NEW YORK _ Ed Kranepool's second miracle likely will enable him to attend the reunion in June of the first one nearly 50 years ago when he was the first baseman on the 1969 world champion Mets.
At 74, Kranepool has a new kidney, and the perpetual smile on his face Friday underscored the report by Dr. Frank S. Darras that Kranepool's kidney function was "close to normal," three days after receiving the organ donation from Deborah Barbieri, a 56-year-old Mets fan from Glenwood Landing.
Kranepool's transplant occurred in what Darras termed a "paired exchange." Barbieri's husband, Al, a 55-year-old former volunteer firefighter and retired Town of Oyster Bay fire inspector, received a transplant from Oakdale resident Brian Cooney, a Port Authority policeman assigned to LaGuardia Airport.
