# John Merida

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**John H. Merida** (May 1879 – May 13, 1911), nicknamed "**Snowball**", was an American [Negro league](/source/Negro_league) [catcher](/source/Catcher) and [second baseman](/source/Second_baseman) between 1907 and 1911.

A native of [Spiceland, Indiana](/source/Spiceland,_Indiana), Merida suited up for the Spiceland Academy (a local high school) until 1903. He was the only African American on the team during his tenure. He played semiprofessionally around [East Central Indiana](/source/East_Central_Indiana) through 1906 (even catching former major leaguer [Jot Goar](/source/Jot_Goar) on multiple occasions). A lone exception during this time was a stint Merida spent playing for Black baseball legend [Bud Fowler](/source/Bud_Fowler)'s Cincinnati Black Tourists in 1905.

He made his [Negro leagues](/source/Negro_leagues) debut in 1907 with the [Indianapolis ABCs](/source/Indianapolis_ABCs). He played three seasons with the ABCs. He was named captain and on-field manager for the ABCs during their 1908 season.

After a stint with the [Minneapolis Keystones](/source/Minneapolis_Keystones) in 1910, Merida finished his career in 1911 with the [Kansas City Royal Giants](/source/Kansas_City_Royal_Giants).[1][2][3] Merida died of spinal meningitis[4] in [Kansas City, Missouri](/source/Kansas_City,_Missouri) in 1911 at age 32.

## References

1. ["John Merida"](https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=merid01joh). seamheads.com. Retrieved April 15, 2021.

1. ["John Merida"](https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=merida000joh). baseball-reference.com. Retrieved April 15, 2021.

1. Darrel Radford (February 13, 2021). ["Historically Speaking: Remembering a Spiceland star"](https://www.thecouriertimes.com/news/historically-speaking-remembering-a-spiceland-star/article_ad218ffd-35b4-52df-8a92-c5d6d8598ce9.html). The Courier-Times. Retrieved April 10, 2021.

1. Missouri State Archives (1 Aug 2024). ["Missouri Death Certificates 1910-1973"](https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1911/1911_00017842.PDF)

## External links

and [Seamheads](https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=merid01joh)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Merida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Merida) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Merida?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.