Fred Merkle

Carl Frederick Rudolf Merkle (Bonehead)

Position: First Baseman
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 1", Weight: 190 lb.

Born: December 20, 1888 in Watertown, WI
High School: Toledo HS (Toledo, OH) (All Transactions)
Debut: September 21, 1907
Teams (by GP): Giants/Cubs/Robins/Yankees 1907-1926

Final Game: September 26, 1926
Died: March 2, 1956 in Daytona Beach, FL
Buried: Daytona Memorial Park, Daytona Beach, FL
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Standard Fielding

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	Pos	G	GS	CG	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG	G	Awards
1907	NYG	NL	18	1B	15				136	122	7	7	4	.949		8.60	.984		10.58
1908	NYG	NL	19	1B	11				61	60	1	0	2	1.000		5.55	.986		11.07
1908	NYG	NL	19	OF	5				3	3	0	0	0	1.000		0.60	.960		2.04	2-0-3
1908	NYG	NL	19	2B	1				4	2	2	0	1	1.000		4.00	.955		5.10
1908	NYG	NL	19	3B	1				0	0	0	0	0			0.00			3.30
1909	NYG	NL	20	1B	70				668	625	27	16	29	.976		9.31	.985		10.83
1909	NYG	NL	20	2B	1				4	1	3	0	0	1.000		4.00	.938		4.90
1910	NYG	NL	21	1B	144				1503	1390	84	29	87	.981		10.24	.984		10.40
1911	NYG	NL	22	1B	148				1514	1375	117	22	73	.985		10.08	.985		10.23		MVP-7
1912	NYG	NL	23	1B	129				1328	1229	72	27	77	.980		10.09	.988		10.17		MVP-18
1913	NYG	NL	24	1B	153				1561	1463	76	22	86	.986		10.06	.986		10.40
1914	NYG	NL	25	1B	146				1567	1463	88	16	80	.990		10.62	.988		10.60
1915	NYG	NL	26	1B	110				1189	1123	53	13	62	.989		10.69	.990		10.61
1915	NYG	NL	26	OF	30				75	68	5	2	1	.973		2.43	.959		2.12	0-27-5
1916	TOT	NL	27	1B	127				1392	1309	62	21	64	.985		10.80	.987		10.80
1916	NYG	NL	27	1B	112				1261	1183	58	20	61	.984		11.08	.987		10.80
1916	BRO	NL	27	1B	15				131	126	4	1	3	.992		8.67	.987		10.80
1916	BRO	NL	27	OF	4				6	5	1	0	0	1.000		1.50	.967		2.15	3-1-0
1917	TOT	NL	28	1B	142				1531	1438	67	26	85	.983		10.60	.988		10.92
1917	BRO	NL	28	1B	2				24	23	1	0	1	1.000		12.00	.988		10.90
1917	CHC	NL	28	1B	140				1507	1415	66	26	84	.983		10.58	.988		10.92
1917	CHC	NL	28	OF	6				17	15	2	0	1	1.000		2.83	.963		2.20	5-1-0
1918	CHC	NL	29	1B	129	129	126		1485	1388	82	15	75	.990		11.40	.987		11.24
1919	CHC	NL	30	1B	132	132	131		1573	1494	56	23	74	.985		11.74	.988		11.24
1919	CHC	NL	30	2B	1	0	0		0	0	0	0	0			0.00			5.40
1920	CHC	NL	31	1B	85	85	84		975	906	54	15	52	.985		11.29	.990		11.09
1920	CHC	NL	31	LF	1	0	0		0	0	0	0	0			0.00			2.20
1920	CHC	NL	31	OF	1	0	0		0	0	0	0	0			0.00			2.30
1925	NYY	AL	36	1B	5	2	0		29	28	1	0	3	1.000		5.80	.988		10.46
1926	NYY	AL	37	1B	1	0	0		6	6	0	0	0	1.000		6.00	.990		10.80
	16 Seasons			1B	1547	348	341		16518	15419	847	252	853	.985		10.51	.987		10.68
	5 Seasons			OF	46	0	0		101	91	8	2	2	.980		2.15	.960		2.13	11-29-8
	3 Seasons			2B	3	0	0		8	3	5	0	1	1.000		2.67	.946		5.13
	1 Season			3B	1				0	0	0	0	0			0.00			3.30
	1 Season (incomplete)			LF	1	0	0		0	0	0	0	0			0.00			2.20
	16 Seasons			TOT	1597	348	341		16627	15513	860	254	856	.985		10.25	.987		10.42	11-29-8
Lg				Pos	G	GS	CG	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG	G	Awards

Note: Fielding stats are a combination of official records and RetroSheet records. Both are likely to have substantial errors and will not match perfectly.

View Complete Notes on Fielding Data

Leagues historically made no effort to balance team, league, and player fielding stats. Since 1990 or so, computers have made this feasible, but prior to that there are hundreds or thousands of discrepancies each year in games played (even whether a player played a position), putouts, assists, double plays and errors.

