Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 139

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 139
Description:
Fred Toney, a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, holds a baseball in his right hand at Sportsman Park in St. Louis, Missouri. There is a scoreboard in the background behind him.
Creator:
Mann, Leslie
Creator:
Erker Bros. Optical Co., St. Louis Mo.,
Date:
1923
Format:
Photographs
Location:
Springfield College Archives and Special Collections
Collection (local):
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide Collection
Subjects:
Baseball
Baseball Caps
Pitchers
Toney, Fred Alexandra
St. Louis Cardinals
Pitching
Pitching--Fork Ball
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/34
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:
Fred Toney is demonstrating the proper way to hold a baseball when attempting to pitch a forkball. The holding of the ball is very similar to that of a fastball, curveball, or fade away ball. However, the biggest difference that pitching the forkball has is that the index and middle finger don't run against the seams of the ball like they do on a fastball. This hand position creates a rotation off the end of the fingers. However, the goal of a forkball is for the pitch to leave from between the two fingers. The ball is held between the index and middle finger and the thumb, as Toney demonstrates since his thumb is on one side of the ball and his other two fingers are on the other side. The goal of this pitch is for all of the fingers on both sides of the ball to be released from the ball at the exact same time, making it different from a fastball. Because the ball leaves all the fingers at the exact same time, the ball floats towards home plate, also known as a fork ball.
Fred Toney was born December, 11, 1888, in Nashville, Tennessee. Toney was a pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1911 to 1923. Toney pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants, and St. Louis Cardinals during his career. Toney's career was highlighted by a ten inning No-hitter he pitched for the Reds against the Cubs in 1917. During his prime, Toney was actually a dominant pitcher in the Major Leagues. From 1915 to 1921, Toney had the second lowest average ERA in the National League at 2.39, with only hall of fame pitcher Grover Alexander having a lower ERA. Toney was known for being an expert at throwing many different styles of pitching, as he was a master of the side-arm, underhand, and overhand throw and constantly switched his pitching style to keep his opponents guessing. Toney was also an expert at changing the speed of his fastball. Because of Toney's expertise in throwing numerous different types of pitches, it makes sense why Mann chose Toney to demonstrate the different pitching styles of overhand, underhand, and side-arm. Toney's career, however, became overshadowed by off field issues mainly due to trying to avoid the war and breaking the White Slave Traffic Act, which is when a man brings a woman over the border for the specific purpose to have sex. Even though the sex was consensual, Toney was still in legal trouble for the act. Toney attempted to avoid the draft for World War I by claiming that his entire family was reliant on his 5000 dollar salary, but evidence came out later that proved this to be untrue. Toney was actually arrested and placed in jail for four months for his violation of the Slave Traffic Act. This jailing actually occurred during Toney’s career. He continued to face legal trouble after retiring since he was found with two fox pelts in his possession in 1925, violating Tennessee’s game laws. Toney probably could have been a Hall of Famer if it wasn't for these legal issues, as these issues caused both inconsistency in his playing but also generated a negative image for Toney, making it harder for him to gain support to enter the Hall of Fame. .
This lantern slide was created in 1923 because of the jersey Toney is wearing. The jersey is one of the experimental jerseys the Cardinals wore during the 1923 season. In 1923, Toney wore the experimental jersey numbered 49. Also, Toney was only a member of the Cardinals in 1923. Because of this, the image has to be from 1923 since Toney wouldn't have been on the Cardinals any other year.
I used facial recognition to identify the player in slide 139 as Fred Toney.
Good condition;
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"
Lynch, Mike. "Fred Toney." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ec97d575 ]. Accessed 5 Dec. 2017. ____ Internet Archive___. [http://web.archive.org/web/20171205190734/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ec97d575].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-139-03
139