After a two-year wait, Ed Kranepool is getting a life-saving kidney.
Kranepool, a Bronx native, came to the Mets straight from James Monroe High School and was the first baseman on their 1969 championship team.
Recently the 74-year-old has seen his health deteriorate. Diabetes had left his kidney function at only 20 percent.
But Kranepool has now found a perfect match, a donor with A/B blood type.
He will undergo a three and a half hour kidney transplant next month courtesy of the anonymous donor who he has not met.
Monday at Citi Field, Kranepool made it a point to thank everyone involved who helped him get to this point.
"The positive thing about the whole situation is I think we're able to help a lot of people," said Kranepool. "The visibility that I got for organ donation has been great, so it's going to help a lot of people that were out there plugging organ donation which is important for everybody."
Kranepool's kidney transplant will take place May 7 at Stony Brook University Hospital.
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