Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 96

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 96
Description:
Specs Toporcer, a shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands covering third base with one foot located directly to the right side of the base and the other directly to the left as he looks forward holding his glove around leg level at Sportsman Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Another player stands about 15 feet in front of third base and appears off balanced.
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
Toporcer, George
St. Louis Cardinals
Base Running
Fielding--Third base
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/239
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:
Deciding what foot to jump off when sliding into third base depends on what type of slide is being attempted. If the baserunner is attempting a hook slide, then they need to jump off the correct foot when sliding into third base in order to maximize their rate of success in reaching third base successfully. If Toporcer wants to complete a hook slide to the right side of third base, then he should begin his slide by jumping off his right foot. By doing this, his left leg would pass by third base first and from here Toporcer could easily touch the base. However, if he jumped off his left foot, his right foot would pass by the base first and Toporcer would need to wait for his left foot to catch up in order to touch the base. The opposite should be done if Toporcer wants to hook slide to the left side of the base.
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-096-03
096