Better than a Baster-When a Card is not a Card Edition

When is a card not a card? Although listed in the Standard Catalogue of Baseball Cards the Orbit Gum Pins are NOT Baseball Cards but are collectable none the less. For a little less than the price of a blaster at your local big box store I snagged a 1932 Orbit Gum Pins PR2 #21 Pepper Martin. This is the first contemporary “card” of Pepper Martin to hit our collection.

Pepper was a legendary member of the Gashouse Gang. Born Johnny Leonard Roosevelt "Pepper" Martin on February 29, 1904 in Oklahoma. Because of his base running skills he was known as the “Wild Horse of the Osage”. Pepper signed with the Cardinals in 1927 and played with the Cardinal’s minor league Houston Buffaloes. After hitting .306 in 147 games he got the call up to the Majors.

He made his Redbird debut on April 16, 1928 at the age of 24. That year the Cardinals won the NL Pennant and he played a solid role as utility player and hit .308 in 39 games. He did get in to one game of the 1928 Series as a pinch runner. However, the Cardinals were swept by the Yanks in four games. (With Dizzy below)

Though Pepper performed well during his time in the bigs he was sent back to the minors in 1929 and again played with the Buffaloes. In 1930 he was promoted to the Rochester Red Wings were he hit 20 home runs, hit .363, and had a .63 slugging percentage. The Red Wings won the International League title in 1930 and then the Junior World Series. On a side note the Red Wing are still in existence and I was able to take in a game in Rochester back in the early 2000s. At that time they were the Orioles Triple-A team. But since 2003 they have been the Twins Triple-A franchise.

Finally, Pepper was called up again in 1931 and replaced struggling Taylor Douthit in center field. Because of Martin’s performance Douthit was traded by Branch Rickey to the Reds in June of that year. For the 1931 season he had a .300 batting average and 7 home runs. Cardinals captured the 1931 NL Pennant.

The 1931 World Series against the Philadelphia, Kansas City, Oakland A’s-a little sarcasm-since the As were better and more popular than the Phillies. Perhaps the Phillies should have moved? Now I digress-when teams move the new location shouldn’t have any rights to claim the history the team had before their move since that history belongs to the people of Philadelphia, New York, Brooklyn, and Washington. UPDATE yesterday an article in the Houston Chronicle asked should the Oiler's history be returned from Nashville.

The As were favorites and expected to win their third straight World Series under Connie Mack. They defeated the Redbirds the previous World Series and expected to do the same in 1931. In Game 1-though the Redbirds lost-Pepper had three hits, a stolen base, and one RBI. In Game 2 he played an instrumental part in the Redbirds victory. The game was a pitching due between Lefty Grove and Bill Hallahan and Pepper went crazy. He stretched a single in to a double, stole third, then scored on sacrifice fly and scored the first run of the game in second inning. In the seventh he hit a single, stole second base, went to third on a fielder’s choice, then scored on a squeeze bunt. That is all that Hallahan would need for the Redbirds to win Game 2 on his three-hit shutout.

Cardinals traveled to Philly for Game 3 where the Redbirds won in large part because of his two hits, including a double, and his two scores. Game 4 saw the Redbirds hitting take a day off except for Pepper who had the only two Redbird hits. Game 5 was the game that made the legend of Pepper Martin. He propelled the Redbirds to victory. He drove home four runs on two singles-a home run, and a sac fly. For the remaining two games he was held hitless but did make a catch the ended an As rally in the 9th of Game 7. That did for the Redbirds as they won the Series. Think he didn’t make the difference? For the series he hit .500 while his team mates hit a whopping .205.

From Wiki “During the series, Martin was asked how he had learned to run so fast; he replied, "I grew up in Oklahoma, and once you start runnin' out there there ain't nothin' to stop you". Longtime major league manager, John McGraw, described Martin's performance as "the greatest individual performance in the history of the World Series." In December, he was selected as male athlete of the year by the Associated Press.”

The 1932 Season was tough on Pepper as he suffered from numerous injuries and the Redbirds ended the season in seventh. In 1933 Pepper had a much better season leading the league in hitting with a .363 average.  As a result of this performance he was selected as the starting third baseman for the first ever All-Star Game in 1933. The Cardinals did better and finished fifth in the Division and he finished fifth in MVP voting.

The Redbirds beat out the Giants, who had a seven game led, for the 1934 NL Pennant. He led the league in stolen bases and even pitched once as a reliever. The Cardinals faced the Tigers in the World Series. Down three games to two the Redbirds won the last two and the Series. This sounds like a reversal of the 1968 Series against these same Tigers. Pepper had a great series and had eleven hits, a .355 average, two stolen bases, but had three errors in the game and four for the series-a record at that time. The 1934 team must of have been off the rails as they “earned” the nickname the Gas House Gang by their antics-this team included Leo Durocher, Dizzy Dean and Joe Medwick among others.

Even though he had 30 errors during the 1935 season! He was selected as starting third baseman for the 1935 All-Star Game. After this season GM Branch Rickey “asked Martin to curtail his extra-curricular activities. Already well known as a hunting and fishing enthusiast, Martin had taken up the hobby of midget car racing and was also playing in football and basketball games during the winter months. He also became the vice-president and general manager of an Oklahoma City ice hockey team.”

In 1936 the Cardinals finished in second to the New York Giants after a hard battle.  The hard play of Pepper had taken a toll on him and in 1937 he became more of a part-time player. In 1939, following Leo “The Lip” Durocher’s trade to the Dodgers he became the captain if the team. He had solid season and as a part-timer he hit .306 in 88 games. During the 1940 season the cardinals made him player manager of the Pacific Coast League Sacramento Solons. Under his leadership the Solons would win the PCL championship in 1942 for the first time in 38 years.

Due to the Second World War the Cardinals called up the 40 year-old Martin to fill out the team in 1944. He hit .279, and had a .386 OBP in 40 games. Though the Cardinals made it to the World Series he didn’t make the roster. Thus making October 1st, 1944 his final game as Major Leaguer.

After his Major League career he went on to coach several minor league teams for several different Major League teams and even as Cubs’ Manager; San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, Greenville Spinners of the South Atlantic League, Miami Sun Sox of the Florida International League, Fort Lauderdale Lions, Portsmouth Merrimacs, Tulsa Oilers, and his final position as manager with the Miami Marlins in 1959.

Pepper died on March 5, 1965, after suffering a heart attack. Amazingly Ruby his wife passed just after her 99th birthday in 2009! (with Ruby above)