1970 | |
| Center fielder | |
| Born:(1942-08-09)August 9, 1942 Magnolia, Alabama, U.S. | |
| Died: January 22, 2001(2001-01-22) (aged 58) New York City, New York, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 14, 1962, for the Cleveland Indians | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 30, 1973, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .255 |
| Home runs | 130 |
| Runs batted in | 433 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Tommie Lee Agee (August 9, 1942 – January 22, 2001) was an American professionalbaseball player. He played inMajor League Baseball as acenter fielder from1962 through1973, most notably as a member of theNew York Mets team that became known as theMiracle Mets when they rose from being perennial losers to defeat the favoredBaltimore Orioles in the1969 World Series for one of the most improbable upsets inWorld 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-timeMajor League All-Star player, Agee was also a two-timeGold Glove Award winner and was named theAL Rookie of the Year in 1966 as a member of theChicago White Sox. He also played for theCleveland Indians,Houston Astros and theSt. Louis Cardinals. In 2002, Agee was posthumously inducted into theNew York Mets Hall of Fame.[2]
Agee was born inMagnolia, Alabama, and playedbaseball and football at Mobile County Training School with futureNew York Mets teammateCleon Jones. After one season atGrambling State University (1961), Agee signed with theCleveland Indians for a $60,000 bonus.
After two seasons in the Indians' farm system with the AAAPortland Beavers, Agee received a September call-up to Cleveland in1962. With the Indians already behind 11-1 to theMinnesota Twins, Agee made his major league debut on September 14 atMetropolitan Stadium, pinch-hitting forpitcherBill Dailey in the ninth inning.[3] He received September call-ups to the majors the following two seasons as well, playing a total of 31 games with the Indians in which he batted .170 with onehome run and fiveruns batted in. Following the1964 season, he was dealt to theChicago White Sox withTommy John as part of a three team blockbuster trade between the Indians, White Sox andKansas City Athletics that returnedAll-StarRocky Colavito to the Indians.[4]
Agee batted just .226 with thePacific Coast League'sIndianapolis Indians, and .158 in ten games with the White Sox in1965. After earning the startingcenter fielder job inspring training1966, he hit a two-run home run in the season opener,[5] and was batting .264 with nine home runs and 38 RBIs to be named the White Sox's sole representative at the1966 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.[6] He ended the season with a .273batting average, 22 home runs, 86 RBIs and 44stolen bases, becoming the first player in Major League Baseball history with more than 20 home runs and 40 stolen bases in their rookie season.[7] He was followed byMitchell Page (1977),Mike Trout (2012) andCorbin Carroll (2023) as the only four rookies to accomplish the feat.[7] His performance earned him theAmerican League Rookie of the Year award, while his defense incenter field earned him aGold Glove. Although he was technically in his 5th major league season, MLB's classification of a rookie is determined by plate appearances and time on a major league roster. Agee's September call-ups had been so brief and his playing time so scarce that he was still eligible for the award.
Agee was batting .247 with ten home runs and 35 RBIs to earn his second consecutive All-Star selection in1967. His production fell off considerably in the second half of the season (he hit only four home runs after the All-Star break), and he 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 placeBoston Red Sox, and battled Boston, theDetroit 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 theAmerican League pennant.
To alleviate this problem, the White Sox imported perennial .300 hitterTommy Davis, along with pitcherJack Fisher and two minor leaguers, from the New York Mets for Agee andAl Weis.
Agee was hit in the head byBob Gibson on the very first pitch thrown to a Mets batter in spring training1968. At the beginning of the regular season, he went 0-for-10 in a 24-inning affair with theHouston 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]
Agee got his first career multi-home run game in the third game of the1969 season,[10] against theMontreal Expos, one of which went halfway up in section 48 of the left field upper deck atShea Stadium, a feat that was never matched. Exposright fielderMack Jones said the ball was still rising when it came into contact with the stands. To commemorate the home run, there was a painted sign in that section of the stadium with Agee's name and uniform number and the date. He also had his firstfour-hit game on May 2 (four for four with awalk and a home run).[11]
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 alignedNational League East.
