"Meerns" query

[Gerald Cohen]

     I have come across "Meerns" as a term of address in a 1913 sports
article but am unable to determine its exact meaning.  It does not
seem to be listed in the dictionaries.

     The word appears in the newspaper _San Francisco Bulletin_, March
11, 1913, p. 18, cols. 5-6, over the photograph of former baseball
player Bill Lange. The relevant sentence is:

'As Pop Anson would pause to remark, "I knew him when he was the
equal of a bum baseball player they call Tyrus Raymond Cobb." Yes,
Meerns, that was some years ago.'

     Would anyone have any suggestions?

---Gerald Cohen
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