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For Merullo family, Cubs’ World Series run ‘beautiful’
- Updated: October 23, 2016
The scar was his souvenir, the physical reminder of his professional height. And so, on the off chance it was fixing to fade, the old man used to pick at that thing on his left forearm, a habit that would have been disgusting if it weren’t so oddly endearing.
Lennie Merullo’s scar was a remnant of the 1945 World Series — the last Fall Classic to feature the Chicago Cubs until the one that begins Tuesday night at Progressive Field. Merullo so loved the Cubs and his experience with them that the scar was, to him, a meaningful memento, regardless of the end result, and he remained fond of that physical feature up until his death, at age 98, in 2015, when he became the last player from that ’45 team to pass away.
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“I can’t remember the player who slid into him on a tag play and cut up his forearm, but it wasn’t a dirty play or anything like that,” said Lennie’s grandson, Matt Merullo. “He was so happy to have that. He wanted to have that nasty scar his whole life so he could tell people he got it in the World Series. That was his thing.”
Matt was himself a Major League player, serving parts of six seasons with the White Sox, Indians and Twins. He also played briefly in the Angels’ and Cubs’ organizations. Then he served as an area scout for the D-backs and, until recently, as a Minor League manager for the Orioles.
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The point is that the younger Merullo bounced around quite a bit, thus informing his accurate opinion that in the baseball industry, you are often merely a mercenary with no true …