Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 226

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 226
Description:
Specs Toporcer, a shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands with his right foot located directly in front of a warm up base and his left foot located in front of but to the left side of the warm up base in left field at Sportsman Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Toporcer has placed his throwing hand inside his glove in order to protect the baseball from falling out of it as he lowers his glove to the ground. There is an unidentified baseball player who sits on the ground with his legs stretched out. The player sits in front of both the base and Toporcer.
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 caps
Baseball fields
Toporcer, George
St. Louis Cardinals
Pegging
Sliding
Fielding--Shortstop
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/216
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:
Toporcer is demonstrating the correct way for a shortstop to stand in an attempt to peg a runner who is trying to steal second base. Toporcer has placed his left foot directly in front of the bag, while his right foot is to the side of the bag. What that does is it allows Toporcer to keep his center of gravity directly in front of the bag, but his body doesn't block the base from the runner. This is important because it means that the baserunner can still slide cleanly into the bag without having to worry about making contact with the person guarding second base. This would prevent both Toporcer and the baserunner from any injuries that could occur if the baserunner slid directly into Toporcer's leg. In this slide, the baserunner is demonstrating how he would be sliding into the base while lying in front of the base. From this position, Toporcer would not make contact with the baserunner. From here, Toporcer would bend downward towards the base and place his tag right in front of second base. This would force the baserunner to slide around the tag, and from there, Toporcer could easily adjust his glove to tag out the baserunner.
George Toporcer was born February 9, 1899 in New York, NY. In 1890, Toporcer's parents moved from Austria-Hungary to the United States. His father struggled to make ends meet, becoming an inventor. From a young age, Toporcer was interested in baseball, but his thick glasses and skinny appearance caused him to not be chosen for a lot of games in high school. In the Major Leagues, Toporcer stood 5"10 but only weighed 135 pounds, showing just how skinny he was. Toporcer's father died when he was in eighth grade and Specs was forced to drop out of school to help his family run the shop his father had owned since they were poor. Toporcer played in some semi-pro leagues, and was signed to the Syracuse Stars in 1920, who were a minor league team for the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1921, before even appearing in a minor league game, Toporcer was promoted to the major league team as Milt Stock, their third baseman, claimed he would not be returning for the 1921 season. Toporcer performed very well during spring training in Stock's absence, but Stock returned to the team. He remained with the Cardinals for a portion of the season, but went back to the Minor Leagues near the end of the season because of a lack of playing time. In 1922, Specs performed exceptionally well again in spring training, and attempted to replace Dov Lavan at shortstop since Rogers Hornsby was the second baseman and that was Specs natural position. However, Branch Rickey instead turned Toporcer into a utility bench player, basically meaning that if any of the starters needed a day off or if he ever needed a big clutch hit, he would turn to Specs. Specs only averaged 194 at bats per season, but often came in clutch in the most important times for the team, including when he hit a two run RBI double to help the Cardinals clinch the Pennant in 1926, eventually leading to them winning the World Series. In 1928, Bill McKechnie became the manager of the Cardinals, and he wasn't a fan of Toporcer, causing Toporcer to make very minimal appearances. He was sent to the Class AA Rochester Red Wings minor league affiliate for the Cardinals in 1929. While there, he led the team to four straight circuit championship wins, and won two MVP'S. In 1935, Specs asked for a pay raise and was denied, leading to him joining the Boston Red Sox's AA team, but a severe knee injury in 1936 practically ended his playing career. He coached on numerous minor league teams for the next few years. However, in 1948, Toporcer suffered a retinal detachment, leading to him losing sight in one of his eyes. In 1951, he lost sight in his other eye. His wife became his caretaker, and Specs spent the next few years speaking about the game of baseball. Specs lived until he was 90 years old, where he fell down in his house and suffered serious injuries that led to his death.
I used facial recognition to identify the shortstop as Specs Toporcer, but was unable to identify the sliding baserunner sitting in front of him.
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"
Skelton, David E. "Specs Toporcer." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/7a1e7d76 ]. Accessed 11 Apr. 2018. ___Internet Archive___. [http://web.archive.org/web/20180411161656/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/7a1e7d76 ].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-226-03
226