Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 241

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 241
Description:
Specs Toporcer, a shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands in front of a warm up base located in left field at Sportsman Park in St. Louis, Missouri. There are two men in official uniforms, perhaps military, sitting on a bench to the left behind him. Toporcer's right foot is placed flat on the ground while his left toe is on the ground in front of his right foot as he steps forward and prepares to throw the baseball.
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 fields
Baseball caps
Toporcer, George
St. Louis Cardinals
Fielding--Shortstop
Throwing
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/128
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:
In this lantern slide, for whatever reason, Toporcer wasn't able to catch the baseball and begin his throw to first base and stay out of the base runner's path. What that means is that the reason Toporcer is standing on second base to begin with is because there was a base runner on first base and the ball was hit to second base, so he is covering second base in an attempt to get a double play. If it was possible, Toporcer would attempt to position his body so that it wasn't right in front of second base when he started to throw the baseball to first base because from this position, he is going to have to worry about the baserunner as he is in the baserunner's path. The baserunner may slide into him, or could be standing right in front of him. However, the most important thing for Toporcer to do is to make sure that the runner going to second base is out, and if he isn't able to turn a double play, then at least he can get the leading baserunner who would be traveling to second base out. It is most important to eliminate the runner closest to reaching home plate, because if the runner reaches home plate, than that's a run given up, so Toporcer needs to do whatever he can to field the baseball cleanly and get the runner traveling towards second base out, even if it means that he cannot turn a double play.
George Toporcer was born February 9, 1899 in New York, NY. In 1890, Toporcer's parents moved from Austria-Hungary to the United States. His father struggled to make ends meet, becoming an inventor. From a young age, Toporcer was interested in baseball, but his thick glasses and skinny appearance caused him to not be chosen for a lot of games in high school. In the Major Leagues, Toporcer stood 5'10" but only weighed 135 pounds, showing just how skinny he was. Toporcer's father died when he was in eighth grade and Specs was forced to drop out of school to help his family run the shop his father had owned since they were poor. Toporcer played in some semi-pro leagues, and was signed to the Syracuse Stars in 1920, who were a minor league team for the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1921, before even appearing in a minor league game, Toporcer was promoted to the major league team as Milt Stock, their third baseman, claimed he would not be returning for the 1921 season. Toporcer performed very well during spring training in Stock's absence, but Stock returned to the team. He remained with the Cardinals for a portion of the season, but went back to the Minor Leagues near the end of the season because of a lack of playing time. In 1922, Specs performed exceptionally well again in spring training, and attempted to replace Dov Lavan at shortstop since Rogers Hornsby was the second baseman and that was Specs natural position. However, Branch Rickey instead turned Toporcer into a utility bench player, basically meaning that if any of the starters needed a day off or if he ever needed a big clutch hit, he would turn to Specs. Specs only averaged 194 at bats per season, but often came in clutch in the most important times for the team, including when he hit a two run RBI double to help the Cardinals clinch the Pennant in 1926, eventually leading to them winning the World Series. In 1928, Bill McKechnie became the manager of the Cardinals, and he wasn't a fan of Toporcer, causing Toporcer to make very minimal appearances. He was sent to the Class AA Rochester Red Wings minor league affiliate for the Cardinals in 1929. While there, he led the team to four straight circuit championship wins, and won two MVP'S. In 1935, Specs asked for a pay raise and was denied, leading to him joining the Boston Red Sox's AA team, but a severe knee injury in 1936 practically ended his playing career. He coached on numerous minor league teams for the next few years. However, in 1948, Toporcer suffered a retinal detachment, leading to him losing sight in one of his eyes. In 1951, he lost sight in his other eye. His wife became his caretaker, and Specs spent the next few years speaking about the game of baseball. Specs lived until he was 90 years old, where he fell down in his house and suffered serious injuries that led to his death.
I used facial recognition to identify the player in slide 241 as George Toporcer.
Good condition;
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"
Skelton, David E. "Specs Toporcer." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/7a1e7d76 ]. Accessed 11 Apr. 2018. ___Internet Archive___. [http://web.archive.org/web/20180411161656/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/7a1e7d76 ].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-241-03
241