Lennie Merullo was honored by the Chicago Cubs at a June 2014 game, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch and leading the crowd in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch, part of the many events marking Wrigley Field’s 100th anniversary.
Even the most long-suffering Cubs fans might have had only vague memories of Merullo. He spent seven seasons as a Cubs infielder, playing mostly during the World War II years when many front-line ballplayers were in military service, and was never an All-Star. But he enjoyed a distinction that would elude hundreds of other Cubs who played at Wrigley in the last seven decades.