Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 224

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 224
Description:
Del Gainer, a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands with his left foot touching second base and his right foot up in the air located behind the base as he turns his body inward towards first base while bringing his throwing arm across his body at Sportsman Park in St. Louis, Missouri.
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
Gainer, Dellas Clinton
St. Louis Cardinals
Fielding--Second base
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/228
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:
Gainer is demonstrating the incorrect positioning that a second baseman or short stop should follow when attempting to turn a double play. Gainer's entire body and center of gravity here is right in front of the base. As Gainer steps forward with his right foot, he would end up bringing it directly in front of second base. This isn't ideal because there will be a baserunner approaching second base. If the play is close, then the baserunner could end up sliding and would slide straight into Gainer's foot. Gainer also shouldn't have placed his entire left foot on the base like he did in this slide. All the second baseman or short stop has to do is tag the base in order to throw out the baserunner, so there is no reason for the baserunner to place their entire foot on the base. Instead, Gainer should place his right foot so that it is barely touching the bag. He should move his left foot so that it is not on the base or in front of it, but rather to the side of it. This will allow Gainer to tag the base and then adjust his body so that he can make a clean throw to first base. This would lessen his risk for injury along with lessening the risk that his throw would hit the baserunner in the head.
Dellas Clinton Gainer was born November 10, 1886 in Montrose, West Virginia. Gainer began his baseball career in 1909, playing Class D ball in the Pennsylvania-West Virginia League. From the beginning of his career, Gainer was known as being an excellent bunter, which may be why Mann chose Gainer to demonstrate many of the bunting slides he created. He played a couple games for the Detroit Tigers at the end of the 1909 season after the team had clinched the Pennant, and was sent to a Class B Central League in 1910 to be farmed out. He returned to the Tigers in 1911 and played with them through most of the 1914 season. However, his time with the Tigers was plagued by injuries, as he broke his wrist in 1911 and badly sprained his ankle in 1912. Gainer played more in 1913, but was a disappointment and missed some time due to repeated minor injuries. Gainer was traded to the Boston Red Sox in 1914, but was immediately injured. The Red Sox tried to get rid of him, but no one wanted him. He remained with the Red Sox until 1917, mainly being used as a utility backup player. However, in 1916, Gainer had his career defining moment as he drove in the game winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning in game 2 of the World Series. He was a member of the 1915 and 1916 World Series championship wins for the Red Sox. Gainer joined the navy for World War 1 in 1918, and spent most of the next 10 years playing baseball in the minor leagues, expect for in 1922 when he played for the St. Louis Cardinals. Gainer played into his 40's in these minor leagues. After retiring, Gainer became a Deputy US Marshal.
Leslie Mann identifies the same player as Del Gainer in many of his slides 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 images were then combined in Photoshop to create the final image.
Lantern slide from the Leslie Mann baseball instruction course, "The Fundamentals of Baseball"
Nowlin, Bill. "Del Gainer." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/0b74e2be ]. Accessed 30 Jan. 2018. ___Internet Archive___. [ http://web.archive.org/web/20180130152528/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/0b74e2be ].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-224-03
224