How the Merrills channel their 'Merrill Madness' to grow the game

This story was excerpted from AJ Cassavell’s Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SAN DIEGO -- Jackson Merrill was 16 years old playing youth baseball in Maryland when he was approached with the opportunity to play for an elite travel ball team in North Carolina.

The only thing Merrill loved more than playing baseball was challenging himself playing baseball. But travel ball in North Carolina would be a major commitment for the Merrills. The cost of the team, the cost of the travel, the cost of equipment -- as any parent of a ballplayer can attest -- would be a burden.

“We were fortunate to be both teachers, but yet it was still a struggle to come up with a lot of funds for travel ball, especially when he got older,” said Josh Merrill, Jackson’s dad.

Merrill’s parents made decent salaries. But this would be a significant investment. They thought hard about it. They prayed about it. And, well, the answer was obvious: Jackson wanted to play; they would make it work.

That meant second jobs. Josh delivered papers for extra cash at 4 a.m. and drove for Uber. Jackson's mom, Jennie, the drama team at their church and taught extra classes for FutureMakers and with the robotics club at school.

And then, on most weekends, they’d make the hours-long drive to North Carolina to see Jackson play. It was the first time a young Jackson Merrill began to think of what might be possible. It was also the first time he played with kids more talented than him, and he said it gave him a realization of the work he needed to put in.

But most importantly, Merrill -- through the support of his parents -- was having the time of his life.

“I think every parent should be supportive of whatever their kid loves to do,” Jackson said. “If your kid wants to play a sport, support that. You never know how it could pan out. I don’t think my parents knew how I was going to pan out. But they knew I was having fun doing it.”

Now, the Merrills are doing their best to ensure that dream is possible for other families. Through the Merrill Madness Foundation, they raise money with the mission “to help families in need who are always on the field pursuing their child's dream of baseball or softball by assisting with equipment, travel, and mental health.”

“It’s not necessarily that the kid gets a D-1 scholarship or gets drafted,” Josh said. “Just that they have the opportunity to play.”

This Players Weekend, MLB is recognizing the causes that are closest to players’ hearts. For Merrill, it’s this. He’s now a star center fielder for the Padres -- and he isn’t sure if he would’ve been without the efforts of his parents. But forging future big leaguers isn’t the objective here.

“You never know what kids could have going on outside the field,” Merrill said. “If you get kids going to the ballpark, it gives them that time, gets their minds off things. You never know what that could do for their actual lives.”

Presently, the Merrill Madness Foundation accepts applications for aid and features a seven-person panel that allocates resources -- generally (but not exclusively) to players on travel ball teams in San Diego and Maryland.

“We love ball,” Jennie said. “We’ve loved ball for a long, long time. To see other families that love it as much as we do get that opportunity -- it just makes your momma heart happy.”

The Merrills have raised money in various ways. They’ve capitalized on Jackson’s celebrity (signed bats, balls, etc.) to an extent. But the charity began before Merrill’s rise to the big leagues with the hashtag #MerrillMadness.

They’d been wearing shirts with that hashtag for more than a decade -- as long as they could remember spending their weekends at the baseball field.

“People would say you’re crazy for being here all weekend,” Josh recalled.

“And I said, ‘Well, that’s Merrill madness for you,’” Jennie said.

The moniker stuck.

In the spring of 2024, Jennie was putting the finishing touches on the foundation and its merchandise. She hit publish on the site, quite literally, as the family was taking off for Spring Training in Arizona. They wore #MerrillMadness shirts as they tailgated games at the Peoria Sports Complex -- and they found their first customers in the form of interested Padres fans who’d heard of Merrill as an intriguing prospect and wanted to support the cause.

Eighteen months later, Merrill is a star, and his childhood basement is full of #MerrillMadness gear, with requests for it from all over the country. They recently got their first overseas order from the United Kingdom.

“I don’t have a man cave anymore,” Josh said with a laugh.

Jennie and Josh handle the shipping themselves. Every sale goes directly to the charity, meaning every sale goes directly to a kid looking for an opportunity to play baseball or softball -- and a family doing its best to support that dream.

“It means a lot to us,” Jennie said. “We saw what our friends were going through. We knew what we were going through. And we didn’t have it as bad as some other people. We wanted to help. Because you don’t know if there’s another Jackson Merrill in there. That 10-year-old boy that wants to play travel ball -- can’t afford the bat, can’t afford the fees for the year -- if we could help with that, that could give them a chance.”