July 29, 1933: Pepper Martin Walks It Off In The Tenth

     On July 29, 1933, Pepper Martin ended a ten inning affair with a three run walk off blast to beat the Cubs at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

     The Birds flew out of the gate early in this one, scoring four runs in the second, before the Baby Bears answered back with two of their own in the fourth on a two run home run by Babe Herman. The Birds got one of those back in the bottom of the fourth, but they would have a fight on their hands, as the Chicago squad was desperate to stop a losing streak.

     Martin knocked in a run in the sixth to make it a 6-2 ballgame, which may have seemed to be a comfortable lead, but as we all know a game does not end in the sixth, and the Cubs knew that too. It seems the man that knew it real well was Babe Herman, as he hit his second home run of the day in the seventh to make it 6-4. The heat was on, and it would get hotter in the ninth, when a single by Kiki Cuyler, a double by Frank Demaree, and a key pinch hit by Woody English pushed two runs across to tie it up at 6-6. Up to that point Tex Carleton looked like he would secure the victory for the Redbirds, but he handed the ball over to Jesse Haines, after getting one out in the ninth that unraveled in a haste. Haines was charged with the second run, but would end up getting the win, as he set the table for Martin to win it with the big blast in the tenth.

     A hero of the World Series winning club of 1931, Martin had a run of bad luck in '32, which may have had some pundits questioning if he would be able to match the production that helped lift the Cardinals to the top of the heap. He answered those questions with a career year, in which he hit .316, led the National League in runs scored with 122, and stolen bases with 26. Never known for his pop, The Wild Horse of Osage hit just eight home runs that season. One of those home runs was a walk off blast that put the Cubs to bed. It was a memorable blast indeed.

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN193307290.shtml

Side note: Martin hit two walk off home runs in his career. The one that came on that day in '33 was the first. The second came during the Summer of '36. We'll save that tale for another day.