Merwin John William Jacobson (March 7, 1894 – January 13, 1978) was a backup

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

who played for three different teams between and . Listed at , 165 lb., Jacobson batted and threw

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

. He was born in New Britain, Connecticut. A decent outfielder with a hard throwing arm, Jacobson entered the majors in 1915 with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

, playing for them one year before joining the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

in 1916. From 1917 to 1925 he played with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

and

Jersey City Skeeters The Jersey City Skeeters were a minor league baseball team which operated in Jersey City, New Jersey. The club started in the 1860s and by 1870 joined the National Association of Base Ball Players. By 1885, Jersey City had joined the Eastern L ...

of the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

. During the 1920 season, Jacobsen led the International League with a batting average of .404, 235 hits and 161 runs scored. He returned to the major leagues with the

Brooklyn Robins The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californ ...

in 1926 and 1927. His most productive season came in 1926 with Brooklyn, when he posted a .247

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average i ...

with 23

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

in a career-high 110 games. In a four-season career, Jacobson hit .230 (76-for-331) with 47 runs and 24 RBI in 133 games, including nine doubles, two triples, seven stolen bases, and a .309

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

. He made 99 outfield appearances at

center field A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ce ...

(55),

right Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical th ...

(42) and

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

(2), and posted a collective .973

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. After his time with the Robins he never appeared again in the major leagues, but he continued to play minor league baseball until 1933. Jacobson died in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

at age 83.

Transactions

*During the 1916 season was sent by the Giants with Larry Doyle and Herb Hunter to the Cubs in exchange for

Heinie Zimmerman Henry Zimmerman (February 9, 1887 – March 14, 1969), known as "Heinie" or "The Great Zim", was an American professional baseball third baseman. Zimmerman played in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs and New York Giants from 1907 to 191 ...

and Mickey Doolan.

External links

Retrosheet
1894 births 1978 deaths Brooklyn Robins players Chicago Cubs players New York Giants (NL) players Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Connecticut Calais-St. Stephen (minor league baseball) players Portland Duffs players Lynn Shoemakers players Brockton Shoemakers players Brockton Pilgrims players Rochester Hustlers players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Baltimore Orioles (International League) players Jersey City Skeeters players Newark Bears (International League) players Hagerstown Hubs players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Springfield Ponies players York White Roses players Norfolk Tars players Sportspeople from New Britain, Connecticut St. Croix Downeasters players {{US-baseball-outfielder-1890s-stub

Transactions

Further reading

External links