How a tense exchange with Jeff Wilpon exiled a Mets legend

The Wilpons aren’t just getting accused of neglecting to sign high-profile free agents, but also of pushing away a beloved former Met.

Ed Kranepool, a first baseman who was a part of the 1969 World Series-winning team over his 18 years in Flushing, has been at odds with Mets ownership since a tense conversation with Jeff Wilpon five or six years ago apparently made him a Citi Field pariah, the New York Times reported.

The details of the exchange vary based on perspective.

Longtime Mets media relations director Jay Horwitz remembered Kranepool approaching the younger Wilpon, now the Mets’ chief operating officer alongside his father, Fred, during an annual team dinner and insinuating they were…