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

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

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

who played from 1935 through 1941 for the

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

(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 a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

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

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. 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 criminal 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 ma ...

and

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions 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 out ...

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 ano ...

s and a .315

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

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. The award has been presented by the Baseball Writers' ...

vote, after hitting .251 and

slugging Slugging, also known as casual carpooling and flexible carpooling, is the practice of forming ad hoc, informal carpools for purposes of commuting, essentially a variation of 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 Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

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). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

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 ...

. 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 1940 Cincinnati Reds season, Cincinnati Reds against the 1940 Detroit Tigers season, Detroit Tigers, with the Reds winning a closely contested seven-game series. The victory secured the Reds the second champions ...

against

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. 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 an American professional baseball third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees (1930, 1933), Boston Red Sox (1933–1936), Philadelphia Athletics (1937� ...

.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) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

, 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 baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

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 th ...

. Myers died at the age of 84 in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

, 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 Fort Wayne Chiefs players 20th-century American sportsmen