RIP Lennie Merullo

Sad story over the weekend. The last surviving member of the 1945 Cubs team passed away. RIP Lennie Merullo...

This is Lennie's entry in Every Cub Ever at Just One bad Century...

Lennie was the starting shortstop for the Cubs in the 1940s, including the pennant winning season of 1945. He wasn't known as a great fielder or hitter. Merullo averaged an error every three and half games or so (172 errors in 602 games), a home run every 345 at-bats (6 in 2071), and had a lifetime average of .240. But he was one of the team leaders. One time he fought former Cub Eddie Stanky, leading to a benches clearing brawl. While Stanky and Merullo punched each other repeatedly, Cubs pitcher Claude Passeau attacked the most hated man in baseball, Leo Durocher—-tearing off his shirt in the process. (Leo would become the manager of the Cubs in the 1960s.) The day after the Stanky/Durocher beating, Lenny and Phil Cavarretta were attacked by Dixie Walker before the game, and had to be pulled off by the police. Walker lost a tooth and chipped another. Merullo got an eight game suspension. Lenny Merullo retired after the 1947 season. When Lenny passed away at the age of 98 in 2015, he was the last surviving member of the last Chicago Cubs World Series team.