Manager League Baseball Player, Manager. He is best remembered for leading the St. Louis Cardinals to the 1946 World Series title in his first season as a manager. The left-handed pitcher attended Rice Institute from 1918 to 1922 and fired a no-hitter in a matchup against Baylor's Ted Lyons. He was a Branch Rickey protege who was with the Cardinals from 1922 until he left the club in 1927 after a dispute with manager Rogers Hornsby. He went to Syracuse of the International League but injured his arm on June 30, 1927 and gave up pitching. For his career, he was 15-15 with a 4.75 earned run average and 10 complete games in 23 starts. He became a player-manager as an outfielder for six years in the minor leagues from 1928 to 1933. He continued to manage in the Cardinals' system, including the Houston affiliate in the Texas League to first-place finishes from 1939 to 1941. When Billy Southworth left St. Louis to manage the Boston Braves after the 1945 season, Dyer was named as his successor. In making the annoucement, club owner Sam Breadon said, "I consider him the best judge of young players in the country." The Cardinals, with such stars as Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, Marty Marion, Red Schoendienst, Whitey Kurowski and Howie Pollet, went 96-58 and tied the Brooklyn Dodgers for first place. The Cardinals won the best-of-three playoff 2-0 and then beat the Boston Red Sox in seven games on Slaughter's memorable dash to the plate. St. Louis finished second to Brooklyn in 1947, to Boston in 1948 and to Brooklyn by a game in 1949. When the Cardinals slipped to fifth with a 78-75 record in 1950, Dyer rejected the Cardinals' one-year offer and returned to his many business interests in Houston. During the off-seasons, he went back to Rice to complete his degree and helped coach the baseball team. He also got a foothold in the oil, real estate and other businesses. Two of his partners were Pollet, whom he thought of as a son, and Cardinals infielder Joffre Cross.