Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 156

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 156
Description:
Lou North, a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands on a pitcher's mound. His right foot is touching the edge of the white pitching rubber slab located on the middle of the mound, while his left foot is placed in front of the rubber slab as it is almost directly in front of his left foot.
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--Set Position
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/266
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 proper way for a pitcher to stand on the mound when there are baserunners on first or second base. When there are baserunners on base, North would want to remain in set position, which means that he would not have to wind up to throw the baseball to home plate. Instead, from this position, North can lift his left front foot forward and throw the baseball. This is ideal because it means that North can throw the ball much quicker to home plate than he could if he was forced to wind up. This helps ensure that the baserunner does not steal because the baseball would reach home plate quicker if North chose to throw from set position rather than actually winding up his throw. Secondly, if the baserunner chooses to steal anyway, North throwing from set position allows the catcher to have more of a chance in picking off the stealing baserunner than he would if the pitcher chose to wind up. In this slide, North has positioned his body so that half of the ball of his foot is on the rubber and half is in front of it. Here, North is using the rubber as a brace for his foot, which allows him to lift his front left foot up in the air as he goes to pitch the baseball. North has positioned his left foot in front of his right foot so that it is almost directly in front of it facing forward towards the pitcher's mound, which is ideal. He has placed his left foot so that it is a comfortable distance apart from his back right foot.
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 156 as Louis 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 (transparency); the two image 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-156-03
156