Kranepool RIP

The Great (sic) Ed Kranepool has passed. Fast facts about Ed Kranepool:

• 1853 games
• 1418 hits
• 118 home runs
• 4.2 Wins Above Replacement, including seven negative seasons
• 1963 salary of $7500, which amounts to about $77500 today
• JAWS ranks him as the 274th best first baseman in MLB history, just ahead of Paul Sorrento. Which seems generous, honestly.
• He borrowed Chico’s soap, and never gave it back.

I will confess that I have never really understood Ed Kranepool; obviously a career like this is impossible under current conditions. That said, one can live a worse life than three score and nineteen, eighteen of which were spent playing the game he loved.