William Harrison Myers (August 14, 1910 – April 10, 1995) was a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played from 1935 through 1941 for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

(1935–1940) and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

(1941). Listed at 5' 8", 168 lb., Myers batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Enola,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. His younger brother, Lynn, was also a major leaguer. Billy Myers Reds

Major league player

Myers hit .313 for Triple-A Columbus in 1934 before joining Cincinnati in 1935, to become the Reds' starting shortstop for the next six seasons and served as their team captain. A valuable defensive player, he was recognized as a master of reading baserunners' intents and picking up

hit-and-run In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there may be an ...

and

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

signs from opposing teams. In his rookie season, Myers hit .267 with 30

extra base hit In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any base hit on which the batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error or opting to make a throw to retire anot ...

s and a .315

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

in 117 games. In 1937 was considered in the

National League MVP The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers' ...

vote, after hitting .251 and

slugging Slugging, also known as casual carpooling, is the practice of forming ad hoc, informal carpools for purposes of commuting, essentially a variation of ride-share commuting and hitchhiking. A driver picks up these non-paying passengers (known as ...

.370 with a .328 OBP in 124 games. His most productive season came in 1939, when he posted career-numbers in games (130), runs (79),

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s (12) and RBI (56), while hitting .281, also a career-high. He was included in the MVP vote for the second time and also appeared in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

against the

Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

. But Myers is best remembered for his game-winning

sacrifice fly In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

in Game 7 of the

1940 World Series The 1940 World Series matched the Cincinnati Reds against the Detroit Tigers, with the Reds winning a closely contested seven-game series. The victory secured the Reds the second championship in their franchise history and came 21 years after th ...

against

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. During the 1939 and 1940 pennant-winning seasons, he was also a part of the Reds' "Jungle Club" infield and was nicknamed "Jaguar" by teammate

Billy Werber William Murray Werber (June 20, 1908 – January 22, 2009) was a third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees (1930, 1933), Boston Red Sox (1933–1936), Philadelphia Athletics (1937–1938), Cincinnati Reds (1939– ...

.Neyer, Rob (2003).
Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups
'. Simon and Schuster. p. 68. In a seven-season career, Myers was a .257 hitter with 45 home runs and 243 RBI in 738 games, including 319 runs, 88 doubles, 33

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, 23

s and a .328 OBP. He collected a .946

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

in 712 games at shortstop and hit .200 (7-for-35) in 11 World Series games.

Post-career

Following his playing retirement, Myers scouted for various teams for several years. In 1966, he gained induction into the

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is an entity established by Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds franchise that pays homage to the team's past through displays, photographs and multimedia. It was instituted in 1958 to recognize the ...

. Myers died at the age of 84 in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

, Pennsylvania.

References

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Myers, Billy Cincinnati Reds players Chicago Cubs players Waynesboro Red Birds players Waynesboro Villagers players Major League Baseball shortstops Baseball players from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania 1910 births 1995 deaths