Although nothing official has appeared online, it's being reported that Kevin Collins passed away February 20. The source is former teammate Jim Gosger.
Collins was an infielder with the Mets, Expos and Tigers. He finished his career in the farm system of the Indians in 1974.
Collins was a good young player who, because of the bonus rules at the time, was on the Mets opening day roster in 1965. He was 18. Even Collins
would later say,
"I never should have been there. It was probably the worst thing for my development." Just as he was to make his major league debut, he injured his shoulder in warm-ups. So Collins went to the DL and the Mets, taking advantage of the opportunity, activated Yogi Berra. But his real place in Mets lore is that, in 1969, he was part of the package the Mets sent to Montreal to acquire Donn Clendenon--considered "the final piece" of the Miracle Mets. According to sportswriter Jack Lang, Collins was the player the Expos most wanted in the deal (they also got Steve Renko, Jay Carden, and a minor league pitcher named Dave Colon, who never pitched for anyone after 1968).
The Expos and Mets images, here, were posted to Baseball-Birthdays. I posted the Mets image, which was an eBay offering and I assume that the Expos image, posted there by John, was also from eBay. The Tigers image is a current eBay offering from seller
loreneldred.