Meyer Makes the Most of Experience

by Matt Rogers

I once worked with a college baseball coach who had this hand-written saying on a 3 X 5 index card tacked to his office bulletin board:

TEACHING IS PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE

So is learning. Problem is, learning is associated primarily with young people and they’re typically not long on patience.

The perseverance. That’s the key, right? Well, when you get down to it, commitment to endure is rooted in the first “P” word. Work ethic alone and patience don’t necessarily go together. Most of us have intimate personal experience with that reality.

If you’re a ball player, learning to play the game the right way – the way Hooks second baseman Drew Meyer does – isn’t a foregone conclusion.

In fact, a grade of Incomplete in the subject is all too common.

Meyer made a splash when he won the third base job on his high school team as an eighth-grader. Dave Morrow, head coach at Bishop England in Charleston, South Carolina, took a lot of heat. Predictably, his courageous decision fired up some moms and dads. Five seniors quit in protest. Meyer hit .469 and made all-conference.

He later became the godfather of Morrow’s two children. When Morrow was killed by a drunk driver two years ago at 39, Meyer took a day’s leave of absence from the Oklahoma Redhawks to fly home and serve as a pallbearer.

Meyer made a splash as a gold medal-winning member of the 1999 USA Baseball Junior National Team, which captured the world championship in Taiwan.

He made a splash for coach Ray Tanner and the South Carolina Gamecocks after turning down the Los Angeles Dodgers, who made him a 1999 second-round selection. In 2002, he led USC to a runner-up finish at the College World Series. Meyer hit .359 and earned All-SEC and All-America honors.

Meyer made a splash in June of 2002, when he was selected 10th overall by the Texas Rangers. He ultimately reached the Major Leagues on April 21, 2006, and went 2-for-5 in a 13-7 win over Tampa Bay.

And though he didn’t stay at that level, Meyer is still a difference-making splasher with the 2009 Corpus Christi Hooks.

Playing the game the right way began at home with his father, Frank. It continued with Morrow and Tanner.

“From day one, my dad was always there,” Meyer remembered. “In the neighborhood, we played every day. He saved up a bucket of balls and we’d go hit on the field, hit in the cage, play long toss and take lots of grounders. I just always did that. It wasn’t something he forced my brother and me to do, we just wanted to.

“When I got to high school, Dave really stuck out his neck. That’s something I’ll always remember. He was very influential in my development. Dave would come up to Columbia and watch me play. He was supportive then, even helped financially. He’d say, ‘go get something good to eat.’”

At Sarge Frye Field, it was Tanner’s world.

“Ray is a good college coach,” Meyer stated. “He’s hard-nosed. If you didn’t do it his way, you were in trouble. There were some great players ahead of me there, guys like Adam Everett and Brian Roberts. Watching them play, you knew to do what he said because he knows what he’s talking about.

“Ray’s the kind of coach who makes you a better player and a better person.”

Others have reinforced the lessons Meyer learned as an amateur star. At 27 and in his eighth year of playing for pay, Meyer is in a position to give back and takes the responsibility seriously.

“I was signed to lead,” he said. “At first, the Astros didn’t know whether they would send me to Triple-A or here, but Ricky (assistant GM Bennett) told me, ‘go to Double-A and be a leader.’”

Meyer and catcher Brian Esposito, another former Rangers farmhand, play significant roles in taking care of the clubhouse.

“They (the field staff) know us and feel comfortable coming to us,” Meyer explained. “They know we’ll give them honest opinions. Sometimes it’s little things like, ‘do you guys want to take BP? Think we’ve been taking too much?’”

He readily admits playing streaky baseball is personally maddening and isn’t afraid to stress the “right way” to younger teammates.

“I see why losing teams are losing teams. They make three or four mental mistakes a day and it’s frustrating when it happens day after day. Guys have to figure it out or they’ll never advance. You have to learn the small things or you’ll never move up.”

Expecting to win is another part of the equation.

“You have to think in these terms: this is our game, this is our half,” Meyer said of the Texas League race. “When I come to the park, I think we’re going to win every night. I know that’s not realistic, but you have to approach things that way. Tonight I’ll get a key hit, make a big play. If you don’t come that way, I don’t understand why you’re playing baseball.

“You have to look at that pitcher and know you’re better than he is. Confidence is everything. Even if you feel bad, trick yourself. You’re wrong, You feel awesome today!”

That’s good advice for anyone who holds down a job.

“The younger guys, sometimes you have to get on them a little more. They know, they just need a reminder. It all reinforces what came before, the accountability.

“And playing the game the right way, making the right decisions, well, reminding them to do so helps me stay sharp myself. It makes me a better player.”

Self-taught patience and perseverance.