THESE ARE A FEW OF MY
FAVORITE GAMES - VOL. 6 - THE AGEE BLAST OF THE AGES by Tom Brennan
There were so many
memories in 1969. Heck I started off my
series of articles earlier with 2 miraculous home run games in September by Ron
Swoboda that immensely impacted the Mets’ pennant race that year for the
better. Pivotal homers if there ever
were some.
But the biggest
homer of the 1969 season was hit by Tommie Agee. Tommie had a lot to overcome when Hall of
Famer Bob Gibson decided to greet Tommie in his very first spring training game
with the Mets in 1968 by drilling him in the noggin with 100 MPH heat. I still remember his subsequent 0 for 34
streak that 1968 season as he couldn’t avoid stepping into the bucket
repeatedly, and struck out a few dozen times in that painful streak.
He ended that
season with a miserable .217 average, 5 homers and 17 RBIs in 368 at bats
courtesy of the nasty-dispositioned future Cardinal Hall of Famer. If he’d killed him with that pitch, I wonder
if he’d have gotten in the Hall. Hmmm…because
he sure could have killed him with that.
I lost a ton of respect for Gibson that day.
A side thought –
Agee’s beaning-induced 1968 horror results might, without the beaning, have
been more like 1969’s fine Agee results, results that landed him high in the
MVP voting. If he had been healthy in
1968, do they break .500 or even win 85 that year, instead of 73? Possibly.
Anyway, a Daily
News article from several years ago said this game wasn’t televised. Wrong, unless I’m hallucinating. Mets televised everything back then. And I saw it.
I watched it in Aunt Mary’s kitchen on her 9 inch fuzzy black and white
TV with rabbit ears, in her apartment across from Manny Wolf’s (now Smith and
Wolenskys) on 49th and 3rd.
It was Easter
recess and I was hanging out with my cousin Gary. We had game time company, too – like a lot of
old city flats, their apartment had roaches, probably more roaches that fans
that day.
Anyhoo, back to
this magnificent early season Agee homer. I’m watching the game, and he hits it into the
upper deck off lefty Larry Jaster!
Impossible! Impossible! Nah….impossible!
Unfortunately, on
that small fuzzy screen, even the replay did not provide a very meaningful view. A few years later, we were sitting in the
cheap seats in the upper deck in the same area and Kingman (then with the
Giants) launched a bomb down the line. I
thought it was coming up to us, but it wasn’t.
As hard as Dave hit it, it only made the deck below. Dave, who had virtually unparalleled power,
had years after that as a Met to try to reach that upper deck. Even he never
could.
Upper deck at Shea
was ridiculously high – why someone would not have built Shea fully enclosed,
seats all around, and much lower, I’ll never know. I guess the architect liked nosebleeds, or
figured fans wanted a close-up look at flights passing overhead from
Laguardia.
But it was not
just the height that made it so hard to reach – the upper deck was also set
back – each Shea deck had set backs so the lowest seats on each level were not
covered. So to hit a ball that high and
that far – was it even possible? Agee
did the impossible that day. No one else
back then did – not the great Mays, not Cepeda, not Aaron, no one.
I often wonder if
Agee’s shot would have cleared Yankee Stadium, a never-achieved feat. My guess is yes, it would have bone out. Anyone want to weigh in on that? My guess is it was hit high enough, hit
incredibly well enough, and down the line enough.
Let me add that
Agee was a guy I loved to mimic, I loved his batters’ box routine and his plate
tap with the bat. Always to be
remembered for his wonderful World Series catches, the HR is one I’ll always
remember.
How about you?
2 comments:
You and I began our love affair with the Mets at the same time. I learned my beginning math by following box score in the old "Newark News". All the talk of WAR and other stats is beyond me. I just want to enjoy the beauty of the summer game. Especially watching Lageras chase and catch a fly ball. Or an outfield assist..........
The Mets are interested in an outfield assist too...someone who can assist them to be better in LF and RF. Lagares needs no such assistance, I agree. I'm stat-oriented to a degree...the one I grew up with like ERA. My real favorite stat is winning %. Hopefully it is Sandy's too in 2015.
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