Initially signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent in 1942, Meyer spent 1943 performing United States Army service during World War II. While pitching for his camp team, Meyer was stricken with appendicitis, then contracted peritonitis; he was given a medical discharge and released by the White Sox organization.[2] He signed with the crosstown Cubs, spent three seasons in the Class A1 (now Double-A) Southern Association, and made his major league debut with the Cubs on September 13, 1946.
Among Meyer's ten full big-league seasons, two stand out. In 1949, with the Phillies, he won 17 of 25 decisions with a 3.08 earned run average (seventh in the National League), as Philadelphia finished in the first division for only the second time since World War I. Then, in his maiden campaign for the Dodgers in 1953, he went 15–5, for a sparkling .750 winning percentage. However, his ERA was a poor 4.56 and he surrendered 25 home runs in 1911⁄3innings pitched—testimony to the Dodgers' potent offense and the intimate dimensions of Ebbets Field, where Meyer's earned run average was 5.28.[3] That season, Brooklyn won 105 games and its second consecutive National League pennant.
Several years after his active career ended, he became a minor leaguepitching coach in the Yankees' organization, and served one season (1992) on the MLB staff of Yankees' managerBuck Showalter.[4] On May 6, 1961, Meyer served as a television color commentator alongside Bob Finnegan for a game between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox on CBS. He died in 1997 at age 74.
Meyer was the first of three pitchers in major league history to have at least 23 consecutive road starts without a loss: Allie Reynolds has the record with 25, spanning the 1948 and 1949 seasons, a feat Kansas City Royals pitcher Chris Young nearly matched. Meyer had 24 consecutive road starts without a loss during the 1953 and 1954 seasons.[5]