The Mets then went on an 11-game winning streak that included a two-home run, four-hit performance by Agee against theSan Francisco Giants in the final game of the streak.[12] By this point, the Mets were in second place, seven games back of theChicago 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 starterBill 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 aWayne Garrettsingle in the sixth inning.[13]
The Mets swept the Expos in adouble header on September 10. Coupled with a Cubs loss, the Mets moved into first place for the first time ever during the1969 season. The Mets would not relinquish their lead from this point. On September 24, the New York Mets clinched the NL East asDonn Clendenon hit two home runs in a 6-0 Mets win overSteve Carlton and theSt. 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 withCy Young Award winnerTom Seaver and Cleon Jones, he was one of three Mets to finish in the top ten in NL MVP Award balloting,being also named theSporting News NL Comeback Player of the Year.
Agee batted .357 with two home runs and four RBIs in the Mets' three-game sweep of theAtlanta Braves in the1969 National League Championship Series. The Mets were heavyunderdogs heading into theWorld Series against theBaltimore Orioles. In Game 3 (the first World Series home game in Mets history), with the series tied 1–1, Agee had whatSports Illustrated called the greatest single performance by a center fielder in World Series history.[14] In the first inning, Agee hit a leadoff home run offJim Palmer for what would eventually be the game-winning hit and RBI, as the Mets shut out the Orioles, 5–0. In the same game, Agee also made two catches that potentially saved five runs.[15] The first catch came in the fourth inning with Gary Gentry pitching and two outs and runners on first and third. Agee, playing the left-handed hittingElrod Hendricks to pull, made a backhanded catch near the base of the wall in left centerfield. The second catch came in the seventh inning withNolan Ryan relieving Gentry; the bases were loaded with two outs, and Agee made a headfirst dive in right centerfield on a ball hit byPaul Blair.[16][17]
Agee began the1970 season by going on a 20-gamehitting streak from April 16 to May 9. He enjoyed one of the finest games of his career on June 12, when he went four for five with two home runs and four runs scored, and he would go on to be namedNL Player of the Month for June with a .364 batting average, 11 home runs, and 30 RBI.[18] He alsohit for the cycle on July 6.[19] Agee displayed his spectacular and daring base running in the 10th inning in the NY Mets 2-1 win over the LA Dodgers when he stole second, took third on a wild pitch and surprised every one when he stole home for the victory![20] For the season, Agee batted .286, and established a Mets season record for hits with 182, runs with 107, andstolen bases with 31. He also won his second Gold Glove award, making him the firstAfrican-American to win a Gold Glove in both leagues.
Chronic knee injuries hampered Agee in1971 and1972, 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.
Agee was traded from the Mets to the Houston Astros forRich Chiles andBuddy Harris at theWinter 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 theSt. Louis Cardinals on August 18, who were in a battle with the Mets andPittsburgh Pirates in the NL East.
He was dealt from the Cardinals to theLos Angeles Dodgers forPete 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 finalbaseball card was #630T in the1974 Topps Traded series, which depicted him as a Dodger.
| 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 |
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 a1999 episode ofEverybody 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.
Agee met his wife, Maxcine, at a nightclub and restaurant he ran.[25] The couple had a daughter, Jnelle.[26]
Agee suffered aheart attack while leaving a Midtown Manhattan office building on January 22, 2001, and died later that day atBellevue Hospital Center, aged 58.[26] He was buried in Pine Crest Cemetery inMobile, Alabama.[27]
Agee was posthumously inducted into theNew York Mets Hall of Fame in2002.
Agee was also posthumously inducted into theNew York State Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022.
A middle school was built on the property of Agee's former nightclub inEast Elmhurst, Queens. It opened in 2022 and was called the Tommie L. Agee Educational Campus in his honor.[25]
· Baseball Almanac, orBaseball Almanac, orRetrosheet| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | American League Rookie of the Year 1966 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | NL Comeback Player of the Year 1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Major League Player of the Month June, 1970 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Hitting for the cycle July 6, 1970 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
