Ed Kranepool

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Ed Kranepool bigraphy, stories - American baseball player

Ed Kranepool : biography

November 8, 1944 –

Edward Emil Kranepool (born November 8, 1944) is a former first baseman who spent his entire Major League Baseball career with the New York Mets.

Born in the Bronx, New York, Kranepool attended James Monroe High School, where he began playing baseball and basketball. Mets’ scout Bubber Jonnard signed Kranepool in at the age of seventeen as an amateur free agent.

Commercials

In a 1978 television commercial for Gillette Foamy shaving cream. The ad began with black-and-white film footage of Kranepool striking out, and an announcer saying, "From 1962 to 1970, Ed Kranepool batted .227. Then Ed switched to Gillette Foamy." The ad showed Kranepool in front of a mirror, lathering up and shaving, and switched to color footage of him hitting a ball down the right-field line. The announcer said, "Since 1971, Ed’s batted .283! What do you think of that, Ed?" As baseball players had long had a reputation for being superstitious, the ad closed with Kranepool standing in the dugout, in uniform but lathered up and holding up a can of Foamy, saying, "I don’t know, but now I shave every other inning." The closing narration was, "Foamy: More than thick and rich enough for New York’s heavy hitters."

Another Gillette commercial featured Kranepool lighting a candle in his bathroom and trying to shave using Foamy during a blackout. The ad was clearly inspired by the New York blackout of the previous season, which came during a Met home game at Shea Stadium on July 13, 1977. Kranepool also appeared in an ad for SportsPhone with Jerry Koosman.

He caught flak for a campaign commercial he did for New York Senator Alfonse D’Amato in which he appeared wearing a New York Mets uniform. Following protest from the Mets’ ownership group, the commercial was quickly pulled. Kranepool also appeared on Saturday Night Live in a cameo appearance, being interviewed by Bill Murray during a skit filmed during spring training in , regarding Chico Escuela’s (portrayed by Garrett Morris) tell all book, Bad Stuff ’bout The Mets (a parody of Sparky Lyle’s tell all book about the New York Yankees, The Bronx Zoo). He appeared as himself in a episode of Everybody Loves Raymond along with several other members of the 1969 Mets.

Demoted to Tidewater

Period BA OBP SLG OPS
Through 1970 .246 .298 .358 .656
After 1970 .278 .333 .398 .732

On June 23, , Kranepool was batting just .118, and was demoted to the Mets’ triple A affiliate, the Tidewater Tides. He considered retirement, but instead, he accepted his reassignment, and batted .310 in 47 games at Tidewater. He was back with the Mets by the middle of August, but saw very little playing time. For the season, Kranepool had only 52 plate appearances in 43 games.

Kranepool would bounce back with perhaps his best season in , batting .280 with 14 home runs, 58 RBI and an OPS+This statistic would not gain currency for a few decades, but is a pretty reliable objective measure of a player’s performance, normalizing for the his home park and league-era environments. of 123. He also led the National League with a .998 fielding percentage. The late-career demotion marked a turning point for Kranepool, with him becoming a useful hitter and first baseman/outfielder despite never entering a season with a specific full-time role.

In , Kranepool lost his starting job at first base to John Milner. Kranepool still managed to play 100 games and making 320 plate appearances backing up Milner at first and Cleon Jones in left. The Mets won the NL East, and faced the Cincinnati Reds in the 1973 National League Championship Series. Kranepool’s only appearance in the NLCS was in game five, and he drove in the first two runs of the Mets’ series clinching victory to lead his team to the 1973 World Series.