Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 43

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 43
Description:
Cy Williams, an outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, stands at home plate in the back of the batter's box at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Williams stands holding a bat in his natural batting stance with his feet spread shoulder distance apart from one another. There are a couple unidentified people standing in the background talking to each other in foul territory near the stands by left field.
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
Williams, Frederick
Philadelphia Phillies
Batting
Batting Stance
Baker Bowl, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/201
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:
Williams is demonstrating one of the positions that batters can choose to stand in when standing in the batter's box, which is in the back of the box. Along with this, Williams is demonstrating all of the proper techniques that a hitter should follow when preparing to hit a baseball being thrown to them. Williams stands with his feet about shoulder width apart. This is a comfortable distance apart which relaxes Williams and keeps him on balance. Williams is also looking forward while keeping his bat in a position where he will be able to maintain a level swing. All of these techniques will allow Williams to hit the baseball as cleanly as possible.
Fred Williams was born December 21, 1887, in Wadena, Indiana. Williams went to college at Notre Dame, and had never played baseball professionally before arriving there. In fact, upon arriving at Notre Dame, Williams was mainly a football and track star. Williams joined the baseball team in college and gained the attention of a scout who wanted him to sign with Chicago Cubs. Williams would eventually sign with the team during his senior year of college. He jumped immediately to the Major Leagues, but played only 28 games in his first season with the Cubs in 1912. Williams only played part-time for the Cubs during his first three years, and didn't get a chance to sign full-time until 1915. Part of the Dead Ball Era, Williams hit 13 home runs in 1915 which was second in the NL. Six of the 13 were actually inside the park homeruns. Williams had become one of if not the fastest baserunner in the sport in 1915. In 1917, Williams was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. It took a couple years for Williams to find his stride, but Williams hit over .300 in six of the next seven seasons. In 1923, Williams hit 41 home runs, breaking the national league record for most home runs hit in a single season. Williams finished his career with 251 home runs, which was the National League record upon his retirement.
Leslie Mann identifies the player in slide 43 as Cy Willaims on page 10 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 (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"
Gagnon, Cappy. "Cy Williams." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/da11d4a5 ]. Accessed 21 Aug. 2018. ___Internet Archive___. [ http://web.archive.org/web/20190131184400/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/da11d4a5 ].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-043-03
043