Comeback in 1931 At Age 33
Returning to baseball sans tonsils, Meine had the best year of his career in 1931. Having never won more than seven games in a season for the Pirates, Meine compiled a 19–13 record for the 1931 Pirates. In his first two games against the 1931 St. Louis Cardinals, he pitched shutouts against the group that went on to win 101 games and the 1931 World Series. He won his 19th game on September 23, 1931, pitching 13 innings in a 3–2 win over the Phillies. His 1931 performance led the National League in wins (19), innings pitched (284), and batters faced (1,202), and ranked fourth in earned run average (2.98).
After the 1931 season, Meine participated in an exhibition game at St. Louis between Max Carey's All-Stars (an all-star team of major leaguers) and the St. Louis Stars of the Negro Leagues. Meine gave up 10 runs as the Stars won 10–8. The game may have inspired Kevin King's 2007 fictional account of a Negro League team defeating a team of major league all-stars. In King's account, Negro League star Mule Suttles tries to recall the list of major league all-stars who played in the game: "Heinie Manush, Heinie Meine, Heinie Schuble. They had Heinies coming out of the hiney, and we kicked their hineys."
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