By common reckoning, today marks the 102nd anniversary of the birth of Johnny Leonard Roosevelt "Pepper" Martin. I say "common reckoning" because, in keeping with his somewhat off the wall personality, Pepper was a leap year baby, who was born on February 29, 1904. So while he would have turned 102 today, he would have to wait til 2008 to celebrate his 26th birthday.

Dubbed "The Wild Horse of the Osage" during his minor league career for his aggressive style of play, he was known for making a mad dash on every batted ball as if it were the last inning of the seventh game of the World Series with the game on the line. Known for his speed on the basepaths, a baseball writer asked how he came to be such a fast runner. Martin replied, "I grew up in Oklahoma, and once you start runnin' out there there ain't nothin' to stop you." In addition to his speed, he was known for his barrel chest, which stood him in good stead in two respects: he often used it for his spectacular headfirst slides when stealing bases (Martin led the National League in stolen bases in 1933, 1934, and 1936, and was in the top three in the league in 1931 (3rd) and 1935 (2nd)), and he would often field ground balls off his chest when playing third base. Martin was a solid, if not spectacular player. He made the All Star team four times in his career (1933-35 inclusive, and 1937), but peaked in Hall of Fame voting in 1958, when he garnered 58 BBWAA votes (17.3%; he first appeared on the Hall ballot in 1942, and finally fell off in 1964).

In addition to his on the field skills, Martin made a major contribution to the Cardinals teams of the 20s and 30s by acting as court jester. He was an inveterate prankster, often pulling practical jokes on his teammates (dropping paper bags full of water out of hotel windows was one of his favorites), and Martin organized and fronted "The Mudcat Band", a Cardinals musical auxiliary which featured Martin on guitar, and a rotating cast of characters including Bob Weiland on jug, Frenchy Bordagaray on washboard, and Bill McGee on fiddle. (When McGee was sent down to the minors for seasoning, Martin kvetched: "My only fiddler, and they send him to the minors." But when McGee returned, Martin was restrained in his praise: "He's gotten better, but only on the fiddle.")

Pepper spent his entire 13 season career with the Cardinals. After his retirement in 1944, he owned a prosperous cattle ranch in his native Oklahoma, spent some time managing in the minors ("I'm not a good manager," he was quoted as saying, "I'm too thin-skinned and tender hearted"), and did some time as an Oklahoma deputy sheriff and state prison warden. At the time of his death in 1965, he was planning a return to baseball as a coach with the Texas League's Tulsa Oilers.

I realize I'm too late for this year (this is the kind of thing that requires some advanced preparation), but if you were planning to do something special to mark Pepper's birthday, you could do worse than cooking up a mess of sour dough biscuits from Pepper's own autographed recipe (follow a link on that page to a printable version, if you really want to try it yourself).