Merl Combs

Merrill Russell "Merl" Combs (December 11, 1919 – July 7, 1981) was an American professional baseball player, scout and coach. Combs' active career spanned ten seasons (1941; 1946–1954). He was a backup shortstop in Major League Baseball who played between 1947 and 1952 for the Boston Red Sox (1947; 1949–50), Washington Senators (1950) and Cleveland Indians (1951–52). Combs batted left-handed and threw right-handed; he stood 6 ft tall and weighed 172 lb. He was born in Los Angeles, and attended the University of Southern California. In a five-season MLB career, Combs was a .202 hitter (73-for-361) with two home runs and 25 RBI in 140 games played, including 45 runs, six doubles and one triple. Thereafter, he was a longtime scout for multiple Major League organizations, and spent one season, 1975, as a coach on the staff of the Texas Rangers.

Combs died of lung cancer in Riverside, California, at the age of 61.