MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. -- Several hundred people, including teammates from the 1969 "Miracle Mets," remembered Tommie Agee on Friday as someone who was more than a World Series hero.

Agee, an American League Rookie of the Year who later helped lead the Mets to the first baseball championship by an expansion team, died Monday of a heart attack. He was 58.

	Former members of the 1969 World Champion New York Mets carry the casket of former teammate Tommie Agee on Friday.

"Life is a cycle and may be compared to a trip around the bases," said the Rev. W. Franklin Richardson, who presided at a memorial service for Agee at Grace Baptist Church.

"Those who have faith, believe that our victory is not predicated on how well we run the bases, for the home run has already has been hit by Christ. ... Tommie Agee knew that."

Agee collapsed while walking out of a midtown Manhattan office building. Emergency Medical Service workers found him in cardiac arrest and used a defibrillator en route to Bellevue Hospital but could not resuscitate him.

He spent 12 seasons in the major leagues with Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox, the Mets, Houston and St. Louis, retiring in 1973 with a .255 career average, 130 home runs and 433 RBI. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1966 after stealing 44 bases for Chicago.

He is probably best remembered for his outstanding performance in Game 3 of the 1969 World Series.

He homered off Jim Palmer leading off the bottom of the first inning.

In the fourth inning, he dashed into left-center and stuck out his glove, catching the ball backhanded in the webbing to rob Elrod Hendricks with runners at the corners and two outs. In the seventh, he made a sliding catch in right-center to rob Paul Blair with two outs and the bases loaded.

The team went on to pull off one of the most improbable upsets in sports history, beating the highly favored Baltimore Orioles in five games.

Teammates from the 1969 Mets -- Tug McGraw, Ed Charles, Ed Kranepool, Art Shamsky, Bud Harrelson, Donn Clendenon -- served as pallbearers during Friday's service.

Charles, the third baseman on the championship team, spoke on behalf of the Mets during the service. "In that miraculous year of 1969, he was very special to us," Charles said. "I can't recall anyone who ever said a bad word about Tommie Agee, or anyone that wasn't taken by that disarming smile of his."

Kranepool, who attended many charitable events with Agee, added later: "Forget teammates. Teammates was over a long time ago. He was a friend."

The Mets' current general manager, Steve Phillips, and Mount Vernon Mayor Ernie Davis also were among the mourners.

After the service, Agee's body was returned to his native Alabama, where a funeral was to be held Saturday at Friendship Primitive Baptist Church in Prichard. His survivors include his wife Maxine and daughter Janelle.