Jan
12
2013

Mets Trades Of The Past: Dumping The Heroes of ’69

An article by Barry Duchan

swoboda agee The 1969 Miracle Mets inspired dozens of books and for those of us who were Mets fans then, they represented an iconic team that will live in our memory forever.

What made them so special was that pitching aside, they were primarily a very ordinary team of journeymen, disappointments, and discarded veterans who came together for one great and totally unexpected season.

I can assume that nearly every Mets fan has at one time or another seen the video of this series and the amazing catches made by Tommie Agee, a talented outfielder and Ron Swoboda, who was regarded as a less than adequate one.

Now, no one plays forever (with the possible exception of Satchel Paige and Julio Franco), but it seemed to me that both Agee and Swoboda should have been effective players for a few more years, and while I’m not one to say that someone should be untradeable, I remember how disheartened I was when both Swoboda and Agee were traded away. Had they brought back legitimate young prospects (several years later, a seemingly fading Jerry Koosman did bring back Jesse Orosco), it might have softened the blow, but I remember how hard I tried to justify the players the Mets received in exchange, knowing all along that they weren’t very good.

ron swoboda mets Prior to the 1971 season, at the age of 26, Ron Swoboda, at one time the shining hope for a legitimate power hitter in the Mets lineup was traded along with minor league infielder Rich Hacker to the Montreal Expos, for of all people, Don Hahn. Now the fact is that Swoboda never got any better after leaving the Mets, but at the time, despite the fact that he wasn’t living up to the potential everyone thought he had since he first burst on the scene, this looked like an incredibly awful dumping of a still young player who was clearly a fan favorite. His contribution to the 1969 Miracle team keeps his name alive, but that aside, yes, he was clearly a major disappointment. But to trade him for Hahn, a good outfielder with zero power, and little hope of being anything more than a defensive replacement was a real downer. And plus, it was the Mets who had to throw in a player to make the deal. The fact is that the trade did little to help either team, but at the time, it seemed utterly ridiculous from a Met fan’s point of view.

Tommie Agee 2 A couple of years later, Agee, for no reason I could figure out, had seemingly lost his center field job to a combination of 40-year old Willie Mays and the aforementioned Don Hahn. The Mets traded him to Houston for the uninspiring pair of outfielder Rich Chiles and pitcher Buddy Harris. Now, Agee had a poor year in 1972, but he was still barely 30 years old, and it wasn’t like the Mets had someone like Amos Otis ready to replace him. They had Mays, Hahn, and maybe Dave Schneck. The Mets, no doubt, would have been better off keeping Otis and trading Agee after the 1969 season, but that was all water under the bridge. So, when I heard the deal, I kept trying to convince myself that maybe this guy Chiles was really going to be a star. Both Chiles and Harris had some impressive seasons in the minors, but had been busts when given a shot in the majors.

Well, Chiles had maybe three hits for the Mets before they dumped him and Harris never even played for the team. It turns out Agee WAS just about done, and he didn’t even last a full season with the Astros, but that hardly softened the blow for Met fans.

Remember at the time of these trades, most Mets fans thought that Agee and Swoboda were still pretty good and in Swoboda’s case, still young enough to get better. As it turned out, the Mets might have been right about them, but to me, these trades really hurt at the time.

About the Author: Barry Duchan

I've been following the Mets since 1962. Have to admit I was a Yankee fan as a kid, but I found it to be so much more interesting to see how a young team could build itself up rather than following a team where the season didn't really begin until October. I remember them all - Casey, Marv, ChooChoo, Don Bosch, The Stork, etc. As the years went on, I became more and more of a Mets fan, and a Yankee hater once Steinbrenner and Billy Martin entered the picture. After retiring, I relocated with my family from Long Island to Chapel Hill, NC in 2005. I spend a lot of my time now checking out all the various Mets blogs. Fortunately, I still get to watch almost all of the Mets games (except those that are blacked out here).

