Ed Kranepool, who went from a high school in the Bronx to the major leagues with the original Mets at age 17 and spent all 18 of his major league seasons in Flushing, died Sunday in Boca Raton, Florida, from complications of cardiac arrest. He was 79 years old.

Kranepool, a left-handed first baseman who was a member of the Mets’ first two World Series teams, had received a kidney transplant in 2019 and also suffered from diabetes.

“He fought for so long and never complained about anything,” teammate Ron Swoboda said of Kranepool. “I thought once he got his kidney transplant, everything would be great. He was a wonderful guy and an even better teammate. We got into the restaurant business together. I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Art Shamsky, also a 1969 champion, said Kranepool’s death “simply devastated” him.

“I knew Krane for 56 years. We did so many shows together. We had lunch last week and I told him I would come back next week to see him. I’m really lost for words,” Shamsky said. “I can’t believe he’s the fourth guy from our ’69 team to die this year – (Jim) McAndrew, (Jerry) Grote, Buddy (Harrelson) and now Eddie.”

Days after graduating from James Monroe High School, where he broke Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg’s long-standing home run record, Kranepool signed with the Mets and received an $80,000 signing bonus.

“I chose the Mets not only because they offered me enough money, but also because they offered me the opportunity to get to the major leagues in a very short time,” Kranepool said a few years later. “It was very important for my career.”

He joined the team in Los Angeles on June 30, 1962 – his first flight ever – and arrived just in time to sit in the dugout and watch Sandy Koufax throw a no-hit against his new teammates. After not playing for a week, he was sent to the minor leagues, where he went through a few levels – in reverse order, from Triple-A Syracuse to what was then called Class-A and then to Class-D.

In September, with nothing left to lose on his way to a 40-120 record, the Mets promoted Kranepool from Class-D Auburn, where he had a .340 batting average. He made his major league debut on September 22, replacing Gil Hodges, who would later become his manager, at first base in the seventh inning of another loss.

The next day, he started at first base and had his first major league hit, a double. He finished his first major league season with that one hit in six at-bats.

The Mets had hoped that signing an inexperienced local hitter would bring some excitement to their young franchise, but Kranepool struggled at first. He batted .209 in 86 games in 1963 before hitting .257 with 10 home runs and 45 RBIs in 119 games in 1964, when the Mets moved to Shea Stadium.

Kranepool, who was sent to the minor leagues a few times but never for very long, later regretted the decision to send him to the major leagues as a teenager.

“They should have left me in the minor leagues to develop, and they would have made a better player out of me,” he once said in his thick Bronx accent. “A 17-year-old is not equipped to handle that pressure. They said, ‘Ed is going to take them from a bad club to a championship.’ No single player, not even a Hall of Famer, can do that.”

Edward Emil Kranepool was born in the Bronx on November 8, 1944. His father was killed in World War II three months before Ed was born. Kranepool and his sister Marilyn, who was three years older, were raised by their mother Ethel. The family lived on Ethel’s military widow’s pension and odd jobs to make ends meet.

“We weren’t a wealthy family, obviously we got a military pension, and I guess that’s why I spent my days playing sports on the playground,” Kranepool said. “When I was 10, I joined Little League, and that was the start of my baseball career.”

He became obsessed with the game, and his neighbor Jimmy Schiafo, his little league coach, stepped in and taught Kranepool. When 11-year-old Kranepool was given a baseball glove on Christmas morning, he immediately asked Schiafo to hit him some grounders.

“My wife looked at me,” Schiafo said. “I looked at him. What could you do? He didn’t have a father. We went to the Whitestone Bridge and I hit him ground balls on Christmas morning. It was as cold as a witch’s backtail. But I loved it, because this boy ate, drank and slept baseball.”

Schiafo even chalked the outline of home base on the floor under the carpet in the Kranepools’ living room so Ed could practice his swing whenever he wanted.

A dominant pitcher in Little League, Kranepool focused on first base and the outfield after breaking his left elbow, an injury he said never fully healed.

A growth spurt during his sophomore year at Monroe helped him have a standout basketball career. During his senior year, he averaged 24 points per game and was named to the All-New York City team. North Carolina and St. John’s offered him scholarships.

For Kranepool, however, basketball season was just a pastime while he waited for baseball season. In three seasons on Monroe’s varsity team, he hit 19 home runs, including nine as a senior when he broke Greenberg’s record that had stood since 1929. Shortly after Monroe lost in the PSAL finals, he signed with the Mets.

The unfulfilled expectations and all the Mets’ losses in those early years troubled Kranepool, who was always used at first base despite promises to the contrary. He once told Swoboda of those first few seasons: “We celebrated rainouts.”

After leading the league in batting in April 1965, he was named to his only All-Star team. However, he did not play, which he blamed on NL manager Gene Mauch for the rest of his career. After the break, he slumped, finishing the season with a .253 average, 10 home runs and 53 RBIs.

At the beginning of the 1969 season, Kranepool took over as first baseman. He scored the winning run with an RBI single in the ninth inning in the first game of the Mets’ memorable midseason series against the first-place Cubs at Shea Stadium.

“That was probably my biggest hit,” he said.

From there, the Mets overtook the Cubs, winning the NL East and the championship. But the Mets had acquired first baseman Donn Clendenon in a midseason trade that reduced Kranepool’s playing time. While Kranepool started all three games of the NL Championship Series against the Braves, Clendenon started all but one game of the World Series as the Mets beat the Orioles in five games. Kranepool hit a home run in Game 3 – the only game he started – while Clendenon was named the series’ Most Valuable Player.

The following season, Kranepool had only 34 at-bats through the end of June and was 0-for-18 as a pinch hitter when the Mets sent him to the minor leagues to make room for prospect Ken Singleton. He returned in August but only managed a .170 batting average on the season.

Kranepool had his best season in 1971, when he batted .280 with 14 home runs and 58 RBIs. He helped the Mets to their second World Series in 1973. He split time at first base with John Milner and sometimes played in the outfield, his batting average was just .239. But he started the decisive Game 5 of the NLCS against the Reds in place of the injured Rusty Staub and scored two runs with a single in the first inning. In the World Series that followed, he had just three at-bats.

After that season, Kranepool was used primarily as a pinch hitter. From 1974 to 1978, he was one of the best players, hitting .396 as a pinch hitter and twice hitting .300 or better as a part-time player. The Mets released him after the 1979 season.

“The best first baseman I ever played with,” said former Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman. “We knew each other so well and I could tell by his eyes whether a runner was going to run or not. He saved me a lot of stolen bases.”

In 18 seasons, Kranepool hit .261 with 118 home runs and 614 RBIs. He is third on the Mets’ all-time hit list with 1,418 – a record he held until surpassed by David Wright (1,777) and Jose Reyes (1,534). He still holds the franchise record for games played (1,853) and was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 1990.

After his retirement, Kranepool, who received his stockbroker’s license on his 21st birthday and was a founding member of the MLB Players Association, worked at various companies in the New York area and was also an advocate for organ donation.

“When you get that call, they’ve saved your life,” Kranepool said days after his surgery at Stony Brook Hospital on Long Island. “It’s like magic.”

Kranepool leaves behind his wife Monica, who survived cancer.

Kranepool, who frequently visited Shea Stadium and Citi Field after his retirement, said he enjoyed being at the ballpark because it brought back many fond memories.

“Life passes you by,” he said. “You remember the good old days and what you had.”