Back then all stratomatic consited of was the basic game without lefty/righty matchups, field range and errors, etc. So it didn’t matter (for example) if a left handed swinger could only hit .150 against lefties and a southpaw was on the mound for hIs card wouldn’t reflect that weakness.

The advanced game was so great – but did you notice that it then actually took longer to sort out the cards and write down the lineups for both teams than it did to actually play the game? That was the boring part LOL

Wonderful, truly wonderful story telling. Brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the day I heard the news as well – stunned disbelief – for though it had already been 32 years since that miracle season, it still did (and still does) seem like only yesterday. It was a sudden reminder that we were all much more older and our appearances were no longer the way we remembered them to be.

I was a freshman in college that afternoon and though I had classes that afternoon, everyone including our instructors knew that a few of us were listening to the game through those old, tiny earphones. When Agee made that first catch a few of us clinched our fists all at once for those who remember the radio call may recall (I think Dick Simspon) saying “Agee looks up” and expecting it to clear the bases.

You are right. Agee saved five runs that day and possibly a sixth. Had Swoboda not made that catch or Elrod Hendrick’s tenth inning shot not gone foul by a just a few feet, the Mets could have been down 3 games to one, not the other way around. But it was meant to be.

I remember during that terrible 1968 season for him, there was a summer game in the Astrodome with a possible brawl was in the making – Tommie was the first man walking out of the Met dugout and led his teammates to the area of disturbance – which fortunately did not erupt into anything. Bob, Ralph or Lindsey (whoever was doing the TV at the time) however made it a point to bring that to the attention of the viewing audience to show how much of a teammate Tommie was despite his own personal on the field problems. He was devoted to Gil Hodges – when there was a strike during spring training of 1972, nobody knew if there was to be baseball on the scheduled opening day – the day that Gil was to be laid to rest. Agee said he didn’t care if there was a game or not – he was not going to play baseball that day.

I also remember sitting in the right field mezzanine when the world championship flag was unfurled on opening day – I glanced back toward the Met dugout and saw Tommie standing on the steps at the very edge of the dugout, his blue met windbreaker buttoned to the top with a smile beaming so proudly. Yes, from all the way back in section 25 I was able to see that happy grin perfectly.

BTW – two minor historical slips. Tommie started the 1968 season 5 for 16 including two hits in the season opener in San Francisco. That 0 for 31 streak began during the 24 inning -0 loss in Houston in which he went 0 for 10. Also, that 1969 game he hit the homer in the upper deck was indeed televised because I was at home watching it and remember Tommie being on Ralph Kiner’s post-game show after the Mets upped their record to two and one. It’s too bad the video didn’t survive.

Again, beautiful tribute. Tommie was the second of the Miracle Team (other than Gil) to have passed away, the other being Cal Koonce back in the mid nineties.

On top of his ’69 heroics I remember the way he used to cut the bag at second when he’d go first to third on a single. No one ever did it better.

My dad was a reporter and covered the ’69 world series and brought me down to Baltimore for the first two games. I got to sit outside the locker room and got most of the Mets autographs. But not the one this fourteen year old kid really wanted. Tommie walked by me with a bag in one hand and his suit bag draped over his other shoulder. I asked for his autograph but he said “sorry, no hands.”

Years later I was working for Channel Five News and we had a segment called ‘what ever happened to…?” I suggested Agee and called him. I told him about the ‘no hands’ comment he made years before and he sent me an autographed picture which I still have today.

He should be in the Mets Merized Hall Of Fame!