A catcher who spent most of his 19-year (1910–1928) playing career in the minor leagues, he threw and batted right-handed, and was listed as 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall and 170 pounds (77 kg). Meyer broke into the majors with the 1913 Chicago White Sox, but played only one game. Three years later, when he returned to the American League with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1916, he appeared in 50 games for a squad that won only 36 games and lost 117. The following year, he played in 62 games for an A\'s club that improved by 19 games, but still posted a poor 55–98 mark.\n', '

Then, a generation-and-a-half later, Meyer piloted the 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates to the third-worst record in modern National League history, the Bucs winning only 42 of 154 games.\n', '

Meyer was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, to William and Carrie Meyer. His father, born in the Grand Duchy of Baden in Germany, had emigrated to the United States at age 16 and operated a brewery in Knoxville. Meyer started playing baseball in grade school when his father bought him a catcher\'s mitt to catch his older brother. His hero was catcher Johnny Kling. He was a good student until high school when baseball became such a primary focus that it even resulted in a school suspension. His father also owned a brewery in Smithton, Pennsylvania, for a time and the younger Meyer worked there during vacation. During his sophomore year of high school, Meyer was offered $75 per month to catch for a Lakeland, Florida, team, but he was expected to inherit the brewery so his father resisted the idea. He went regardless, and played so well that a Sanford, Florida, team offered him $175 per month to play for them. He caught for other Florida teams and finally hit a championship-winning home run for Gainesville, Florida. When he returned to Tennessee with $250, his father never protested against baseball again. \n', '

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