Tag: Ed Kranepool

Mets Madness Recap: 1986 Mets Beat 1976 Mets

The 1986 Mets knocked out the 1976 Mets in the first round of the Mets Madness tournament. While the ’86 Mets won the series in five games, the ’76 Mets put up a fight. Ed Kranepool powered the Mets to victory in Game 4, and if not for a blown save late in the series, the ’76 Mets could have pulled ahead of the World Champ ’86 squad. Game 1  Tom wasn’t so terrific...

MMO Exclusive: 1969 World Champion Ed Kranepool

Growing up in Bronx in the 1940s and ’50s, Ed Kranepool spent much of his time playing stickball in local parks. In fact, stickball brought refuge to a young Kranepool. As his stickball reputation grew, local gangs treated Kranepool well and insisted he not hang around with them after dark as they didn’t want him to get into trouble and not be able to play on their teams. Growing up...

Brandon Nimmo In Position To Challenge Mets Records

After David Wright signed his seven-year, $122 million contract, we knew he was going to re-write the New York Mets record books, and he did. If not for spinal stenosis, he would have put all the records well out of reach. Unfortunately, he did get injured, and as a result, he did put the records in play. Other than Tim Healey of Newsday jokingly referring to Brandon Nimmo putting the hit by...

More Reflections On The Career of John Stearns

On September 15, the Mets organization lost one of the toughest, most hard-nosed players it had ever seen, catcher John Stearns. As Joe D. wrote on MMO, for fans for of a certain age, a part of our childhood passed away that day as well. As Joe pointed out, after the trade of Tom Seaver on June 15, 1977, Mets fans did not have much to hold. To make matters worse, the Yankees were beginning a run...

MMO Exclusive: Mets ’69 Hero Cleon Jones

When Cleon Jones squeezed his glove around the ball that Baltimore Orioles second baseman Davey Johnson hit to left field in the top of the ninth in Game Five of the 1969 World Series to give the Mets their first championship in their eight-year history, it was something he never dreamed of doing. For Jones, making it as a major league ballplayer from his hometown of Africatown, a historic...

Pete Alonso’s Pursuit Up Mets’ Home Run List

The rate at which Pete Alonso is hitting home runs has already put him in elite company for both Mets and major league history. When he recorded his 100th last September, he was the second-fastest to reach that milestone. His two-home run day in Philadelphia brought his total to 113 in 400 games–good for 13th-most by a Met. For the sake of comparison, it took franchise leader Darryl...

1978 Felix Millan, Topps Card Number 505

Recently while thumbing through some old baseball cards, I came across the 1978 Felix Millan shown below, card number 505 from the Topps set that year. Felix Millan was one of my favorite Mets growing up.  Partly because he was a gritty ballplayer who played the keystone well, and partly because I also had the following card from the 1976 set, which showed the Mets second baseman with one of the...

OTD 1972: Mets Manager Gil Hodges Passes Away In Florida

On April 2, 1972 Mets skipper Gil Hodges passed away from a heart attack during spring training after playing a round of golf. He was two days shy of his 48th birthday. Rob Silverman of MMO accurately wrote that Donn Clendenon was the final piece to the championship puzzle in 1969. Hodges was the first piece. Hodges, who played 18 seasons (16 with the Dodgers, two with the Mets) and slugged 370...

OTD 1978: Mets Trade Bud Harrelson To Phillies

On March 23, 1978, the New York Mets traded shortstop Bud Harrelson to the Philadelphia Phillies for minor league infielder Freddie Andrews (who never played a game for the Mets) and cash. The trade left pitcher Jerry Koosman and infielder/outfielder/pinch hitter Ed Kranepool as the lone remaining players from the 1969 championship team. Key players from the 1969 team, such as Tom Seaver, Cleon...

On This Date: Mets Sign 17-Year-Old Ed Kranepool

On this date in 1962, the Mets signed 17-year-old Ed Kranepool. He would make his Major League debut later that year at 17 years and 318 days old. Kranepool, 75, recently battled renal disease and had a successful life-saving kidney transplant. Eddie was on a waiting list for two years before he finally found a donor who was a perfect match, Deborah Barbieri, a 56 year old Mets fan from Nassau...

Morning Briefing: MLB Preparing To Present Plan For 2020 Season

Good morning Mets fans! We received some promising news yesterday as Joel Sherman of The New York Post reported that Major League Baseball could present a plan to the Players Association by the end of the week proposing a restart of spring training in June. If all goes according to plan, they would target an early July start for the regular season. However, Sherman went on to warn about the many...

Mets Video Vault: 1969 World Series Game 3

In our continuing attempt to help fill the baseball void, we present the first-ever World Series home game in Mets history — better known as the “Tommie Agee Takeover.” Agee thwarted the Baltimore Orioles’ chances to gain a 2-1 edge in a series they were almost universally expected to win. His bat helped give New York the early lead, then his dazzling defense took over...

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