Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 98

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 98
Description:
Branch Rickey, the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals who is coaching third base, gives the baserunner headed towards third base a signal to slide. Rickey stands on the field in the third base coach's box, in foul territory behind third base, where the baserunner approaching him will easily be able to see his signal.
Creator:
Mann, Leslie
Creator:
Erker Bros. Optical Co., St. Louis Mo.,
Date:
1920–1925
Format:
Photographs
Location:
Springfield College Archives and Special Collections
Collection (local):
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide Collection
Subjects:
Baseball
Baseball caps
Baseball fields
Rickey, Wesley Branch
St. Louis Cardinals
Coaching
Base Running
Coaching Signals
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/80
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:
This lantern slide demonstrates the importance of coaching and proper coaching. In this slide, the baserunner is headed towards third and has no idea about where the baseball is or if the baseball is coming towards third base. When the baseball is hit, the number one goal of the baserunner is to run, and they are reliant on the coach to give them a proper signal to determine when they should stop running. This signal allows the baserunner to know they should slide into third base. Sliding into third base will save an extra second of running, increasing the chance for success of reaching third base safely, and sliding could also allow a baserunner to avoid a tag that is attempted to be made by the third baseman. The coach here judged that the baseball was going to be thrown to third base, and that the play was going to be close, giving the runner the appropriate signal to slide into third base.
Wesley Branch Rickey was born December 20, 1881, in Flat, Ohio. He was named after John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist religion, and he lived in a deeply religious household. He went to Ohio Wesleyan University, becoming a coach at the college, and briefly played in the Major Leagues, appearing in 120 games over four seasons. However, Rickey’s appearances were brief since he refused to play baseball on Sundays because of his religion and since he also refused to play until he finished his college coaching duties. In addition to this, he was known as a poor hitter and an even worse catcher. His poor arm resulted in the Washington Senators stealing 13 consecutive bases when he was the catcher. Rickey eventually gave up during the game and didn't even attempt to throw the baseball to the base that the runners were attempting to steal. After almost dying from a severe case of tuberculosis, Rickey went to law school and received a degree, but only had one client and accepted a job as a general manager and scout for the St. Louis Browns. Rickey moved to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1917 becoming president and manager, but gave up the presidency shortly after receiving it. Rickey was not a good manager for the team, as they struggled tremendously with him until he was removed in 1925. His ability to manage was questioned even more since Rogers Hornsby led the team to the Pennant in 1926 as a player coach. Rickey, however, thrived in the front office throughout the rest of his career, remaining with the Cardinals until the early 1940's. He is most famously known however for signing Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player, to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. Overall, Rickey is in the Hall of Fame today partly because of his front office abilities but mainly due to being responsible for the signing of Jackie Robinson and breaking the color barrier, despite a poor baseball coaching and playing career.
I used facial recognition to identify the player in slide 98 as Branch Rickey.
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 image were then combined in Photoshop to create the final image.
Lantern slide from the Leslie Mann baseball instruction course, "The Fundamentals of Baseball"
McCue, Andy. "Branch Rickey." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/6d0ab8f3] . Accessed 5 Mar. 2018. ___Internet Archive___. [ http://web.archive.org/web/20180305181504/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/6d0ab8f3 ].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-098-03
098