Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 217

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 217
Description:
Del Gainer, a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, has lifted his glove so that it is around head level. Gainer holds his glove up in the air creating a pocket for a baseball to fall into as he stares into the sky with his feet spread about shoulder distance apart.
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
Baseballs
Gainer, Dellas Clinton
St. Louis Cardinals
Fielding
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/193
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:
Gainer is demonstrating the correct way to catch a baseball hit to him at an arch. The meaning of the word arch is that the baseball was hit high in the air and that the baseball is dropping generally slow towards the ground. This means that Gainer has ample time to position himself directly under the baseball, set his feet, and lift his glove above his head in order to catch the baseball. If it is possible, Gainer should catch the baseball like this because it is the easiest way for him to position himself comfortably. Secondly, if Gainer had misjudged the location of the baseball when he set his feet like in the image here, then Gainer could very easily move his glove and body to adjust for the baseball and make a clean catch on the baseball. Gainer would be able to make that adjustment while the baseball was still falling towards him from the arch and make a clean catch on the baseball. Basically, this is the ideal way for Gainer to catch a baseball if it is possible for him to position himself directly under the baseball.
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.
I used facial recognition and similar slides where Mann identifies the player as Gainer in his manual titled the Fundamentals of Baseball in order to identify the player as Gainer.
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"
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-217-03
217