ByCincinnati Reds Player Card on ESPN.com
Kent Mercker Statistics on Baseball-Reference.com
Player Information on Reds.com
Lucky and loving it on SportingNews.com
Angels put Red Sox down in the Portsmouth Herald
Mercker Rejoins Braves on SportingNews.com
Reprint of Mercker: I never screamed at Stone from the Dayton Daily News via CalloftheGame.com
ByKent Franklin Mercker was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 1, 1968. He graduated from Dublin High School in Dublin Ohio, where he still lives today. I saw a quote from him where he mentioned children, though I don’t know how old or how many. And I presume that children would involve a wife as well, but that’s just conjecture on my part.
People in-the-know say he is the wittiest guy in the Reds’ clubhouse, though we don’t see much of that as fans. Oddly, the media don’t focus so much on the late inning relievers. Go figure.
On May 11, 2000, when Mercker was pitching for the Angels against the Rangers, he had to be pulled from the game with shooting pain in his head and dizziness. At the hospital, he discovered he was having a brain hemorrhage. Oddly, he didn’t have an aneurysm and the bleeding stopped by itself, without surgery.
Mercker missed only 80 games before coming back to get the win against the Red Sox, though he sat out the 2001 season to finish his recovery. He apparently hasn’t suffered any long-term effects, except for a deep appreciation for the preciousness of life and an excellent comeback for whenever his (presumed) wife tries to guilt him about the pain of childbirth.
In 2004, Mercker made headlines when he had an apparent feud with the Cubs’ television announcers, Chip Caray and Steve Stone:
I heard Chip Caray [say], ‘Oswalt pitched eight brilliant innings,'” Mercker said. “Six runs in eight innings, and that’s brilliant? It was in the heat of battle and I shouldn’t have done it, but I called our public relations person, Sharon Pannozzo. I asked her to ask Caray how six runs in eight innings can be brilliant. I should have known better.
Confusion and accusations continued, with Stone claiming Mercker screamed at and threatened him. In the end, Caray and Stone were fired, Mercker was traded, and nothing was satisfactorily explained. Furthermore, it must be the worst-documented incident in the history of baseball, because good luck finding anything about it online. If any of you kind readers out there can remember more details than me, please feel free to share.
ByKent Mercker is the left-handed side of two-headed “veteran presence” that’s been passing as the Reds’ closer since last year. Along with David Weathers (and recently Chris Hammond), he’s been charged with helping to preen the young pitchers with his voice of experience.
And boy does he have some. Mercker first broke into the majors as a starter in 1989 with Atlanta, where he pitched a no-hitter and stuck around until 1996. After that, he went the way of the journeyman, doing stints with:
So, if nothing else, Mercker can teach all of the young guys about the intricacies of the locker rooms in just about every major league city.
For a hard-core statistical analysis of Kent Mercker, check out his Better Know a Red Feature over at JinAZ’s site.
