Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 179

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 179
Description:
Grover Alexander, a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, stands on the pitcher's mound at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Alexander stands with one foot behind and one foot in front of the right side of the rubber slab that sits on the middle of home plate.
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 fields
Baseballs
Alexander, Grover Cleveland
Chicago Cubs
Pitching
Pitching--Set Position
Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/177
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:
Alexander is demonstrating a method some pitchers use in an attempt to keep the baserunner on first base from taking a giant lead. Alexander is in the set position, meaning that if he wanted to, he would be in position here to throw the baseball to home plate. However, Alexander's eyes aren't looking forward. Instead, they are looking downward, but Alexander has moved his head to the right in such a way that he is still able to see exactly where the baserunner is. The baserunner wouldn't take as big of a lead off of first base if he knew that the pitcher was gazing towards first base. Even though Alexander is in set position, it would be very easy for him to lift his right foot across his left foot and quickly throw the baseball to first base. Because of this, Alexander will most likely be able to contain the lead of the baserunner by gazing downwards in this position like he does here.
Grover Cleveland Alexander was born February 26, 1887, in Elba, Nebraska. He was one of thirteen children and he worked on a farm growing up. Alexander signed to a team in the Illinois Missouri League. While playing in the league, Alexander was hit in the head with a baseball, which caused serious complications for him for a few months. This would also eventually contribute to issues in his future. He was sold to the New York State League upon his return from his injury. Alexander pitched phenomenally in this league, having an ERA of only 1.85 while winning 29 games. He was bought by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1910 for 500 dollars. Alexander had arguably the greatest rookie season anyone has ever had in 1911, winning 28 games with a 2.57 ERA. He also outpitched the legend Cy Young in a complete game duel, with the Phillies winning 1-0. Alexander was known for his deadly curve. From 1912 to 1914, Alexander continued to pitch well. However, 1915-1917 were the three best years of Alexander's career, as he won the Triple Crown three consecutive times. The Triple Crown is only awarded to a player when they lead the league in Wins, strikeouts, and ERA, making it very difficult for anyone to achieve let alone in three straight seasons. Along with winning the Triple Crown, it is important to note that Alexander was pitching at the Baker Bowl, which was one of the smallest stadiums in baseball. This would give hitters the advantage especially in terms of home runs, but despite this, Alexander was still a very dominant pitcher. In 1915, the Phillies made it to the World Series against the Red Sox. Alexander pitched and won Game 1 for the Phillies, but would lose in Game 3, and the Phillies lost the series 4-1. After the 1917 season, the Phillies chose to trade Alexander to the Chicago Cubs. Alexander wasn't given up for as much as you would think, partly because the Phillies thought he might get drafted for World War I which is why they wanted to trade him. The Phillies were correct in their assumption as Alexander was actually drafted for the war. Alexander would come back from the War a completely different person and would never be the same baseball player again. Alexander lost hearing in his ear while also contracting muscle damage in his right arm. He would turn to alcoholism after returning from the war, and would also suffer from epilepsy throughout the rest of his life. Alexander was a good pitcher for the Cubs, even winning one more Triple Crown in 1920, but he was never the same phenomenal pitcher he was for years. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1926, and despite his alcoholism and other problems, Alexander was motivated by Rogers Hornsby, the player manager for the Cardinals, especially during the World Series against the Yankees. Alexander pitched and won Games 2 and 6 for the Cardinals, and came in in relief in Game 7 to close out the series for the Cardinals. Alexander would play a couple more seasons in his career. He finished with 373 wins in his career, which is tied for the third most all-time along with Christy Mathewson. The rest of Alexander's life was very painful and unproductive, as Alexander's alcoholism worsened, even ending his marriage in 1931. He continued to suffer problems from the war as well, losing his right ear due to cancer in 1947 most likely due to the pieces of sharpened fragments that got in his ear during World War 1. Alexander was never really able to get his life on track after retiring. Despite this, Alexander was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame for his tremendous accomplishments, especially during the first half of his career.
Leslie Mann identifies the player on Slide 157 as Grover Alexander in his Funadmentals of Baseball manual on Page 35. The player in this slide is the same player as the one in Slide 157, so it has to be Alexander.
Terrible condition;
There are many cracks located all along the image.
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"
Finkel, Jan. "Pete Alexander." Society for American Baseball Research, sabr.org/bioproj/person/79e6a2a7. Accessed 23 Aug. 2018.
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-179-03
179