7 Comments + Add Comment

L.J. Phipps January 12, 2013 at 11:21 pm

Well outside of a few outfielders (Straw, Dykstra, and Mookie) the Mets either trade them or can’t develop many outfielders. Imagine if they would have drafted Reggie Jackson, and never traded Amos Otis and Ken Singleton? What an outfield that would have been for so many years, perhaps only until free agency, but how much could they have changed the Mets coupled with the pitching they had (Seaver, Koosman, & Ryan)? Do the Mets win a few more World Series in the 70′s? A’s would be missing Jackson, Royals don’t have Otis, & Baltimore no Singleton. Plus you have Cleon Jones & John Milner . What could have been ………….!
ray sadecki January 13, 2013 at 12:45 am

In hindsight, the Swoboda for Hahn trade made sense for the mets. Yes, Hahn was a terrible hitter but he was a very good CF. By 1971 the mets front office must have known Agees knees were gone and they needed somebody out there who could catch the ball. That team was built on pitching and you waste that pitching if you dont have good fielders behind them, especially up the middle. It was a Godawful lineup from 6 to 9 with Hahn, Grote , Harrelson and Pitcher. It was always a good time to fix a snack when they were coming up but hey, It worked out in 1973. Hahn even had a big hit in that series.
Rocky bounced around after he left, I remember him on the yankees and braves after and he didnt last too long either. Trading Otis for drug addicted third sacker Joe Foy was the real disasterous trade here. They tried to make Amos a third baseman and he balked so they traded him for Foy. Oh the pain.
Joey D. January 13, 2013 at 1:14 am

Hi Barry,

Have to agree with Ray on some of this.

Tommie had missed more than 40 games his last two seasons with the Mets and his stolen bases plummeted to where he had only 8 back in 1972. It was obvious injuries had been taking their toll on him fast.

Hahn was a slick fielding center fielder without a big bat, however, he was not obtained to be the heir apparent for Agee since he was traded for Swoboda after the 1970 season. Agee had not yet been on the downhill slide. The Mets also obtained Dave Marshall. Swoboda was still basically a 235 hitter with a little bit of power.

Swoboda admitted he was immature at that time and it was his fault that he and Gil did not get along so well, not the other way around. Swoboda was not the complete fan favorite by that time. I was in the stands for the 1970 old timers game when Kranepoole had aready been sent down to the minors and after Swoboda made an out (I think he fanned, but not sure) those around me were saying that he should have been sent down as well. It was not a spur of the moment comment either, for they were saying that as he was coming up to pinch hit.
Metsie January 13, 2013 at 1:15 am

No matter what you think of a trade at the time….
And no matter how you try and evaluate it after the fact the truth on trades is…
There are TWO MINDS on each side of every deal and in most cases you get JUST as much as you gave unless you trade an MLB player for Kids where in most cases you get less because Kids don’t always make it to the MLB let alone stay long enough to be as good as you gave away to get them.

Lets Hope d’Arnaud is good enough to make up for the loss of Dickey because Snydergaard may be highly rated for an A Ball pitcher but two years is a long long time and anything can happen to make him a bust in that time.
Joey D. January 13, 2013 at 1:19 am

By 1973 in spring training I remember reading an article where Tom Seaver was commenting about how slowly a lot of those from the 1969 team were gone. Boswell, Swoboda, Shamsky, Agee, Clendennon, Taylor, Cardwell, Gentry
Chicago Days January 13, 2013 at 9:42 am

Tommy Agee was my favorite Met back in ’69. In fact, i like to think (my fantasy) i initiated that trade with the White Sox (Fisher for Tommy) with a swampy letter dispatched from the Nam rice paddies in -67 – ’68. But, regardless, i’ll cherish that ’69 Season and the heroics of Agee & Swoboda & Clendenon.
tlagee January 13, 2013 at 6:23 pm

I love Tommie – obviously – but he was not the same player in ’72 that he was in ’69, ’70 and ’71.

What an exciting player when he was healthy! In 1969 he led the Mets in RBI AND HOMERS AS THEIR LEAD OFF BATTER! – not to mention runs scored. He came in 6th in the MVP voting behind McCovey, Seaver, Aaron, Rose and Santo – and with the exception of the all time major league hits leader Rose – all Hall Of Famers!

Tommie had arguably a better year in ’70 than ’69 raising his average fifteen points to .286 with 31 steals, had the most dingers and set a runs scored Mets record at the time with 107. He also won the Gold Glove (his second).

He had 28 steals with a .285 ba in ’71 but after that injuries did catch up to him. He batted only .227 with 8 steals in ’72 and he was traded that off season – never to really perform well again.

Hahn was a bust! I agree that it was sad that such a player would be traded for a fan favorite like Swoboda – which is why they played him a bit in ’73 – but it also forced them to get Willie in his twilight.

NL East Standings

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Braves	42	28	.600	-
Nationals	34	35	.493	7.5
Phillies	34	37	.479	8.5
Mets	25	40	.385	14.5
Marlins	22	47	.319	19.5

Last updated: 06/18/2013

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