American baseball player (1915-2003)
Baseball player
Lambert Daniel "Little Dutch" Meyer
(October 7, 1915 ? January 19, 2003) was an
American
college football
player and
professional baseball
player
and
manager
, as well as the nephew of the famous and similarly named
Texas Christian University
football
coach
Leo "Dutch" Meyer
.
A native of
Waco, Texas
, Meyer played baseball and football at TCU in the 1930s. On the gridiron, he was the favorite target of future Hall of Fame Quarterback
Sammy Baugh
. He kicked the winning field goal in the famous 3-2 TCU victory over
LSU
in the 1936
Sugar Bowl
. The next year, he scored all the points in TCU's 16?6 victory over
Marquette
in the
Cotton Bowl Classic
.
Young Dutch took up a career in baseball upon graduating TCU. A
right-handed
batter and thrower, he stood 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and weighed 181 pounds (82 kg). He split his first pro season, 1937, between the
Knoxville Smokies
of the Class A1
Southern Association
and the
Chicago Cubs
of
Major League Baseball
. On June 23, he made his Major League debut as a
pinch runner
for the Cubs. The
Detroit Tigers
bought his contract in 1940, and he spent the next three seasons bouncing between Detroit and the
minor league
Buffalo Bisons
.
In 1942, Meyer left baseball to serve in
World War II
, joining the
U.S. Army Air Corps
. When he was discharged in 1945, he rejoined the Tigers who traded him to the
Cleveland Indians
. That season was Dutch's best, as he led the Indians in hits with 153 with an average of .292. After the 1947 season, he was traded to the
New York Yankees
, who demoted him to the minors.
After a few more seasons playing in the minors, he became a manager, making stops in
Gladewater, Texas
,
Dallas
,
Tulsa, Oklahoma
, and
Fayetteville, North Carolina
. With the
Dallas Eagles
in 1952, he coached
Dave Hoskins
, the first African-American player in the minor league
Texas League
.
[1]
While managing in Tulsa in 1955, Meyer got into a serious argument with a young
Roger Maris
. Maris was in a terrible slump and Meyer devised a series of drills to help his youthful right fielder, but Maris refused to do them. Meyer kicked Maris off the team, and was subsequently fired. Six years later Maris would break
Babe Ruth's
single-season home run record with the Yankees.
After retiring from baseball in 1956, Meyer also had a career in the oil and Insurance businesses. He died on January 19, 2003, in
Fort Worth, Texas
.
References
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