Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 72

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 72
Description:
Del Gainer, a player for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands on first base after either a hit or a walk. The first baseman, Walter Holke, also stands on the base, awaiting a possible throw from the pitcher to first base if Gainer attempts to steal or lead off first base.
Creator:
Mann, Leslie
Date:
1922
Format:
Photographs
Location:
Springfield College Archives and Special Collections
Collection (local):
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide Collection
Subjects:
Baseball
Baseball caps
Gainer, Dellas Clinton
Holke, Walter Henry
St. Louis Cardinals
Boston Braves
Fielding
Fielding--First base
Base Running
Leading
Braves Field, Boston, Massachusetts
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/56
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:
Del Gainer is in a safe position in the image, meaning he isn't in danger of getting picked off of first base because he is on the base. Here, Gainer can look for signals from his coaches and take his eyes off the ball briefly because he isn't at risk of being picked off first base. If Gainer had decided to lead off of the base, he would have to be a lot more careful because if a pitcher notices he isn't paying attention, he could be picked off first base. It is important to note the intensity in Gainer's eyes as he isn't easily distracted. Even though Gainer is safe on first base, he still is focused on his surroundings. This is important because if he gazes off, he may not realize a pitch is being thrown or that something else has happened, possibly him getting a signal to steal from his coaches. His focus in the image shows the importance of being aware of your surroundings and what is going on in the game.
Dellas Clinton Gainer was born November 10, 1886 in Montrose, West Virginia. Gainer began his baseball career in 1909, playing Class D ball in the Pennsylvania-West Virginia League. From the beginning of his career, Gainer was known as being an excellent bunter, which may be why Mann chose Gainer to demonstrate many of the bunting slides he created. He played a couple games for the Detroit Tigers at the end of the 1909 season after the team had clinched the Pennant, and was sent to a Class B Central League in 1910 to be farmed out. He returned to the Tigers in 1911 and played with them through most of the 1914 season. However, his time with the Tigers was plagued by injuries, as he broke his wrist in 1911 and badly sprained his ankle in 1912. Gainer played more in 1913, but was a disappointment and missed some time due to repeated minor injuries. Gainer was traded to the Boston Red Sox in 1914, but was immediately injured. The Red Sox tried to get rid of him, but no one wanted him. He remained with the Red Sox until 1917, mainly being used as a utility backup player. However, in 1916, Gainer had his career defining moment as he drove in the game winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning in game 2 of the World Series. He was a member of the 1915 and 1916 World Series championship wins for the Red Sox. Gainer joined the navy for World War 1 in 1918, and spent most of the next 10 years playing baseball in the minor leagues, expect for in 1922 when he played for the St. Louis Cardinals. Gainer played into his 40's in these minor leagues. After retiring, Gainer became a Deputy US Marshal.
Del Gainer's name is spelt Del Gainor in some of the books Leslie Mann wrote about baseball and baseball fundamentals. It is interesting that these two different spellings both appear frequently; Also, since Gainer was only a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1922, the lantern slide had to of been created in 1922; There is also very little information online about Walter Holke online. Holke has no information about him on the Soicety of American Baseball Research website, which is the major website that has information about old baseball players.
Leslie Mann identifies the plater as Gainer and Holke in a different manual he wrote titled Baseball Fundamentals on page 14. Link to manual; https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15370coll2/id/19796
Fair condition;
There is one crack running along the side of the image. However, the crack isn't that big.
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 image were then combined in Photoshop to create the final image.
Lantern slide from the Leslie Mann baseball instruction course, "The Fundamentals of Baseball"
Nowlin, Bill. "Del Gainer." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/0b74e2be ]. Accessed 30 Jan. 2018. ___Internet Archive___. [ http://web.archive.org/web/20180130152528/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/0b74e2be ].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-072-03
072