Pre-1948 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
From 1948 on SB, CS, Pickoff, & WP data for catchers and pitchers is taken from play-by-play accounts in the retrosheet files. There are several hundred games without pbp from 1948 to 1973 and for those we may not have any data.
CG & GS come from the retrosheet data and should be complete and pretty accurate from 1918 on.
Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1948 to 1973 and complete from then on.
Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1918) is taken from play-by-play or box score data as available.
Stats (PO,A,G,etc) for C,P,1B,2B,3B,SS,OF positions is taken from the official reported totals and may have been corrected at various times since their publication.
For detailed information on which games retrosheet is missing play-by-play from 1948 to 1973, please see their most wanted games list
For detailed information on the availability of data on this site by year, see our data coverage page

Appearances

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	G	GS	Batting	Defense	P	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	LF	CF	RF	OF	DH	PH	PR
1907	NYG	NL	18	15		15		0	0	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1908	NYG	NL	19	38		38		0	0	11	1	1	0	2	0	3	5	0
1909	NYG	NL	20	79		79		0	0	70	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1910	NYG	NL	21	144		144		0	0	144	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1911	NYG	NL	22	149		149		0	0	148	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1912	NYG	NL	23	129		129		0	0	129	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1913	NYG	NL	24	153		153		0	0	153	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1914	NYG	NL	25	146		146		0	0	146	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1915	NYG	NL	26	140		140		0	0	110	0	0	0	0	27	5	30	0
1916	NYG	NL	27	112		112		0	0	112	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1916	BRO	NL	27	23		23		0	0	15	0	0	0	3	1	0	4	0
1917	CHC	NL	28	146		146		0	0	140	0	0	0	5	1	0	6	0
1917	BRO	NL	28	2		2		0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1918	CHC	NL	29	129		129		0	0	129	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1919	CHC	NL	30	133	132	133	133	0	0	132	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1920	CHC	NL	31	92	85	92	85	0	0	85	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	7	0
1925	NYY	AL	36	7	2	7	5	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
1926	NYY	AL	37	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	16 Seasons			1638	219	1638	224	0	0	1547	3	1	0	11	29	8	46	0	9	0
Lg				G	GS	Batting	Defense	P	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	LF	CF	RF	OF	DH	PH	PR

Appearances table is calculated solely from full RetroSheet play-by-play data available from 1973 on. A combination of RetroSheet (starting with the 1918 season) and non-RetroSheet data is used for other seasons.

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

MVP (yr lg (rk, shr)) 1911 NL (7, 30%) 1912 NL (18, 6%) 0.36 Career Shares (545th)	Putouts† s c a p y 1910 NL 1,390 (4th) 1911 NL 1,375 (4th) 1913 NL 1,463 (3rd) 1914 NL 1,463 (4th) 1916 NL 1,314 (4th) 1917 NL 1,453 (4th) 1918 NL 1,388 (1st) 1919 NL 1,494 (1st) Career 15,513 (40th)	Def. Games as 1B s c a p y 1910 NL 144 (2nd) 1911 NL 148 (4th) 1913 NL 153 (2nd) 1914 NL 146 (4th) 1916 NL 127 (4th) 1917 NL 142 (4th) 1918 NL 129 (1st) 1919 NL 132 (4th) Career 1,547 (54th)	Putouts as 1B s c a p y 1910 NL 1,390 (4th) 1911 NL 1,375 (4th) 1913 NL 1,463 (3rd) 1914 NL 1,463 (4th) 1916 NL 1,309 (4th) 1917 NL 1,438 (4th) 1918 NL 1,388 (1st) 1919 NL 1,494 (1st) Career 15,419 (38th)
Assists as 1B s c a p y 1910 NL 84 (2nd) 1911 NL 117 (1st) 1914 NL 88 (2nd) 1916 NL 62 (5th) 1918 NL 82 (2nd) Career 847 (70th)	Errors Committed as 1B s c a p y 1909 NL 16 (5th) 1910 NL 29 (1st) 1911 NL 22 (1st) 1912 NL 27 (1st) 1913 NL 22 (3rd) 1914 NL 16 (3rd) 1915 NL 13 (3rd) 1916 NL 21 (3rd) 1917 NL 26 (2nd) 1918 NL 15 (3rd) 1919 NL 23 (1st) 1920 NL 15 (3rd) Career 252 (17th)	Range Factor/Game as 1B s c a p y 1910 NL 10.24 (5th) 1911 NL 10.08 (3rd) 1912 NL 10.09 (5th) 1914 NL 10.62 (4th) 1915 NL 10.69 (3rd) 1916 NL 10.80 (3rd) 1917 NL 10.60 (5th) 1918 NL 11.40 (4th) 1919 NL 11.74 (2nd) 1920 NL 11.29 (2nd) Career 10.51 (31st)	Fielding % as 1B s c a p y 1911 NL .985 (4th) 1913 NL .986 (5th) 1914 NL .990 (5th) 1918 NL .990 (5th)
Oldest s c a p y 1926 AL born 1888-12-20 (9th)	Youngest s c a p y 1907 NL born 1888-12-20 (1st) 1908 NL born 1888-12-20 (1st)

Other Resources & Links

Error? Compare Search SABR's Baseball Index Other Links@google.com Baseball Library Baseball-Almanac.com DeadBallEra Obituary Retrosheet SABR BioProject The Baseball Cube The Baseball Page WhatIfSports: Fred Merkle

Viewed 15,156 times through May 31, 2012.
Name and misspellings: Carl Frederick Bonehead Fred Rudolf Merkle

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