Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 75

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 75
Description:
Ray Blades, a player for the St. Louis Cardinals, acts as a baserunner as he takes a lead off of first base. His eyes are forward with his hands on his knee caps. Del Gainer, a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands on first base with his right foot as he stares at Blades.
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 fields
Baseballs
Blades, Francis Raymond
Gainer, Dellas Clinton
St. Louis Cardinals
Base Running
Leading
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/156
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:
Blades is demonstrating the incorrect way to lead off of first base, as he hasn't taken a direct lead off of first base. Instead, Blades has moved backwards closer to the outfield. He should remain in a straight line path as he takes his lead off of first base rather than traveling behind the base and out of the base path. Blades should do this for multiple reasons. First off, if Blades attempts to steal or needs to return to first base quickly if the pitcher or catcher attempts to pick him off, Blades can act quicker and reach his destination faster if he remains in a straight line path rather than if he moves backwards and closer to the outfield. Blades wants to arrive at second base as quickly as possible, but from this starting position, Blades would have to curve back inward towards second base which would take time and cause him to lose some of his acceleration. Remaining in a straight line would allow Blades to continually build his acceleration and not worry about having to slow down to curve inward towards the base. Returning to first base in the event of a pickoff throw would also be easier for similar reasons, as Blades could slide directly straight back into the base, compared to having to slide at an angle, which he would have to do here. Secondly, the pitcher is aware that the way Blades is leading here in this slide makes it more difficult for Blades to steal second base or return to first base quickly. The base runner's number one goal is to keep the pitcher's worry and awareness at a minimum, but here, the pitcher would probably be aware that Blades is in an incorrect position, and therefore he may be more likely to attempt to pick Blades off of first base. If Blades had taken a small lead off of first base, the pitcher would not only be less worried about Blades, but would also probably be less likely to attempt a pickoff throw because he wouldn't think he could actually throw Blades out. This would be much more beneficial for Blades. In general, Blades should remain in a straight path when he attempts to lead off of first base for multiple reasons.
Ray Blades was born August 6, 1896 in Mount Vernon, Illinois. In 1919, Blades was playing for a semipro team in Vernon, Illinois. The team played against the St. Louis Cardinals, defeating them 2-1, and after the game, the Cardinals manager decided to sign three players to the team, including Blades. In 1922, he was called up to the Cardinals team after playing in the Minor Leagues. Blades was originally a second baseman, but upon joining the Cardinals, he had to compete against Rogers Hornsby for the position. In 1922, Austin McHenry died tragically from a brain tumor, opening up a spot in the outfield, and this plus the fact that he was poor infielder who had made 137 errors over the course of three seasons in the Minor Leagues as a second baseman allowed Blades to transition to being an outfielder for the Cardinals. Blades worked very hard to improve his fielding and eventually became one of the best outfielders for the Cardinals. His success was short lived, however, as in 1926, Blades badly bruised his kneecap after getting a spike stuck in a chicken wire fence along the wall of the outfield. Blades climbed it in an attempt to catch a fly ball. An interesting note about this story is why was there a chicken wire fence located in the outfield at all, as that would seem to be an unnecessary increased cause of injury. It was eventually revealed that this incident caused Blades to tear ligaments in his knee, requiring surgery. Blades never was the same player after his surgery, losing his speed and power, and moved to the Minor Leagues in 1929. Blades was known for constantly being thrown out of games and being given fines because of his abusive language towards umpires.
The lantern slide appears to be a continuation of slide 74, featuring Blades and Gainor. Because of this, I identified the players in the slide as Blades and Fournier.
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"
Wolinsky, Russell. "Ray Blades." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/92a8ae6f ]. Accessed 27 Feb. 2018. ___Internet Archive___. [ http://web.archive.org/web/20180227153746/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/92a8ae6f ].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-075-03
075