Jim Merritt

James Joseph Merritt was born December 9, 1943, in Altadena, California. He attended and played baseball for two different high schools in southern California – West Covina and Edgewood. Merritt was a huge Dodger fan after the team relocated from Brooklyn. SABR said, “Jim fulfilled every boy’s dream when the Dodgers hired him as batboy and clubhouse attendant. Though the job forced him to forgo his senior year of baseball, he enjoyed some added perks. ‘I used to listen [to pitchers] all I could when I worked for the Dodgers.’ He had up-close and personal conversations about pitching with hurlers like fellow lefties Sandy Koufax and Ron Perranoski, as well as Don Drysdale.”

Merritt’s high school job must have shown something, or at least been positive, as he was signed by his favorite team and former employer, the Los Angeles Dodgers. But shortly after that, the Twins had to step in and alter his fairy tale. The Twins selected Merritt under the first-year draft rule of the 1961 Rule V draft.

Merritt was great in the minor leagues, often leading or amongst the leaders of his league in wins, innings, and strikeouts. Merritt debuted for the Twins on August 2, 1965. His line was 8.2 innings pitched, eight hits, six strikeouts, and one walk, and he gave up five runs, four of which were earned. The one walk was a prelude to the career of an excellent control pitcher. The Twins won the game with a walk-off home run by Jimmie Hall off future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, who was pitching in relief while just starting his career. Merritt won his next two starts, including a 10-hit complete game on August 12 against the Yankees.

Jim Merritt appeared twice in the 1965 World Series in games 3 and 7 against his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers. Unfortunately for the Twins and their fans the Twins lost both those games. In game 3, he gave up one earned run in two innings, allowing the deficit to grow from 3-0. That did not hurt much as the final score stayed at 4-0. The Twins could never get anything going offensively, only getting five hits off Claude Osteen in his complete game. In game 7, Merritt gave up no runs in 1.1 innings, but that did not stop the Twins from dropping game 7 to the Dodgers and losing the tightly contested World Series. The Twins were shut out in three World Series games in 1965, and Merritt pitched in two of those losses. There’s not much a pitcher can do when an offense does not score.

Merritt’s record with the Twins finished at only 37-41. He started 89 games and appeared in 33 more. But his other numbers paint a picture of a pretty valuable pitcher. 3.03 ERA and ERA+ of 112. He had six shutouts, walked only 1.8 per 9 innings, and had an extremely low WHIP of 1.046. His 0.993 WHIP in 1968, the year of the pitcher, was good for second-best in the American League. His 6.5 WAR in 1967 was the best in the American League for pitchers.

After the 1968 season, Merritt was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for the slick-fielding shortstop Leo Cárdenas. Both players were exceptionally good for their new teams, each making an All-Star Game and receiving votes for major awards. According to Baseball Reference WAR, the Twins won the trade, with Cárdenas contributing 11.1 WAR for the Twins in three seasons to Merritt’s 2.8 WAR for the Reds in four seasons. Cárdenas finished 12th in 1969 voting for Most Valuable Player and was an All-Star in 1971. His slash line for the Twins was .263/.325/.394. He hit 39 home runs. After the 1971 season, Cárdenas was traded to the Angels. Merritt had a 39-32 record in four seasons with the Reds. He was great in 1969 and 1970, then fizzled out in his last two seasons with an apparent arm injury in late 1970. He went 17-9 in 1969 and was even better in 1970 when he won 20 games, was selected to the All-Star Game (he gave up only one hit in two innings; it was to former teammate Harmon Killebrew), and finished fourth in the voting for the Cy Young Award. He was later traded to the Texas Rangers, where he finished his career in 1975. 

Jim Merritt finished his career with 81 wins and 86 losses, a 3.65 ERA, 932 strikeouts, and only 322 walks in 1,483 innings. His ERA+ was 99. He was a very good pitcher for four years. From 1967-1970, he produced a 62-44 record while pitching 951 innings. He ran into arm problems late in 1970 and was never the same pitcher. He threw only 311 innings from 1971-1975 and was out of baseball after his age-32 season. With today’s medical knowledge and surgeries, who knows what his career could have been?