Pepper Martin
| Pepper Martin | |||
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| Outfielder / Third baseman | |||
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Born: February 29, 1904 Temple, Oklahoma |
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Died: March 5, 1965 (aged 61) McAlester, Oklahoma |
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 16, 1928, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| October 4, 1944, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .298 | ||
| Home runs | 59 | ||
| Runs batted in | 501 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Johnny Leonard Roosevelt "Pepper" Martin (February 29, 1904 – March 5, 1965) was an American professional baseball player and minor league manager. He was known as the Wild Horse of the Osage because of his daring, aggressive baserunning abilities. Martin played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman and an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1930s and early 1940s. He was best known for his heroics during the 1931 World Series, in which he was the catalyst in a Cardinals' upset victory over the Philadelphia Athletics.
Martin was an integral member of the Cardinals' teams of the 1930s that became known as the Gashouse Gang for their roguish behavior and practical jokes. Early in his career, he was labeled by some contemporary press reports as the next Ty Cobb because of his spirited, hustling style of play. However, because his headlong attitude on the playing field took a physical toll on his body, he never lived up to those initial expectations. After the end of his playing career, he continued his career in baseball as a successful minor league baseball manager.
Born in Temple, Oklahoma, Martin moved to Oklahoma City with his parents at the age of six where he grew up playing baseball. He began his professional baseball career at the age of 19 when he signed to play as a shortstop in the Oklahoma State League for a team in Guthrie, Oklahoma. When the league folded in 1924, his contract was sold to the Greenville Hunters of the East Texas League. In 1925, he posted a .340 batting average in 98 games for the Hunters. He continued to post batting averages above the .300 mark and in 1927, he was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals to play for their affiliate, the Houston Buffaloes. He hit for a .306 average in 147 games with Houston, he earned a promotion to the major leagues.
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