Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 256

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 256
Description:
Specs Toporcer, a shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, is starting to lower his body towards the ground in an attempt to slide as he approaches third base. Heinie Groh, a third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands with one foot directly behind the base facing towards home plate. His other foot is located a couple feet in front of the base as Groh holds the baseball in his glove in front of his body around chest level.
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 caps
Baseballs
Groh, Henry Knight
Toporcer, George
St. Louis Cardinals
New York Giants
Fielding--Third base
Base Running
Sliding
Stealing
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/234
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:
Groh is demonstrating the proper way for a third baseman to stand when attempting to tag out a baserunner who is trying to steal third base. Groh has placed one foot in front and one foot behind the base. From this position, he is not at risk of having the baserunner slide into his feet. This could cause injury to him or the baserunner. Groh's positioning is also correct because since he has placed one foot directly behind the base and the other in front of it, his center of gravity is right in the middle of the base. This is important because after Groh has caught the baseball, he would need to bring his glove down directly in front of third base. Groh would want to place his glove in the middle of third base because that would result in him being able to block as much as the base as possible with his glove. The baserunner would be forced to slide around the third baseman's tag if this occurred. Groh's body positon would allow him to easily move his glove if the baserunner attempted to avoid the tag by sliding around it because of his body position. If Groh's body was positioned on the right side of the base entirely, the baserunner could slide to the left side of the base and would most likely be able to avoid the tag the third baseman would attempt to make because it would be very difficult for Groh to make that tag because of his body position.
Heinie Groh was born on September 18, 1889 in Rochester, New York. He played for the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and Pittsburgh Pirates over the course of his career. Groh is considered to be one of the greatest fielders and defensive players of all-time. He played in the era known as the Deadball Era, the period characterized by low scoring and good defense, and he thrived in this era. His career fielding average of .967 is the highest for any third baseman playing before 1920. Groh was very short, only measuring 5"6", and he used this size to his advantage, since pitchers had a really small strike zone to work with because of his height. One interesting story about Groh is the first time he batted, he pinch hit for the Giants, and the people in the crowd didn't know who he was. Many people actually thought he was the bat boy, and that him batting was supposed to be a joke. Groh responded by hitting a line drive single. Groh is also associated with the Bottle Bat, which is a bat with a thick barrel and an unusually thin handle. This bat was created specifically for Groh. Groh won two World Series's in his career, including 1919 with the Reds, though this was a controversial series since many people believe the White Sox threw it. Because Groh had many MVP caliber seasons, it is very surprising that he isn't in the Hall of Fame today.
I used facial recognition to identify the player sliding as Toporcer, and I used similar slides to idenitfy the fielder
Fair condition;
There are a couple small cracks near the top of the slide.
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"
Lahman, Sean. "Heinie Groh." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b90e80de ]. Accessed 21 Nov. 2017. ___Internet Archive___. [http://web.archive.org/web/20171121163444/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b90e80de].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-256-03
256