Let's welcome in Ron swoboda
right now, who was teammates, with Ed kranepool, for six
years, including the 69 Miracle, season Ron. Thanks for
joining us. During what I'm sure has to be a difficult time
for you. Yeah, this one hurts a lot, you know, I met Eddie back in
1964, my first year with the medicine course, we stayed
friends until I got the news just today and Eddie had passed.
So that's 60 years, do the math, this one stings, a
little and you know where are all in the
80s. You know, range that seems like seems like a tough time for
former major league players. If
you look back at the last couple of
years, all the Hall of Famers, we've
lost all the guys, we've lost we played with and against, oh,
it's a rough time, but, but I think you need to celebrate
the fact that Eddie was was such a New Yorker. He was
Mr. Met to me, you know, nobody represented all those errors of men history. Eddie kranepool.
And besides all of that, we were great friends. I just
talked to him last week. I thought everything was fine. How important Ron you thought
about what he meant to the Mets and the City of New York? How
important was it to Ed to be a lifelong Met? Look, I think Eddie was he wasn't proud of anything more
than the 18 years. He spent with that team and that's
remarkable when you think about the Changes in administration, the
changes in managers and whatnot that Eddie went through with the Mets and the ups and
downs of that whole 18 years, to stay with the same franchise meant you were useful, you made
yourself useful as a player, he was a smart hard-nosed. New York guy playing
for the New York Mets, that's for sure. Do you have a favorite memory?
Ron of Ed, whether it be with your playing days with him as a
teammate or just even after baseball, Well, I mean, I have so many memories. You
don't have enough time, but I'll tell you what in the 1969 World Series. The
first pitch from Tom Seaver, went over the right field fence
in Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, we're down one.
Nothing on a ball that I thought I should have caught
and I came into the Dugout right after that and I'm yapping about, you know, I
should have caught it. I got her number. I should have caught
it, that was a catch to me with that, you know? New
York demeanor and went just shut up and get the next
one. And that's what I did. That is tremendous. He was he was a tough guy, you know, we just, we had so many things together
on and off the field, you know, over the years. And
that's, that's really what, you know, this one gets this
one, get speak to me. I hated it when Tug McGraw past but we
knew what the brain to him. This thing was going to end
pretty quickly. But with Eddie, I thought that he was kind of
cruising along after the, after the new kidney, which gave
him a quality of life. He wasn't going to have without it. How do you think Ron that edge
should be remembered by Mets fans? You know, as a New York kid? You
know, you walk out of James Madison and next thing, you
know, you got a met uniform on your walking up to home plate in
a major league ball game at. 19 years old, they got a little, he got a knock before they send
him out but you know the fact of his
longevity and the fact that you know, anybody that's you know,
up there in a couple of years knows that Eddie was a New
Yorker through and through and you know, he showed up at
every little league dinner and Jewish breakfast, you know, Jewish
men's club breakfast every every event and all the autograph signings all
the years. Eddie was a guy that He just did it all and and and and he was it was a through and through tough guy,
New Yorker and and and nothing made that point stronger, to me
than the way he engineered finding a kidney that he needed
to live, and he did that and, and, and the life. He lived the last
couple of years with a difficult, diabetes was all because of that. That
boy, Ron, I could listen to you tell stories all day long. About
Ed kranepool, and those 69 Mets. I know this is a
difficult time. We really appreciate you coming on with
us, our condolences to you, and the rest of the Mets, family. We
appreciate your time. Thank you, Ron. Hey, you got it. Thank
you. And, and think about that, and just know that he was
a good guy and did it all.