Time Traveler Tuesdays: Mets First Basemen of the 1970s: Ed Kranepool, Kingman, Milner and a Decade of Change

Last week, we decided Ed Kranepool was the best Mets 1st baseman of the 1960s. He was a solid fielding option who could also hit for average. The 1970s, however, did not start the way Kranepool or anyone else had planned for the life-long Met.

Kranepool started in 1970, probably trying way too hard, after a humbling 1969 season. The Mets organization went out and traded for a slugging first baseman in '69, Donn Clendenon, who ended up being World Series MVP. Clendenon returned in 1970, and the competition for first base created so much pressure on the 26-year-old Kranepool that he was sent down to AAA Tidewater. He stayed down in the minors until August. Kranepool only played eight games at 1st base in 1970.

Kranepool's demotion left the door open for Clendenon to continue raking on the Mets, having the second-best season of his career with 22 HR and 97 RBI, a .288 batting average, and a whopping .863 OPS—hands down the best 1st baseman for the Mets in 1970.

The competition between those two did not die in the wake of Clendenon's great year and Kranepool's seemingly devastating demotion. Kranepool managed to put together a great minor league season in AAA Tidewater, batting .310, with a .919 OPS. Kranepool was called back up at the end of the 1970 season. That set the table for a big bounce-back 1971 for Kranepool, where he would prove to be hard to keep down.

Clearly, Kranepool was too good for the minors, but he hadn't yet proven that, in his mid-20s, he could out-slug Clendenon. 1971 was the year the young Kranepool solidified his place in Mets history, taking his position back and putting together arguably the best year of his career with the team. He took his job back from the aging Clendenon, and once again played more than 100 (107) games at 1st base. They platooned the position, with Clendenon playing 72 games at first. Kranepool batted .280, with 14 HR and a career-high 58 RBI, and Clendenon batted .247 with 11 HR and 37 RBI. They combined for a great season of output at 1st base for the 83-win Mets, who ended up finishing the season in 3rd place.

1971 was Clendenon's final season with the Mets, so Kranepool got his job back, almost exclusively in 1972. He played 108 games at 1st base, while six other players shared the other ABs Clendenon vacated. Names among those other players include the great Willie Mays, Jim Fregosi, and an up-and-coming youngster, John Milner.

The 21-year-old Milner was called up in 1971 for only nine games, but he made an impression on the team. So they found a spot on the roster for the rookie, who was nicknamed "The Hammer," after his lifelong idol, Hank Aaron. Milner only played 10 games at 1st base in 1972, playing his other 107 games in left field. Milner led the team in home runs with 17, and he finished 3rd place in Rookie of the Year voting that season. More importantly, he proved he was an everyday player, and for 1973, the Mets thought he was a perfect platoon partner for Kranepool at 1st base.

1973 was a magical season for the team. "You gotta believe" was shouted from corner to corner in Queens and the rest of NYC, watching the team rally from last place to first place, making it all the way to the World Series, only to lose to the Oakland A's. You can read all about that season in the book "The Forgotten Miracle: The Story of the 1973 New York Mets," written by our very own Mark Rosenman. Part of that miracle run was the 22-year-old Milner taking the lion's share at 1st base, playing 95 games at 1st, hitting 23 HR, and knocking in 72 RBI. He played 95 games at 1st base, while the steady Kranepool played 51 games at the position.

Milner was instrumental in the miracle run from worst to first, making him the frontrunner to play first base in 1974. He played 133 games at first base in 1974, and it looked certain that Kranepool was on his way out with the team. Milner hit 20 HR and 63 RBI. But as we've seen before, Kranepool was not so easy to get rid of.

The unflappable Kranepool bounced back in 1975, retaking the bulk of games at 1st base, playing 82 games that year. Sharing the task with three other players, including Milner, Joe Torre, and a huge offseason acquisition, Dave Kingman.

The Mets brought in Kingman to hit home runs and drive in runners, something the 1970s Mets had trouble doing to this point in the decade. Kingman, who played 58 games at 1st base in 1975, delivered the goods. Kingman hit 36 HR and 88 RBI. He added much-needed pop to the lineup, and he fit in perfectly as a fill-in for the games Kranepool couldn't play. Kingman even received a few MVP votes that year.

Kingman proved more valuable to the Mets in the outfield the next year, when he played only 16 games at 1st base. His powerful bat didn't lose its pop. In 1976, Kingman hit 37 home runs and drove in 86 runs. Taking his place at the first place platoon with Kranepool was another big name, Joe Torre.

By 1976, the 35-year-old Torre's career was on the decline. He was long past his 200-hit, 100+ RBI seasons. However, in 114 games with the Mets that year, he still managed to bat .306 and get 95 hits. He played 79 games at 1st base that year. It was Torre's leadership was sorely needed for the Mets, who were about to enter a tough rebuilding phase in the late 70s. Torre became a player-manager for the Mets in 1977, the first Major Leaguer to do so since 1959. Kranepool, the consistent presence on the team and at 1st, played 86 games. Torre was also the manager during the infamous "Midnight Massacre," where the Mets traded away arguably the best player in the team's history, Tom Seaver.

The Mets would hit a huge slide for the rest of the 70s, finishing last place from 1977-1979. A new, everyday player would take over at first base. Willie Montanez finally dethroned Kranepool as the main 1st baseman for the team for the last two years of the 1970s. In 1977, Milner and Kranepool shared the duties at 1st. In 1978, Montanez joined the Mets as a free agent from the Atlanta Braves. Montanez played 158 games at 1st base in 1978 and 109 games in 1979, before being traded to the Texas Rangers in the second part of that season, for Ed Lynch and Mike Jorgenson.

The seventies were a time of severe swings for the team at 1st base. Kranepool was around for most of the excitement and for most of the misery. He retired quietly in 1979, but he'll forever be remembered as one of the only players to stay with the same team for his entire career. The position of first base had his name all over it in the 70s. Next week, we'll take a look at the 1980s Mets' first basemen. One name will dominate that conversation as well. HINT: "Nice game, pretty boy."