International: World Series, Oct. 19, 1931

The World Series of 1931 will be remembered for:

¶ The error made by Catcher Wilson of St. Louis in the second game. In the ninth inning, with two men on base, he caught a third strike on the bounce, threw to third base instead of first.

¶ The spitball pitching of St. Louis' ageing Burleigh Grimes who allowed Philadelphia but two hits in the third game, blanked them for eight innings in the seventh.

¶ The pitching of Philadelphia's George Earnshaw who allowed St. Louis two hits in the fourth game.

¶The error made by Third Baseman Flowers of St. Louis in the sixth game. His wild throw to first base upset young Pitcher Paul Derringer who thereafter walked four batters, forced in two runs.

¶ The extraordinary batting and base-running of $4,500-per-year Centrefielder John Leonard ("Pepper") Martin of St. Louis who made three hits in the first game; made two hits, stole two bases and scored two runs in the second (TIME, Oct. 12) ; made two hits in the third; made the only two hits for St. Louis in the fourth; knocked in four runs with three hits, one of them a homerun in the fifth; was passed in the pinches in the sixth but managed to steal a base in the seventh. He tied the World Series record for total number of hits (12). He also made 10 putouts, no errors in the series.

His room disordered by presents which included a large red pepper, two rifles and a sheaf of telegrams inviting him on deerhunts for which he had vowed a fondness, Hero Martin was pleased but not abashed by his sudden, immense publicity. Said he: "Every time I swing, the fat part of my bat hits the ball."

St. Louis scouts recalled less glamorous days in the career of Pepper Martin. Son of an Irish father and an English mother, he rode to Greenville, Tex. on a freight car in 1924, got a job playing second base for $150 a month. Bought by the Cardinals for $2,500, he was schooled at Fort Smith, Syracuse, Houston and Rochester, minor league teams maintained by the St. Louis Cardinals as developing ground for young players. Tried as a substitute in 1928, he became a regular when St. Louis traded Centrefielder Taylor Douthit to Cincinnati last summer. Gay, generally grimy, accompanied by a wife who cried whenever he made a hit, hawk-faced Pepper Martin last week seemed highly pleased with himself and the World Series. Interviewed by fuzzy-headed Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who said he would like to change places with him, Pepper Martin retorted: "O. K. ... If you'll swap your $50,000 a year for my $4,500."* When St. Louis won the seventh and deciding game last week, it was the first time a National League team had won the World Series since 1926, when St. Louis beat the New York Yankees. It was a series notable, with the exception of Pepper Martin's exploits, for brilliant pitching rather than sensational batting. When it was over, each of the players on the St. Louis team got $4484.24. Athletics got $2,989.50 each.