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Mets legend Ed Kranepool was a 17-year-old phenom when he signed halfway through the Mets’ infamous inaugural season. He played only three games that record-setting year and is much better recalled as a Miracle Met. But it’s 62 years later, and he cares enough that he wouldn’t mind the 2024 White Sox breaking the 1962 Mets’ record of 120 defeats.
“Let them have it. It’s not a record I’m proud of,” Kranepool told The Post.
Kranepool, now 79, signed as a bonus baby out of The Bronx’s James Monroe High in late June, took his first plane ride to Los Angeles and saw Sandy Koufax no-hit the Mets that day. Things went downhill from there.
“It was a tremendous experience for me. But it was nothing I really enjoyed,” Kranepool said.
The nine living 1962 Mets have witnessed teams occasionally threaten their unwanted record, but the 2024 White Sox, having already posted losing streaks of 14 and 21 games and on pace to lose 123, provide the most serious hope in decades that our bumbling and beloved ’62 Mets will no longer carry the mantle of history’s worst team.
Surprisingly, two of Kranepool’s 1962 teammates say they aren’t cheering on Chicago’s daily defeats.
“I’m not going to pull for the White Sox to break our record, but I’ll be watching,” said former Mets pitcher Craig Anderson, who went 3-17 in 1962. “It’s going to happen sometime.”
Anderson is a lively 86 and an easygoing sort who felt sympathy when Anthony Young broke his personal Mets record of 19 straight pitching defeats. Anderson recalls the 40-120 season fondly, crediting veteran players drafted to boost interest and attendance, and especially Casey Stengel.
“We all hated to lose,” Anderson recalled. “We had a bunch of pro guys to steady things. And Casey Stengel … every day win or lose — and usually it was lose — all the writers would go to him, and he took a lot of pressure off.”
Jay Hook, who registered the first Mets victory (it came after nine defeats), went 8-19 in 1962 and is best recalled as a brilliant academician who famously explained why a curveball curves, has similarly fond recollections.
“We really thought we were going to win tomorrow. We were never defeated,” said Hook, a very young 87. “The fans were so fantastic in New York that we hated to lose so many games.”
Hook, a man of science, suggested it’s in fate’s hands.
“I’m sorry the White Sox are losing so many games,” he said. “But if it’s inevitable, it’s inevitable.”
But as for whether he’s hoping for these Sox to take the title of worst team ever, Hook couldn’t quite get there.
He said, “I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”
