Page 197 - 1975 BoSox

WHEN THE RED SOX SEASON ended on September 28, 1975, Andy Merchant trotted o the eld and
the Red Sox had only their third American League postseason berth since 1918. e Red Sox had clinched the division title the day before, thanks to the New York Yankees, who had swept a doubleheader from the second-place Orioles. So the 28th was a bit of a rest day for the Red Sox. Merchant debuted behind the plate, catching starter Dick Pole and batting third in the order. Also making his major-league debut in the day’s game was second baseman Steve Dillard.
Merchant was tested immediately. e Indians’leado batter was John Lowenstein, who singled. He tried to steal second, but Merchant’s throw to second base cut him down.
First time up, Merchant ied deep to center o Cleveland’s Fred Beene; Dillard, who had singled and stolen second, took third on the yout. e game proved to be Beene’s last after seven years in the majors. Bernie Carbo singled Dillard home. Merchant came up again in the bottom of the third. Dillard singled to lead o , and Merchant singled, moving Dillard to second. ree batters later, Merchant scored on Rick Miller’s single. Before the inning was over, the Red Sox had a 4-2 lead. It didn’t last; the Indians scored six times in the top of the fth.
Merchant batted a third time in the bottom of the fth and reached on an error by third baseman Alan Ashby, moved up to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout, but was left stranded there when Bob Montgomery made an out to shortstop. He walked in the seventh but was stranded on second. With the score 11-4 in favor of the Indians, Merchant came up again with
two outs in the bottom of the ninth. He singled to the pitcher, but was left at rst base when Carbo made the regular season’s nal out.
Merchant’s major-league stats for 1975 thus showed four at-bats, with two hits and a walk — an average of .500 with an on-base percentage of .600. He’d scored one run, and was awless in the eld — two putouts (on strikeouts by Jim Willoughby in the eighth inning), and the one rst-inning assist in three chances. e Boston Globe game story was headlined “Red Sox scrubs bite dust, 11-4” but Andy thoroughly enjoyed the day. “I had the best time of my life,” he recalled in a 2005 interview.
James Anderson Merchant was born in Mobile, Alabama, on Ted Williams’s birthday, August 30, in the year 1950. His father worked for the Alabama Power Company, and both father and mother were supportive as he began to play ball from a fairly early age. Merchant attributes his initial interest in baseball to a local man named Merle Mason: “He put a catcher’s mitt on my hand and he’s the one who taught me in the very, very beginning.” Andy was 10 or 11 at the time, and he progressed through Little League, on into Babe Ruth League and then on to what was called at the time Advanced Babe Ruth. Andy’s dad was very active during his youth baseball years and served as vice president of the Babe Ruth League. “ ey always followed me everywhere I went,” he remembered. “I still question Mom, where they got
the money. She said, we always borrowed it — and paid it back.” Andy had siblings, but none played baseball for long.
Merchant was always a catcher, every step along the way. In high school he was the team MVP. After high school, he at- tended Auburn University and graduated from there in four years, majoring in business administration. e rst year he
Andy Merchant
by Bill Nowlin
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