After yesterday’s Ron Swoboda rabbit hole brought to you by the second of Brandon Nimmo’s catches in Oakland, Nimmo went out last night and demanded not only an update to our Instagram video, but an accompanying piece on Tommie Agee.
Agee, like Swoboda, was on the 1969 Mets but not the 1973 Mets, as he was traded to the Astros for Rich Chiles and Buddy Harris after the 1972 season. It wasn’t really good for anyone, as Agee hit a steep decline after a 1971 campaign in which he hit .285/.362/.428 with 14 homers — already a step down from when he finished sixth in the 1969 MVP vote and won a posted a career-best .812 OPS in 1970.
Agee played only 84 games for the Astros, was traded to the Cardinals for Dave Campbell in August, then on to the Dodgers for Pete Richert in December of that year. Los Angeles cut Agee before the 1974 season — the Dodgers went on to follow the 1973 Mets by winning the pennant, while Agee never played professionally again.
Chiles only got into eight games as a Met, all in 1973, as he went 3-for-25 and drove in one run. The Mets released Chiles the following April, and he wound up spending the entire 1974 season in the minors with the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League, a Padres affiliate that included Bernie Williams — a different one who wound up starring in Japan for a few years. Chiles played 1976 with the Astros and 1977-78 with the Twins before finishing up with the 1979 Tacoma Tugs (Cleveland affiliate) and 1980 Portland Beavers (Pittsburgh affiliate).
Harris, meanwhile, played zero games with the Mets. He did pitch alongside Bob Apodaca and Craig Swan while going 8-11 with a 3.11 ERA for the 1973 Tidewater Tides, but that was it. Harris pitched seven games for the Mexico City Tigers in 1974 and that was all for him.
That’s not as exciting as all the Metsness that flowed in Swoboda’s wake… perhaps because of a different history ore in Agee’s. That final trade, the one that the 1973 Dodgers made to try to catch the Reds (they finished 3.5 games behind in the NL West that year), let’s go back to Pete Richert and why that’s a familiar name.
For one thing, it’s because Richert was part of the 1963 Dodgers and 1970 Orioles, so he’s got two rings — although he only had nine batters faced across four different postseason in which he appeared, and that doesn’t include ‘63 because he didn’t.
Richert also was part of three other trades in his career, all involving guys named Frank. In 1964, it was Richert going from the Dodgers to the second edition of the Washington Senators, along with Frank Howard, Ken McMullen, and Phil Ortega, for John Kennedy, Claude Osteen, and Dick Nen. Richert’s exit from Washington was a quick trip to Baltimore when the Senators traded him in 1967 for Frank Bertaina and Mike Epstein. Finally, in 1971, Richert returned to the Dodgers, in a trade that sent Doyle Alexander, Bob O’Brien, Sergio Robles, and Royle Stillman to Baltimore. The Dodgers also got Frank Robinson in that deal.
That brings us back to the Mets, and although it’s really to Swoboda again, it does come home to Agee, quite literally. It was Robinson who scored the tying run when Swoboda made his spectacular grab to rob Brooks Robinson of extra bases and the go-ahead RBI in the ninth inning of Game 4 in 1969.
After Tom Seaver recovered from giving up the lead to get through a scoreless 10th inning, Dick Hall gave up a leadoff double to Jerry Grote and an intentional walk to Al Weis. The Orioles called to the bullpen for Richert, the Mets sent up J.C. Martin to pinch-hit for Seaver, and Agee was on deck when Grote came home to score the winning run on Richert’s throwing error.
We Can Pod It Out 92: Tomorrow Never Knows