Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 182

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 182
Description:
Bill Sherdel, a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands in foul territory directly next to left field at Sportsman Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Sherdel is looking outward towards the infield with his feet spread about shoulder width 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 fields
Sherdel, William Henry
St. Louis Cardinals
Pitching
Pitching--Set Position
Pegging
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/200
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:
This slide represents the correct position that a pitcher should take when there is a baserunner on first base. Sherdel is in set position in this slide. Set position means that from this position, Sherdel can throw the baseball to home plate. This means that the process of Sherdel throwing the ball is shortened significantly. This is important when there are base runners because if these base runners attempt to steal, the time they have to steal is minimized because Sherdel will throw the ball quicker and not wind up from set position, meaning that the catcher will receive the baseball quicker, giving the runner less time to steal. Sherdel is also gazing slightly towards first base. This allows Sherdel to keep an eye on the size lead that the base runner on first base has. If Sherdel sees that the base runner is taking a large lead, then he can easily throw the ball to first base from this position in an attempt to pick the runner off. This forces the baserunner on first base to take a smaller lead, which lowers the chances that the baserunner will attempt to steal second base. Therefore, Sherdel is doing everything correctly in this lantern slide, since it limits the opportunities of the baserunner.
William Henry Sherdel was born on August 15th, 1896 in McSherrystown, Pennsylvania. He was a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1918-1930 and a member of the Boston Braves from 1930-1932. Sherdel fits the definition of an average baseball pitcher, meaning that his career wasn't extraordinary, but it wasn't terrible. Sherdel often posted numbers right around the league average, and had a couple breakout seasons. When Rogers Hornsby became manager of the Cardinals, Sherdel's production increased due to a lot of motivation from Hornsby, and he actually became the ace, or the best pitcher, for the Cardinals over the next few seasons. Sherdel's career highlighting moments were pitching the NL Pennat winning games for the Cardinals in 1926 and 1928, and being a World Series champion in 1926. Sherdel was known for throwing the slow ball, which is a reference to the change up today. Sherdel has the fourth most wins for a pitcher in St. Louis Cardinals franchise history.
Leslie Mann identifies the same player as Bill Sherdel in slide 175 on page 35 in his manual titled the Fundamentals of Baseball.
Terrible condition;
There are cracks located all throughout the image. This slide should be held with extreme caution and care.
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"
Wolf, Gregory H. "Bill Sherdel." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/47e26849]. Accessed 16 Nov. 2017 . ___Internet Archive___. [ http://web.archive.org/web/20171116195347/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/47e26849 ].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-182-03
182