Chief Meyers | |||
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Full Name: John Tortes "Chief" Meyers Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5-11 Weight: 194 lbs. Born: Jul 29, 1880 in Riverside, CA College: Dartmouth College Major League Debut: April 16, 1909 Died: Jul 25, 1971 San Bernardino, CA |
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CAREER BATTING STATISTICS |
BATTING | |||||||||||||||
Year | Team | Avg | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | K | OBP | SLG | OPS |
1909 | NYG | .277 | 90 | 220 | 15 | 61 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 30 | 22 | 0 | -- | .382 | -- |
1910 | NYG | .285 | 127 | 365 | 25 | 104 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 62 | 40 | 18 | -- | .342 | -- |
1911 | NYG | .332 | 133 | 391 | 48 | 130 | 18 | 9 | 1 | 61 | 25 | 33 | -- | .432 | -- |
1912 | NYG | .358 | 126 | 371 | 60 | 133 | 16 | 5 | 6 | 54 | 47 | 20 | -- | .477 | -- |
1913 | NYG | .312 | 120 | 378 | 37 | 118 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 47 | 37 | 22 | -- | .410 | -- |
1914 | NYG | .286 | 134 | 381 | 33 | 109 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 55 | 34 | 25 | -- | .354 | -- |
1915 | NYG | .232 | 110 | 289 | 24 | 67 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 26 | 26 | 18 | -- | .311 | -- |
1916 | BRO | .247 | 80 | 239 | 21 | 59 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 26 | 15 | -- | .314 | -- |
1917 | BRO | .212 | 47 | 132 | 8 | 28 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 7 | -- | .235 | -- |
1917 | BOS | .250 | 25 | 68 | 5 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | -- | .426 | -- |
1917 | Total | .225 | 72 | 200 | 13 | 45 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 17 | 11 | -- | .300 | -- |
AVG | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | K | OBP | SLG | OPS | ||
Totals | .291 | 992 | 2834 | 276 | 826 | 120 | 41 | 14 | 363 | 274 | 162 | .000 | .378 | .000 |
BATTING | BASERUNNING | MISC | ||||||||||
Year | Team | HBP | GDP | TB | IBB | SH | SF | SB | CS | SB% | AB/HR | AB/K |
1909 | NYG | 6 | 0 | 84 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 220.0 | 0.0 |
1910 | NYG | 4 | 0 | 125 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 365.0 | 20.3 |
1911 | NYG | 13 | 0 | 169 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 391.0 | 11.8 |
1912 | NYG | 8 | 0 | 177 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 61.8 | 18.6 |
1913 | NYG | 9 | 0 | 155 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 126.0 | 17.2 |
1914 | NYG | 8 | 0 | 135 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 381.0 | 15.2 |
1915 | NYG | 7 | 0 | 90 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | .500 | 289.0 | 16.1 |
1916 | BRO | 6 | 0 | 75 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0.0 | 15.9 |
1917 | BRO | 0 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0.0 | 18.9 |
1917 | BOS | 2 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0.0 | 17.0 |
1917 | Total | 2 | 0 | 60 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0.0 | 18.2 |
HBP | GDP | TB | IBB | SH | SF | SB | CS | SB% | AB/HR | AB/K | ||
Totals | 63 | 0 | 1070 | 0 | 55 | 0 | 44 | 4 | .917 | 202.4 | 17.5 |
CAREER FIELDING STATISTICS |
Year | Team | POS | G | PO | A | E | DP | FPCT |
1909 | NYG | C | 64 | 376 | 71 | 17 | 4 | .963 |
1910 | NYG | C | 117 | 638 | 154 | 25 | 16 | .969 |
1911 | NYG | C | 128 | 729 | 108 | 18 | 11 | .979 |
1912 | NYG | C | 122 | 576 | 111 | 19 | 10 | .973 |
1913 | NYG | C | 116 | 579 | 143 | 25 | 12 | .967 |
1914 | NYG | C | 126 | 487 | 150 | 20 | 16 | .970 |
1915 | NYG | C | 96 | 464 | 90 | 8 | 15 | .986 |
1916 | BRO | C | 74 | 389 | 95 | 8 | 9 | .984 |
1917 | BRO | C | 44 | 186 | 37 | 6 | 3 | .974 |
1917 | BOS | C | 24 | 113 | 37 | 0 | 3 | 1.000 |
1917 | Total | 68 | 299 | 74 | 6 | 6 | .984 | |
G | PO | A | E | DP | FPCT | |||
Totals | 911 | 4537 | 996 | 146 | 99 | .974 |
Like just about every other ballplayer of Native American descent in the early 20th century, star catcher
John Torres Meyers (a Cahuilla Indian from California) was called "Chief." After attending Dartmouth, he reached the major leagues at age 28 with the New York Giants
in 1909. Appearing in 90 games as a rookie, he caught over 100 games in each of the next six seasons, at the time an unusuaually
heavy schedule for a catcher.
The Giants won three straight pennants, from 1911 through 1913, as Meyers had his three best seasons, hitting
.332, .358, and .312. Although New York lost all three World Series, Meyers hit .300 in the 1911 Fall Classic and .357 in the
1912 Series. The wear and tear of catching so many games then took its toll on his bat. Traded to Brooklyn in 1916 he helped the
Robbins win a pennant. He retired as a player at age 37 in 1917 after nine seasons with a .291 career batting average for 992 games.
In 1920, while managing in a semipro game, he was booed. Disgusted, he quit baseball. Meyers later worked for the U.S. Department
of the Interior as an Indian supervisor. He scoffed at his nickname, Chief, bestowed
on virtually every athlete of Indian ancestry.
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