Ed Kranepool

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1964 Topps baseball card #566

Edward Emil "Ed" Kranepool (born November 8, 1944) was a major league baseball player for the New York Mets

Born in the Bronx, New York, Kranepool attended James Monroe High School, where he began playing baseball and was eventually signed, at the age of seventeen, by the New York Mets for $85,000. He made his Major League debut on September 22, 1962 as a pinch hitter against the Chicago Cubs at the Polo Grounds, where he wore number twenty one. He failed to get a hit. His first full game was the next day, September 23, where he played first base and went 1 for 4 with a double. However, his poor speed and the popularity of the lovable loser "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry kept Kranepool from earning a full time spot.

In 1963, however, patience for Throneberry's ineptitude on the field and at the plate wore thin on Met fans and management. He was demoted to Triple A Buffalo, and Kranepool became the Mets' full time first baseman. This, too, did not last, and Kranepool was sent down to the minors in July of '63, resurfacing again later in the season as a September call-up. By the age of nineteen it looked like Kranepool wouldn't fully develop as expected, prompting one New York newspaper to print the headline, "Is Ed Kranepool Over The Hill?"^[1]

1965 was what could be considered Kranepool's first true "full" season. Changing his number to seven (after the Mets acquired pitcher Warren Spahn who also wore number 21) Kranepool played in 153 games, batting .253 with 10 home runs and 55 RBI, all while making (but not playing in) the All-Star Game. He followed that up in 1966 hitting .254 with 16 homers. The Mets were beginning to become a better team, and in 1969 the Mets completed their remarkable "Miracle" season, in which the team, backed by Kranepool, Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, won their first ever World Series title against the Baltimore Orioles. Kranepool hit a home run in game three of the series.

Despite that magical season, Kranepool was only batting .238 by the end, and things only got worse. In 1970 Kranepool was sent to the Mets' minor league team, the Tidewater Tides, and considered retirement.

Period	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Through 1971	.250	.305	.369	.674
After 1971	.278	.334	.388	.723

Kranepool would bounce back with perhaps his best season in 1971, batting .280 with 14 home runs, 58 RBI and an OPS+ of 123. He also led the National League with a .998 fielding percentage. The late-career demotion marked a turning point for "Steady Eddie," with him becoming a useful hitter and first baseman/outfielder despite never entering a season with a specific full-time role.

During this period, Kranepool's role generally decreased (with 455 plate appearances in 1976 being a notable exception), until he was used almost exclusively as a pinch hitter, a role he flourished in. From 1974 through 1978, Kranepool hit .396 as a pinch hitter, batting .486 in the role in '74. He would eventually become a fan favorite, and a legend among Met fans for playing eighteen seasons, all of them with the Mets. No other Met player has ever played for the team for that long.

When he retired after the 1979 season at the age of 34, he left as the all-time club leader in eight offensive categories, of which he still leads in four (at-bats: 5436; hits: 1418; doubles: 225; and total bases: 2047). He has also played more games in a Met uniform (1853) than any other player. Though still relatively young at this time, he was never an athletic player, and was only useful as long as his pinch-hits kept dropping in. He had also reportedly had some friction with the team's ownership group, led by Lorinda DeRoulet, that was controlling the team after the death of longtime majority owner and president Joan Payson. When the team was sold after the 1979 season to a group headed by Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon, Kranepool was part of one of the groups offering a losing bid.

Ed Kranepool made a living after retirement as a stockbroker and restaurateur, and was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1990. He is currently living in New York.

[edit] Quotes

"He's only seventeen and he runs like he's thirty."^[1] -Casey Stengel, on why he kept Kranepool on the bench in 1962.

"I wish we could have played another forty minutes. That way, I could always say I played in a game that started in May and ended in June."^[2]-Ed Kranepool, commenting on a twenty three inning, 8-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants in the nightcap of a doubleheader on May 31, 1964 which didn't end until 11:20 PM.

Ed was asked if the Mets had a chance of winning the World Series before the 1969 season started. He said "The Mets have as much of a chance to win the World Series as Man has of landing on the Moon."