a memorial patch for tommie agee and brian cole

on opening day 2001 (and only on opening day), the mets wore a patch on their right sleeves in memory of tommie agee - one of the team's 1969 world series heroes - and brian cole - a mets prospect.  the patch, which had the uniform numbers (20 - 60) of each player, is visible on this 2002 topps gold label mike piazza card

agee passed away in january of 2001 after suffering a heart attack.  although he won the 1966 american league rookie of the year award, he is best remembered for his play in the 1969 world series against the orioles.  in game three, he hit a home run off of jim palmer and made a couple of run saving catches in the outfield to preserve the victory for the amazin' mets.  his career ended when he was released by the dodgers in the spring of 1974.  and, if you are interested, here's a post i wrote about agee a while back.

cole died in march of 2001, just after spring training ended, as a result of a car accident.  he was one of the mets' top prospects at the time - the first building block in what the team saw as a cole/jose reyes/david wright foundation for the team.  cole had been named the organization's player of the year in 2000, and the plan for 2001 was to start him in aa, promote him to aaa at the all-star break, and then call him up to the big club in september, according to jim duquette.