Fred Merkle

Full Name: Carl Frederick Rudolf Merkle	Primary Position: 1B
Height/Weight: 6' 1"/190	First Game: September 21, 1907
Birthdate: December 20, 1888	Final Game: September 26, 1926
Birthplace: Watertown, Wisconsin	MLB Experience: 16 years
Died: March 2, 1956
Deathplace: Daytona Beach, Florida
Bat/Throw: Right/Right

Biography[]

Fred Merkle (Carl Frederick Rudolf Merkle) was born on December 20, 1888 in Watertown, Wisconsin. He made his Major League debut on September 21, 1907 for the New York Giants. In 1909, his rookie year, he hit .191 with 0 home runs and 20 RBI. Merkle played for the New York Giants, Brooklyn Superbas, Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees over the course of his 16 year career.

Most people believe that Fred Merkle's best season was 1911, when he stole 49 bases, hit for a .283 average and knocked in 84 runs.

Merkle died in Daytona Beach, Florida at age 67, and was interred there in Bellevue Cedar Hill Memory Gardens.

Merkle Boner[]

On September 23, 1908, while playing for the New York Giants in a game against the Chicago Cubs, while he was 19 years old (the youngest player in the NL), Merkle committed a base running error that later became known as the "Merkle Boner," and earned Merkle the nickname of "Bonehead."

In the bottom of the 9th inning, Merkle came to bat with two outs. At the time, Moose McCormick was on first base. Merkle singled and McCormick advanced to third base. Al Bridwell, the next batter, followed with a single of his own. McCormick advanced to home plate scoring the winning run for the game. The fans in attendance, under the impression that the game was over, ran onto the field to celebrate.

Meanwhile, Merkle, thinking the game was over, walked to the Giants' clubhouse prior to touching second base. Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers noticed this, and after retrieving a ball and touching second base he appealed to umpire Hank O'Day to call Merkle out. Since Merkle had not touched the base, the umpire called him out on a force play, and McCormick's run did not count.

The run was therefore nullified, the Giants' victory erased, and the score of the game remained tied. Unfortunately, the thousands of fans on the field prevented resumption of the game and the game was declared a tie. The Giants and the Cubs would end the season and would have a rematch at the Polo Grounds. The Cubs won this makeup game, and thus the National League pennant.

Accounts vary as to whether Evers actually retrieved the actual game ball or not. Some versions of the story have him running to the outfield to retrieve the correct ball. Other versions have it that he shouted for the ball, which was relayed to him from the Cubs' dugout. And still other versions have it that Giants player Joe McGinnity saw what was transpiring, and threw the actual game ball into the stands; thus the ball that was picked up by or relayed to Evers was a different ball entirely.

Statistics[]

Batting Stats[]

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	GDP
1907	NY	N	15	47	0	12	0	5	.255	.271	.277	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	0
1908	NY	N	38	41	6	11	1	7	.268	.333	.439	2	1	4	0	0	2	0	0
1909	NY	N	79	236	15	45	0	20	.191	.245	.237	9	1	16	0	1	4	8	0
1910	NY	N	144	506	75	148	4	70	.292	.353	.441	35	14	44	59	3	19	23	0
1911	NY	N	149	541	80	153	12	84	.283	.342	.431	24	10	43	60	6	14	49	8
1912	NY	N	129	479	82	148	11	84	.309	.374	.449	22	6	42	70	8	8	37	0
1913	NY	N	153	563	78	147	2	69	.261	.315	.371	30	13	41	60	3	10	35	0
1914	NY	N	146	512	71	132	7	63	.258	.327	.375	25	7	52	80	1	7	23	0
1915	NY	N	140	505	52	151	4	62	.299	.348	.384	25	3	36	39	2	14	20	0
1916	NY	N	112	401	45	95	7	44	.237	.308	.352	19	3	33	46	8	7	17	0
1916	BRO	N	23	69	6	16	0	2	.232	.312	.246	1	0	7	4	1	1	2	0
1916	TOT	N	135	470	51	111	7	46	.236	.308	.336	20	3	40	50	9	8	19	0
1917	CHI	N	146	549	65	146	3	57	.266	.323	.370	30	9	42	60	4	13	13	0
1917	BRO	N	2	8	1	1	0	0	.125	.125	.250	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
1917	TOT	N	148	557	66	147	3	57	.264	.320	.368	31	9	42	61	4	13	13	0
1918	CHI	N	129	482	55	143	3	65	.297	.349	.388	25	5	35	36	4	20	21	0
1919	CHI	N	133	498	52	133	3	62	.267	.315	.349	20	6	33	35	2	12	20	0
1920	CHI	N	92	330	33	94	3	38	.285	.335	.397	20	4	24	32	1	12	3	0
1925	NY	A	7	13	4	5	0	1	.385	.429	.462	1	0	1	1	0	2	1	0
1926	NY	A	1	2	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	NL		1630	5767	716	1575	60	732	.273	.331	.383	289	82	453	582	44	144	271	8
Total	AL		8	15	4	5	0	1	.333	.375	.400	1	0	1	1	0	2	1	0
Total			1638	5782	720	1580	60	733	.273	.331	.383	290	82	454	583	44	146	272	8

Fielding Stats[]

Year	Team		POS	G	GS	INN	PO	A	ERR	DP	AVG
1907	NY	N	1B	15	0	0	122	7	7	4	.949
1908	NY	N	1B	11	0	0	60	1	0	2	1.000
1908	NY	N	3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1908	NY	N	OF	5	0	0	3	0	0	0	1.000
1908	NY	N	2B	1	0	0	2	2	0	1	1.000
1909	NY	N	1B	70	0	0	625	27	16	29	.976
1909	NY	N	2B	1	0	0	1	3	0	0	1.000
1910	NY	N	1B	144	0	0	1390	84	29	87	.981
1911	NY	N	1B	148	148	1278.2	1375	117	22	73	.985
1912	NY	N	1B	129	0	0	1229	72	27	77	.980
1913	NY	N	1B	153	0	0	1463	76	22	86	.986
1914	NY	N	1B	146	0	0	1463	88	16	80	.990
1915	NY	N	OF	30	0	0	68	5	2	1	.973
1915	NY	N	1B	110	0	0	1123	53	13	62	.989
1916	NY	N	1B	112	0	0	1183	58	20	61	.984
1916	BRO	N	OF	4	0	0	5	1	0	0	1.000
1916	BRO	N	1B	15	0	0	126	4	1	3	.992
1916	TOT	N	1B	127	0	0	1309	62	21	64	.985
1917	CHI	N	OF	6	0	0	15	2	0	1	1.000
1917	CHI	N	1B	140	0	0	1415	66	26	84	.983
1917	BRO	N	1B	2	0	0	23	1	0	1	1.000
1917	TOT	N	1B	142	0	0	1438	67	26	85	.983
1918	CHI	N	1B	129	0	0	1388	82	15	69	.990
1919	CHI	N	2B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1919	CHI	N	1B	132	0	0	1494	56	23	66	.985
1920	CHI	N	OF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1920	CHI	N	1B	85	0	0	906	54	15	52	.985
1925	NY	A	1B	5	0	0	28	1	0	3	1.000
1926	NY	A	1B	1	0	0	6	0	0	0	1.000
Total			1B	1547	148	1278.2	15419	847	252	839	.985
Total			OF	46	0	0	91	8	2	2	.980
Total			2B	3	0	0	3	5	0	1	1.000
Total			3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Transactions[]

Traded by New York Giants to Brooklyn Robins in exchange for Lew McCarty (August 25, 1916).
Sold by Brooklyn Robins to Chicago Cubs for $3500 (August 16, 1917).