Ed Kranepool: The Last Miracle

Ed Kranepool: The Last Miracle

By Scott Bolohan

After joining the Mets at the age of 17 in their inaugural 1962 season, Ed Kranepool went on to spend his entire 18-year career with the club. By the time he was 20, he was an All-Star. He was there as the team went from 120 losses in 1962 to winning the World Series as a member of the Miracle Mets just seven years later. Kranepool never achieved superstar status, but he endures as a beloved franchise icon, a real-life Mr. Met who has played in more games for them than anyone else in history.

His new book, The Last Miracle: My 18-Year Journey with the Amazin’ New York Mets, follows the ups and downs of his career and up to the present day where he recently received a life-saving kidney transplant and his wife survived pancreatic cancer. We called Kranepool, who still speaks with a New York accent, about spending his career and how he’s doing now.

How was the experience of writing the book?

I enjoyed it. It was my career over 18 years in New York and all the good times we had in New York, we had a lot to talk about. And I had fun and hope the New York Mets fans read it and enjoy themselves with it. Bring it out and I’ll be glad to sign up for them.

You graduated high school and two days later you were in LA, sitting next to Casey Stengel on the bench. What was that experience like for you?

Well, he was a great manager for the Yankees. And of course, you followed him when he joined the Mets. He offered a lot to the young players, he worked with all of us that were coming up in the beginning and wanted to teach us how to play the game. He did that with the Yankees with some of the great stars over there. He tried to pass that along to us. And we loved him for it.

That very first game you were on the beach for, Sandy Koufax throws a no-hitter.

Well, after that, I said to myself, ‘This is going to be a long, tough career.’ And it was. I played 18 years for the Mets. We lost 100 games for the first seven years. It wasn’t a lot of fun losing all those years, but we turned it around. New York is the greatest town in the world to play in because they don’t let you forget it. Sixty years later, still talking about the ’69 Mets. The fans are out there for us. I had a lot of things to write about, I had two miracles at the end of my career, and I thought this was the time to write it.

Do you think Koufax was the best pitcher you ever saw?

He was, no question about it. For six years he dominated the sport. We knew he was the best. Unfortunately, he had to leave the game due to some bone chips and stuff in his arm. Today, they would straighten that stuff out in a hurry. He still would have been pitching another four or five years. He would have had all kinds of records. His final season, he won 27 games. He was the best pitcher in the league and he retired at the top.

Why did the Miracle Mets happen? What made that team so successful?

They developed their own young players. They kept bringing them up one after another, and each one was better than the last. We added the Seavers and the Koosmans. And then, of course, we have pitchers like Nolan Ryan, who didn’t develop in New York, but he did show us he could pitch. Then he goes on to California and sets records out there, but the Mets didn’t see the real Nolan Ryan. But we had some great talent. Great pitching, good pitching, good defense. We came together and once we started winning under Gil Hodges, there was no turning us around.

How important was Gil Hodges’ leadership to that team?

Without a foundation, without a leader, you have nothing so you have disorder. He developed the young players. He taught us how to play the game. It started in spring training, a very tough disciplinarian. He had one set of rules for 25 players.

When did you when did you realize that season might be special?

I guess in the middle of the season, we started beating some ballclubs we never won against before. We’d never won against the California teams, we’d go out there and lose 10-12 games but then we started to produce a little bit.

One of the most iconic moments of that season was the black cat game against Chicago. You were on the bench, I believe. But what was the reaction of the guys on the bench as the cats running on the field?

We knew there were a lot of them around because they had animals under the stands, eating all the popcorn and stuff. And one comes out and circles Ron Santo when he was in the on-deck circle. The cat got nervous because he heard all the fans, 50,000 people were cheering for him.

You won the World Series in 1969 and even hit a homer in the series. The next season you get sent down. You were 25 years old. How did you get through that?

It was difficult. We had different relationships with Gil Hodges. And that was at the height of my career. But we came back, we fought back, we played hard. I came back to the major leagues, and I had two good seasons under Gil and then he passed on and it changed again, the rotation switched. You never know what’s going to happen. But you keep plugging away, you endure and you hope you’re going to win again. And unfortunately, the Mets never recovered. It was straight downhill. After another seven or eight years, I finally retired and stayed out of the game of baseball, but it’s good to be back and looking at it.

At the end of your career, you became known as a fantastic pinch hitter. In 1974 you hit a record .486 for the season pinch-hitting. What goes into the art of pinch-hitting?

Well, you got to perform and you got to do it right now. There’s no tomorrow. So you just are ready every time you get an opportunity.

It was a bumpy road for you in your career, but you stayed with the Mets for all 18 years. How were you able to stick around for that long having seen so many of your teammates shipped out?

Well, you just said it, I was the best pinch hitter. So when you can hit you’re going to stay around and survive. I just did my job and I kept my nose clean and just performed. Since it was New York it was my home, there was no reason to force a trade. We didn’t have free agency,  so you didn’t have a whole lot of choice. It was either play for the Mets or, if they don’t trade you, you’re you’re finished, so do what you can and be positive about it. Hopefully, the relationship stays.

The story of your kidney donation is pretty incredible. How are you doing now?

I’m feeling great! I’ve had the kidney now for four years. It’s working well, and I’m out there doing things. Just taking care of my wife for the last two years, she’s had pancreatic cancer. She survived. They did they beat it. They cut the growth out. The part of the operation was the Whipple operation, which is very serious. Most people don’t recover from it but she’s doing well. She’s feeling better than me. So we’re keeping up with each other. So she was the second part of the miracle. Mine was my kidney, hers was her pancreatic cancer. So we’re both doing great. And we love talking to fans.

You played through ’62 which was obviously not a great year, this year’s Mets went through a tough year too.  Do you have any idea what’s what happened to this Mets team?

I’ve been to the ballpark on occasion and they struggled. And it’s tough to play when you lose and they’re expected to win. They thought this was gonna be a pennant race. They were in it last year and they played well down the stretch and they got caught up in the end. The pitching just faltered a little bit this year. They struggled the whole year. So you never know what’s going to happen. You can’t take anything for granted. They tried, but the results were not good.

Ed Kranepool‘s The Last Miracle is available here.

Scott Bolohan watched a clip of Sandy Koufax when he was 17.

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