John Joseph Merena (November 18, 1909 – March 9, 1977) was a left-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

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), ...

in 1934. Merena pitched in four games for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

, starting three of those games, completing two, and collecting his only win in a four-hit

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

over the rival

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. His career was over in the spring of 1935 due to a sore arm. His father, Jacob Kosmo Merena, had come from Nove Sonch (Nowy Sacz),

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(it was Russia at the time), arriving in the United States in 1901. Jacob's wife Mary was a New York native, born to two Russian parents.Spike Merena
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References

External links

Spike Merena
- Baseball-Reference.com 1909 births 1977 deaths Baseball players from Paterson, New Jersey Major League Baseball pitchers Boston Red Sox players American people of Russian descent American people of Polish descent Lynn Papooses players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1900s-stub