Eddie Dyer - From Baseball To The Business World

From Baseball To The Business World

The 1946 world championship was Dyer’s high-water mark as Cardinal manager. The following season, Brooklyn upset the balance of power in the NL by boldly breaking the color line. In May, the Cardinals became embroiled in a hotly denied rumor that they planned to strike, rather than permit Jackie Robinson on a major league diamond — although Dyer was not implicated in the rumor. More damaging, for the next decade, the Cardinals would lag behind most of the other NL clubs in signing African-American players. Overall, the Cardinals reverted to bridesmaid status, finishing second in the National League from 1947 to 1949, although they trailed the Dodgers by only one game in 1949. With the team’s legendary farm system struggling without its founder — Branch Rickey, the very man who brought Robinson to Brooklyn — the Cardinals’ quarter-century of baseball dominance was coming to an end. In 1950, they fell to fifth and Dyer turned in his resignation.

During his five years as St. Louis manager, the Cardinals won 446 games and lost 325 for a stellar .578 winning percentage. But Dyer preferred to manage his thriving Houston-area businesses rather than seek another managing job in baseball. He died at age 64 in Houston, a year after suffering a stroke.