Merl Combs

{{Short description|American baseball player (1919–1981)}}

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

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Merl Combs

|position=Shortstop

|image=Merrill Combs (coach) - Texas Rangers - 1974.jpg

|caption=Combs in 1974 as a coach for the Texas Rangers

|bats=Left

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date|1919|12|11}}

|birth_place=Los Angeles, California, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1981|7|7|1919|12|11}}

|death_place=Riverside, California, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=September 12

|debutyear=1947

|debutteam=Boston Red Sox

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=September 28

|finalyear=1952

|finalteam=Cleveland Indians

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.202

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=2

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=25

|teams=

• Boston Red Sox ({{mlby|1947}}, {{mlby|1949}}–{{mlby|1950}})
• Washington Senators ({{mlby|1950}})
• Cleveland Indians ({{mlby|1951}}–{{mlby|1952}})

}}

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 {{baseball year|1947}} and {{baseball year|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 {{convert|6|ft}} tall and weighed {{convert|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, {{baseball year|1975}}, as a coach on the staff of the Texas Rangers.

Combs died of lung cancer in Riverside, California, at the age of 61.[https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/merrill-combs/ Merrill Combs at Society for American Baseball Research]