Posted on by Shannon Shark @metspolice

On the Black says retire #7

And not for Jose Reyes but for Ed Kranepool.

I can’t roll with you on this one guys.  I know he’s up there on the leaderboard but I use the “my eyes” test on these things and the Krane…well, no way and double no way before 16, 17, 18, 31, and 36.

On The Black’s case.

7 very well get retired some day, depending on Sandy’s mood around July 31, 2011.

12 Replies to “On the Black says retire #7”

  1. It’s too late to retire #7 for Kranepool. That number belongs to Jose Reyes for a whole generation of Mets fans.

    I’m fine with keeping retired numbers exclusive. They should be reserved for players that go into the Hall of Fame as Mets or for special circumstances (like Casey Stengel and Gil Hodges.)

  2. If only for nostalgia and that he was an original Met possibly.

    But if we are going by baseball statistics I would have to pass on “Krane”

  3. Kranepool would purely be a nostalgic entry, probably lost to those under 50. He should have been included much earlier, with Harrelson and Grote.

    Then again, his longevity of 18 years as only a Met is pretty impressive.

    Stengel obviously was not chosen on statistics (and neither was George Weiss) but on the importance to the early Mets (mainly promotion). In this case, I say let him in (this isn’t the MLB HOF).

    So, whomever they choose, throw in Kranepool as sort of an “old timers” entry and make us “old guys” happy.

    1. You’re confusing retired numbers and HOF. Kranepool was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in 1990.

      You can’t retire 7 for the Mets, even if deserved, because Reyes wears and it and hopefully will continue to wear it up until they put it on the wall out there.

  4. Sorry…my fault..I should of checked…if he is in the Met’s HOF, that’s enough..don’t retire his number.

  5. Shannon – thanks for the link even though we disagree on this 🙂

    All – In my opinion the idea of not retiring #7 Kranepool because Jose Reyes wears that number is not a good enough reason. Either – 1. Grandfather Reyes in and let him continue to wear it but no one else wears it after him or 2. Make Reyes change his number. Kranepool changes his number from 21 to 7 when Warren Spahn joined the team.

    1. Let’s retire 21 for him then! heh.

      How about this, honor Kranepool in some way when you retire 7 15 years from now for Reyes.

  6. Finally, someone agrees with me. I know Met fans under 40 might not agree but….he has held almost every offensive record, he is also the longest tenured Met in history. Plus he spent his entire career in a Mets uniform. I wanted to say he was an original Met but I’m not sure he played in 1962.

    Someone made an excellent point above….you can grandfather Jose Reyes in but no one going forward should be allowed to have this number. As a slightly older fan he was my favorite growing up. He was also from the area and continues to this day to be a good will ambassador for the Mets. They really missed the boat on this one…his number should definately be retired. They really never showed him any respect.

    1. Joe P – that was me who made the point of grandfathering in Jose Reyes. And while I am under 40 I do appreciate what Kranepool has meant to the Mets organization from the very beginning of its existence.

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