Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 155

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 155
Description:
Louis North, a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands with his right foot on the white rubber slab located on the pitcher's mound and his left foot behind the slab. North is looking forward towards home plate as he prepares to throw the baseball.
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
North, Louis Alexander
St. Louis Cardinals
Pitching
Pitching--Wind Up
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/227
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:
North is demonstrating the incorrect way for a pitcher to stand when preparing to throw a pitch to home plate. This method is incorrect because North's left foot is located behind the rubber slab rather than in front of it. From here, North could not wind up and throw the baseball and would instead have to move this left foot forward so that it would be touching the slab. It doesn't make sense for North to prepare to throw the baseball from a position where he wouldn't be allowed to throw the baseball. Instead, if North brought his left foot forward so that it was touching the slab, then he would already be standing in a position where he would be allowed to throw the baseball. This makes more sense as it would allow North to relax before throwing the baseball without having to worry about adjusting his body position after relaxing so that his left foot touched the slab.
There is very little information about the life of Lou North. North was born on June 15, 1891 in Elgin, Illinois. North played for the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Boston Braves throughout his career. However, North played a very sporadic career, as he played in 1913 for the Tigers, didn't play in 1914-1916, played for the Cardinals in 1917, and then didn't play again until 1920. He then played from 1920-1924 as a member of the Cardinals, making his total career span 7 years. North served in World War I, which would explain why he didn't play for a couple years between 1917 and 1920, though there is no information as to why North played for one year with the Tigers and then took three years off. North was mainly a relief pitcher, as he only started in 25 games in his career, while he pitched in 80.
I used facial recognition to identify the player in slide 155 as Lou North.
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"
"Lou North Stats." Baseball Almanac, [ www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=northlo01 ] Accessed 31 Oct. 2017. ___Internet Archive___. [ http://web.archive.org/web/20171031172848/http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=northlo01 ].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-155-03
155