Ed Kranepool Dies

“Original Met” Ed Kranepool died on Monday at the age of 79.

Kranepool was 17, just a few months after graduating from high school in The Bronx, when he made his Mets debut during the infamous 1962 season. He would play for the Mets until his retirement in 1979, still the longest tenure with the team.

Kranepool was an All-Star in 1965 and was part of the Miracle Mets in 1969 and the World Series team in 1973. He owns the record for games played with the Mets and was a pinch hitter extraordinaire late in his career.

Kranepool received a kidney transplant in 2019 and suffered from diabetes, according to the New York Post.

“I knew Krane for 56 years,” said Art Shamsky. “We did so many appearances together. We had lunch last week and I told him I would be there next week to see him again. I’m really at a loss for words.”

I met Kranepool when I was a kid when he spoke at our temple in Brooklyn (Shamsky appeared the previous year). He signed my baseball glove and a baseball card, which I still have somewhere. Now I have incentive to find it.