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Thomas Barthel. Pepper Martin: A Baseball Biography. Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2003. 232 pp. Paper, $28.50.
John Leonard Roosevelt "Pepper" Martin is a baseball great from the 1930$ whose accomplishments are often forgotten in the modern baseball era, with its emphasis on the home run. The "Wild Horse of the Osage" was a scrappy outfielder and third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals whose game featured aggressive base running and speed. Martin's accomplishments are resurrected in this biography by SABR member Thomas Barthel.
Martin was born in 1904, the last of seven children in a poor, rural Oklahoma family. After moving to Oklahoma City young Martin struggled in school and worked to support the family. Displaying outstanding speed Martin developed a passion for baseball. In 1924 he was playing for Guthrie in the Oklahoma State League, but he completed the season with Greenville in the East Texas League. Although his fielding was inconsistent, Martin showed enough promise at the plate and on the base paths to catch the attention of Branch Rickey and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Martin was signed by the Cardinals and in 1925 played for Fort Smith, Arkansas, where team owner Blake Harper allegedly invented the nickname "Pepper" to describe his enthusiastic new player. In the spring of 1926 Martin was advanced to Syracuse and then demoted to Houston for the 1927 campaign. In Houston Martin's fielding improved when he was...