Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 10

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 10
Description:
Jack Fournier, a player for the St. Louis Cardinals demonstrates a bunting stance as he stands at home plate. The seats behind him are empty.
Creator:
Mann, Leslie
Date:
1920–1925
Format:
Photographs
Location:
Springfield College Archives and Special Collections
Collection (local):
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide Collection
Subjects:
Baseball
Baseball caps
Fournier, Frank Jack
St. Louis Cardinals
Bunting
Bunting Stance
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/24
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:
Founrier is demonstrating an incorrect bunting stance in this lantern slide. The position represented in the slide doesn't follow all of the rules that Leslie Mann describes in his manual. Though Fournier keeps his bat on a horizontal line and across the strike area, the bat isn't in front of his body or in front of the plate and his arms are not straight, but instead one of them is bent. These incorrect positions will cause Fournier to not get as good of a jump on the ball when he makes contact with it, and in bunting, getting a good jump on the ball can be the difference in getting to first base safely or getting thrown out. The grip Fournier has on the bat appears loose, and though Fournier is still looking straight ahead, he isn't watching the ball hit the bat, which is very important for bunting. Being able to know exactly when the ball will hit the bat will allow you to get a good jump on the ball. Overall, though Fournier represents some proper techniques associated with bunting, most of them are incorrect, and it appears Mann included this image to show what not to do when bunting.
Jack Frank Fournier was born on September 28, 1889. He was a first baseman who played for the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Robins, and Boston Braves. Fournier was one of the best hitters to ever play baseball, but he was also one of the most inconsistent hitters ever. There were years when Fournier was feared by every pitcher he faced, and there were other years where Fournier batted terribly. This inconsistency is something that may have caused Fournier to be on so many different teams throughout his career. Along with this inconsistent hitting, Fournier was also one of the worst fielders ever. Despite playing first base, a position that relatively has fewer errors than other positions like shortstop and second base, Fournier was an error machine, even racking up 25 errors in 97 games one year. Because of his poor fielding ability, Fournier relied solely on his hitting to be successful, and was able to become a successful player in the batting leagues because of his self-confidence and his belief that he was a good hitter. He finished his career with a very respectable batting average of .313, which is especially impressive considering his inconsistencies and seasons where he hit poorly. Off the field, Fournier was often a violent man, being charged for assault numerous times. Overall, Fournier was a very good hitter in many seasons in the major leagues, but was also one of the worst fielders in MLB history.
As described on Page 11 of his manual titled the Fundamentals of Baseball, Leslie Mann identifies the same player as the one above in Slides 47 and Slides 50 as Jack Fournier.
Fair condition;
There are some cracks in the lower right hand corner of the image.
This digital image is made from two separate digital scans; one scan of the lantern slide (reflective); one scan of the image (transparency); 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"
Greene, Nelson. "Jack Fournier." Society for American Baseball Research, [https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/81af331c]. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017]. _Internet Archive_. [https://web.archive.org/web/20171010183045/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/81af331c]
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-010-03
010