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Pivotal World Series Moments
Pepper Strikes Again
1931 World Series Game 5: St. Louis Cardinals @ Philadelphia Athletics
Cardinals CF Pepper Martin was having a sensational World Series. In the first four games, he had nine hits in 14 at-bats for a 0.642 average. But he wasn't finished tormenting the A's. He later cited Game 5 as his best of the Series.
The teams were tied at two games apiece as they took the field for the pivotal fifth game. Waite Hoyt took the mound for the A's to face Bill Hallahan, the Cards' southpaw who was the winning pitcher in Game 2.
St. Louis manager Gabby Street decided to move his best offensive weapon, Pepper Martin, to the cleanup spot, and the move paid off right away.
Pinch Runner Scores Cards' First Run
The Cards wasted no time taking the lead. 3B Sparky Adams led off the game with a single past third base. Since Adams pulled a muscle in his leg turning first base, Andy High pinch ran for him.
That turned out to be a good move. After RF George Watkins flew out, 2B Frankie Frisch singled, and High made it to third, which a lame Adams couldn't have done. Martin then hit a long fly to left field to score High. Cardinals 1 Athletics 0
   L-R: Pepper Martin, Waite Hoyt, Bill Hallahan Martin Triples Cards' Lead
The Cards finally added to their lead in the 6th. With one out, Frisch lined a double down the left field line. Let Martin tell what happened next.
I was up again. I think Hoyt got a little careless with me ... or maybe he figured I'd try to get Frisch to third by laying one down ... because he put a pitch right down the middle and took a couple of steps as if to field the ball. It looked so good, I couldn't help swinging, and the ball went into the left-field stands for a homer ... my first in my first World Series.
Frisch waited for me at the plate and held out his hand. "If you'd a bunted that ball and made me run, I'd a died between third and home," he said. "That's the way to hit ... so old man Frisch can walk home." Cardinals 3 Athletics 0 As they had multiple times in the previous two games in Philadelphia, the home crowd gave Martin "a thunderous ovation."
    L-R: George Watkins, Frankie Frisch, Chick Hafey, Jim Bottomley, Jimmie Wilson The A's finally got to Hallahan in the seventh. With one out, LF Al Simmons lined a single to left-center field. 1B Jimmie Foxx then singled that bounced off the pitcher, allowing Simmons to make it to third. RF Bing Miller grounded to third and beat the relay throw to first to avoid the double play and allow Simmons to score. 3B Jimmie Dykes kept the inning alive with a single to third. But Hallahan got SS Dib Williams to popout to second to end the threat. Cardinals 3 Athletics 1
Cards Increase Lead off Walberg
The Redbirds salted the game away with single runs in the eighth and ninth off Rube Walberg. With one out in the eighth, Watkins drew a walk stole second. After Frisch popped out, Martin came up. As he recalled, "I got a single in the eighth to score Watkins, and then I tried to steal another base, but this time Cochrane nailed me easy. But we'd won the game ... that was the main thing."
Martin's hit was his third straight and accounted for his fourth RBI in a World Series game to tie the record. It was his twelfth hit in five games, tying the World Series record set by Buck Herzog in eight games in 1912 and tied by Joe Jackson in eight games in 1919 and Sam Rice in seven games in 1925.
    L-R: Al Simmons, Jimmie Foxx, Bing Miller, Jimmie Dykes Another example of the crowd's affection for Martin happened in the eighth inning when Cochrane threw out Pepper trying to steal second. Roy Stockton wrote in the St. Louis Post Dispatch: "... the crowd was pullling for Pepper and yelled its disapproval of Umpire [Dolly] Stark's decision."
In the ninth, Hafey beat out a single to third. Bottomley forced him at second, then scampered to third on C Jimmie Wilson's single. SS Charlie Gelbert singled home Bottomley. Cardinals 5 Athletics 1
Hallahan finished his masterful performance in the ninth by striking out PH Joe Boley with two on. He allowed nine hits but walked only one, and just runner scored.
FINAL SCORE: CARDINALS 5 ATHLETICS 1
An article in The Philadelphia Inquirer the next day revealed an astounding mistake the A's had made before the World Series.
If the Athletics are divested of their world baseball supremacy, they can charge it up to experience. Their staff of strategists made only one mistake. Perhaps it was just an oversight. But the fact remains that Connie Mack's intelligence corps slipped up on a very important item when it was drawing up plans for the present World Series. It neglected to scout Pepper Martin. Yes, sir, it came out late yesterday in a fanning bee outside the Cardinals' clubhouse. A member of the Cardinal staff was having the time of his life telling about it. "Get this. Those fellows had a scout trailing us for a month before the season closed. And who were they watching? Why, Hafey and Bottomley, of course. They could'a told you what time Jim and Chick went to bed every night. But did they give this Pepper a tumble? No, sir, he was just a rookie, and what did they care about him? Boy, oh boy, how they've learned to care! "They haven't the least idea what to throw him, and he has them in the hole every time he comes up. They don't know whether he's a going to hit one a mile or bunt one down the line. What a ball player!" Reference
My Greatest Day in Baseball As told to John P. Carmichael and other noted sportswriters (1945) The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, Peter Golenbock (2000) Pepper Martin: A Baseball Biography, Thomas Barthel (2003) |