Edwin Hawley Dyer was born October 11, 1899, in Morgan City, Louisiana, the fourth of seven children of Joseph M. and Alice Natalie Dyer. Baseball encyclopedias give his birth date as 1900, but his son Eddie Jr. says he subtracted a year from his age when he entered professional ball. U.S. census and military draft records confirm this. He was an outstanding football, baseball and track and field athlete as part of the Morgan City High School, Class of 1917.\n', '

His father owned a general store and a lumber yard and served as mayor of Morgan City, but lost it all during a recession before World War I and moved his family to Houston, Texas where an oil boom was just beginning. Dyer earned an athletic scholarship to Rice Institute and lettered in three sports (football, baseball, track), winning the Southwest Conference championship in the broad jump and earning a berth on the All-SWC football team in 1920. He was the Owl\'s football captain in 1921. He was also All-SWC in each of his three years of varsity baseball (1919, 1920, 1921). He pitched a no-hitter against Baylor\'s Ted Lyons, later a Hall of Fame pitcher for the White Sox. Dyer left school two credits short of graduation in 1922 when Branch Rickey gave him a $2,500 bonus to sign with the Cardinals. The money paid off his father\'s debts and put his youngest brother, Sammy, through one year of college. In 1936, Dyer completed requirements for his bachelor\'s degree from Rice.\n', '

The 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), 168 lb (76 kg) Dyer was a versatile player, playing outfield and first base in addition to pitching. He made his debut with the Cardinals on the mound on July 8, 1922 and pitched twice in relief before he was farmed out to Syracuse, at the highest minor-league level.\n', "

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