John DeMerit

John Stephen DeMerit
(Thumper)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1½", Weight 195 lb.
• School University of Wisconsin-Madison
• High School Port Washington (WI) High School
• Debut June 18, 1957
• Final Game May 20, 1962
• Born January 8, 1936 in West Bend, WI USA

BR page

Biographical Information

John DeMerit played both baseball and basketball at the University of Wisconsin before signing a $100,000 bonus contract with the Milwaukee Braves on May 26, 1957. John, who singled off Stu Miller in his first big league at-bat, hit just .147 in 33 games for the World Champions and made it into one World Series game against the New York Yankees, as a pinch runner.

John spent most of the remainder of his playing career in the minors but did see some time with Milwaukee through 1961 before concluding his career with the expansion New York Mets in 1962. A positive note about his major league career is that he never committed an error in the outfield during his five major league seasons. Offensively, it was a bit different. In his 93 appearances, he managed 23 base hits in 132 at-bats for a career .174 batting average. DeMerit spent three of his years in the minors with the AA Atlanta Crackers, class A Jacksonville Braves and the AAA Louisville Colonels. John appeared in 397 minor league games and had a minor league batting average of .257.

After baseball, he spent several years in the insurance business before becoming the director of parks and recreation in Port Washington, WI.

Notable Achievement

• Won a World Series with the Milwaukee Braves in 1957

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com
Baseball Players of the 1950s
SABR MILB Database:page

Further Reading

• Steven Schmitt: "John DeMerit", in Gregory H. Wolf, ed.: Thar's Joy in Braveland: The 1957 Milwaukee Braves, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2014, pp. 73-77. ISBN 978-1933599717

Related Sites

• John DeMerit at the SABR Bio Project