Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 24
Item Information
- Title:
- Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 24
- Description:
-
George Burns, an outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds, practices his batting swing while standing on the pitcher's mound at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio. Burns is looking forward as his back foot lifts off the ground to step forward.
- 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 caps
Baseball fields
Burns, George Joseph
Cincinnati Reds
Batting
Batting Swing--Follow Through
Crosley Field, Cincinnati, Ohio
- Link to Item:
- https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/196
- 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).
- Publisher:
-
Springfield College
- Language:
-
English
- Notes:
-
Burns is demonstrating the correct follow through that batters should follow when swinging at a baseball thrown across the middle of the plate just above waist level. Burns completes a straight, level swing, and follows all the way through in the slide. His arms move all the way across his body as he completes the full follow through. This is important because it maximizes the power Burns has behind his swing, compared to if he chose not to follow through where this power would not be maximized. Burns best chance of making contact with the baseball and reaching base safely is therefore to keep this level swing and follow through. Here, his back foot has begun to lift, meaning he is about to step forward. Burns would be doing this after making contact with the baseball in order to run to first base. His timing in stepping forward is therefore also perfect because he has just completed his swing and finished his follow through as he begins to run forward. This transition and doing it is as quickly and successful as possible like Burns does here is extremely important because it could make the difference in Burns reaching first base safely.
George Joseph Burns was born November 24, 1889 in Utica, New York. He spent most of his career playing leftfield for the New York Giants, but also played for the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies at the end of his career. Burns’ name was actually popular during this time period, as two other famous people, another baseball player and comedian, shared the exact same name of George Burns with him. This may be why he is often forgot about today because of the success of the comedian. George Burns may actually be the most consistent hitter ever in the history of baseball. Burns career batting average was .287, but over 15 years, he never hit higher than .303 or lower than .272. He consistently hit around the .300 mark with little to no fluctuations throughout his 15 year career. Burns also consistently led the league in hits, runs, walks, and stolen bases. He made his debut in the Major Leagues at the end of the 1911 season for the Giants, and the manager John McGraw chose not to farm Burns out, which was a common practice during this time period. Instead, Burns remained on the team and sat on the bench, learning from McGraw. Burns became the starter for the Giants in 1913. The Giants field was known for being one of the sunniest fields, making it one of the most difficult baseball fields for a left fielder to play in. Burns adopted a special cap with blue sunglasses attached to it to deal with catching these fly balls. Burns became very successful at catching these fly balls. Burns was also known for his speed and being a very successful leadoff man. In 1914, he led the league in runs scored and stolen bases and hit .303, his career high batting average, finishing fourth in MVP voting. Along with his incredible consistency, Burns was also a very reliable player, as he played in 459 straight games from 1915-1917. Burns also has stolen home base 28 times in his career, the third most all-time. In 1921, Burns won the World Series with the New York Giants, and was the hero in Game 4, hitting a walk-off double. Shockingly, he was traded the next year to the Cincinnati Reds. He played in the Major Leagues until 1925 and then moved to the Minor Leagues until 1930.
Leslie Mann identifies the player as George Burns on page 8 in his manual titled the Fundamentals of Baseball.
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"
Lesch, R.J. "George Burns." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/c31a8104 ]. Accessed 21 Feb. 2018. _____Internet Archive_____. [http://web.archive.org/web/20180221175510/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/c31a8104].
- Identifier:
-
LANT-BSBL-024-03
024