Merito Acosta

{{short description|Cuban baseball player (1896-1963)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Merito Acosta

|position=Outfielder

|image=Merito Acosta, Washington AL (baseball) LCCN2014697356 (cropped).jpg

|bats=Left

|throws=Left

|birth_date={{Birth date|1896|5|19}}

|birth_place=Bauta, Cuba

|death_date={{death date and age|1963|11|17|1896|5|19}}

|death_place=Miami, Florida, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=June 5

|debutyear=1913

|debutteam=Washington Senators

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=September 2

|finalyear=1918

|finalteam=Philadelphia Athletics

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.255

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=0

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=37

|teams=

• Washington Senators ({{Baseball year|1913}}–{{Baseball year|1916}}, {{Baseball year|1918}})
• Philadelphia Athletics ({{Baseball year|1918}})

| hofcolor= blue

| hoflink= Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame

| hoftype= Cuban

| hofdate= 1955

}}

Baldomero Pedro "Merito" Acosta Fernández (May 19, 1896 – November 17, 1963) was a Cuban outfielder in Major League Baseball who played five seasons for the Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators.

Acosta played winter baseball in the Cuban League from 1913 to 1925 and was also a long-time manager and part-owner of the Havana Cubans.Figueredo 2003, pp. 143, 255, 269, 484. In the 1918/19 season, Acosta made an unassisted triple play while playing center field. With the bases loaded, he sprinted in to catch the ball, then continued to touch second base before the runner could return and tagged the runner from first base.Figueredo 2003, p. 126. In his first season as a manager, 1922/23, he led a brand new franchise, Marianao, to a championship. Acosta was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.Figueredo 2003, pp. 143, 509.