Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 17

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 17
Description:
Max Flack, an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, holds a bat in his hand with his feet spread a little more than shoulder distance apart. Flack holds the bat with his hands near the bottom of the bat, but has choked up slightly as there is some separation between the bottom of the bat and Flack's hands.
Creator:
Mann, Leslie
Date:
1922
Format:
Photographs
Location:
Springfield College Archives and Special Collections
Collection (local):
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide Collection
Subjects:
Batting
Baseball
Baseball caps
Flack, Max John
St. Louis Cardinals
Batting Stance
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/8
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License (CC BY-NC-SA).
CC BY-NC-SA icon
Publisher:
Springfield College
Language:
English
Notes:
Max Flack, a left handed player for the St. Louis Cardinals, demonstrates a generally proper batting stance as he follows the guidelines Leslie Mann describes in his baseball instruction manual. In the photo, Flack keeps his eye on the ball, which is very important, as letting your eyes wander at all will ruin your concentration and could cause you to misjudge the ball as it comes towards you. Misjudging the ball will cause a player to swing either earlier or later than they should, which will lead to the player missing the ball when they swing. Flack's weight also appears to be equal on both feet, which allows him to maintain balance. His knees are straight, and he demonstrates Mann's concept of easy position of the feet, as his left foot is at a right angle and his right foot is diagonally towards the pitcher. This foot position helps Flack maintain his balance as he awaits the pitch. Flack also doesn't appear to be on edge or rushed, meaning he looks relaxed enough where he will wait for the ball to come to him instead of chasing the ball, or starting his swing before he should. This is important because it allows Flack to maintain control. Chasing a ball means Flack is rushing and he is more likely to hit a foul ball or pull the ball. However, waiting for the ball allows the batter to maintain control and increases their chances of success. The one area that Flack could improve on is that his left arm has dropped in close to his body. This could prohibit a free swing for Flack, meaning that Flack's swing is more contained and that if a pitch is thrown outside this contained area, then Flack would struggle to adjust and hit the baseball because his arm isn't free or away from his body but is rather contained with his body. This may be occurring because it appears that Flack has extended his feet a little more than shoulder width apart. Flack should move his feet in so they are slightly closer to each other than they are in this slide.
Max John Flack was born February 5, 1890 in Belleville, Illinois. Flack was a right fielder who batted left handed but threw right, and he played for the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals. Before playing for the Cubs, Flack played in the Federal League for the Chicago Chi-Feds/Whales from 1914-1915. The Federal League was a third major league that operated from 1913-1915 against the National and American Leagues. Flack is well-known for being one of two players to be traded in between a double header. In 1922, Flack played a game for the Cubs against the Cardinals, and between games, was traded for Cliff Heathcote to the St. Louis Cardinals. That day, Flack played one game for the Cubs and the second one for the Cardinals, while Heathcote played his first game for the Cardinals and his second one for the Cubs. Flack is also centered around controversy involving the 1918 World Series, which he played for the Cubs. Flack made numerous errors, including one that cost the Cubs the series, as he failed to catch a fly ball (one that was very catchable), resulting in two runs scoring and the Red Sox winning 2-1. Flack made other questionable errors throughout the series, and was picked off twice in the same game. Some people believe Flack may have been paid to throw the game, a move which may have actually inspired the 1919 Chicago White Sox to throw the World Series.
Leslie Mann identifies the player in Slide 17 as Max Flack in his manual titled the Fundamentals of Baseball on Page 7.
Poor condition;
The lantern slide has many cracks on it, most notably three cracks that run across the middle of the image. It probably isn't a good idea to hold this slide because of these cracks. In addition, there are a few cracks located on the bottom right of the slide. Being on the bottom near a corner of the slide could make the slide much easier to fall apart if held. However, the image itself is still very distinguishable based on the location of the cracks.
This digital image is made from two separate digital scans; one scan of the lantern slide (reflective); one scan of the image (transparecy); the two images were then combined in Photoshop to create the final image.
Lantern slide from the Leslie Mann baseball instruction course, "The Fundamentals of Baseball"
"Cubs threw 1918 World Series?" ESPN, [ www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=6396358 ]. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017. ____Internet Archive____. [ https://web.archive.org/web/20171024173013/http://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=6396358]. "The Cardinals and Cubs once swapped outfielders in the middle of a doubleheader." MLB, 30 May 2017, [ m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/05/30/232584078/cardinals-and-cubs-trade-outfielders-cliff-heathcote-and-max-flack ]. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017. ___Internet Archive___. [ https://web.archive.org/web/20171024172846/http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/05/30/232584078/cardinals-and-cubs-trade-outfielders-cliff-heathcote-and-max-flack ].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-017-03
017