Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 110

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 110
Description:
Eddie Ainsmith, a catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, stands directly behind a warm up plate positioned in the outfield at Sportsman Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Ainsmith looks forward at the camera with a slight bend in his knees as he puts both of his hands on his knee caps with his feet spread about shoulder width apart.
Creator:
Leslie Mann
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
Baseball fields
Ainsmith, Edward Wilbur
St. Louis Cardinals
Catching
Catching Stance
Sportsman Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/314
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:
Ainsmith is demonstrating the correct way for a catcher to stand behind home plate while awaiting a throw from the pitcher. The major takeaway from this slide is how perfectly Ainsmith has positioned himself so that he is standing directly behind home plate. This is important because if the pitch is wild and does not go across home plate, then Ainsmith can easily turn his body in any way he needs to and adjust his glove and positioning to catch the baseball. This would be more difficult to do if Ainsmith was not standing directly behind the plate because it would be harder for Ainsmith to be able to cover as much space in the case of a wild throw compared to if he chooses to stand directly behind the base, where it would be easy for him to move in any direction and catch the baseball. Even though we did have a slide numbered 110 in our collection, this slide does not appear to match the slide 110 that Mann describes in his manual. David Brayfield had a different slide titled 110, and this slide appears to match the manual, which is why it is being included. A link to our version of Lantern Slide 110 can be found here; https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16122coll10/id/241/rec/1 .
Edward Wilbur Ainsmith was born on February 4, 1890, in the Russian Empire. Up until 2013, Ainsmith is one of only five Major League players to be born in Russia. However, Ainsmith moved to the United States at a very young age and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He originally wanted to be a boxer but his parents disproved of this, so Ainsmith instead chose to pursue baseball. He became a member of the Washington Senators when he was 20 years old in 1910. He spent his first nine seasons on the Senators, hitting no higher than .226 and only batting more than 300 times once in these nine seasons. Of course, this was during the Dead Ball Era so these stats aren’t as concerning as they would be if Ainsmith played baseball today. Ainsmith was violent both on and off the field and developed an unfavorable reputation for multiple reasons. Ainsmith constantly argued with the referees and was thrown out of games, and was arrested for assaulting a man on the streets. However, Clark Griffith, the manager of the Senators, was able to get him out of the jail sentence. Ainsmith was drafted for World War 1 but refused service. He argued that baseball was a job that should be excused from military service, a claim that was eventually rejected. However, Griffith was able to get Ainsmith to be part of a shipyard workers team in Baltimore rather than him being shipped overseas for the war. This didn’t help his reputation as Ainsmith was viewed as taking the easy way out. Ainsmith was known as Walter Johnson's preferred catcher. Johnson was a famous pitcher for the Senators, and he raved about Ainsmith. Ainsmith finished his career with the Cardinals until 1923 and the New York Giants in 1924. However, he was released during the 1924 season, ironic enough since the Giants went on to win the pennant. In 1924, Ainsmith took 28 men to Japan, and then in 1925, he partnered with Mary O'Gara to tour Japan with the Philadelphia Bobbies as a way to promote women's baseball. There were high expectations for the trip, as the team would compete against college aged Japanese men. The trip was expected to generate high levels of income for everyone involved. The ages of the members of the team ranged from 13-20, and included Edith Ruth, Nella Shank, and Leona Kearns. Ainsmith would also play on the team as the catcher, making their team coed. They departed for Japan on a one way trip with the return home date unknown. The trip was a financial disaster, as two of the Japanese sponsors never paid anything and the third went bankrupt. The team was also horrendous, failing to win any games. Ainsmith also clashed with O'Gara, and the two separated as Ainsmith and Earl Hamilton (a former pitcher for the Pirates) took Ruth, Shank, and Kearns to Korea to continue playing baseball, enlisting the help of four locals to finish the team. Since everyone was broke, there was no way for anyone to purchase a ride back to the United States. O’Gara begged for money and received shelter for her and the remaining members of the team in Japan from Harry Sanborn. Sanborn eventually convinced a man to donate the money as a gift so the women could return home, and O'Gara and the Bobbies made it home safely. However, Ainsmith and the remaining girls were still in Korea. Ainsmith was able to raise enough money to get him and his wife (who came for the trip) home safely, but not enough money for the other three girls. Ainsmith and his wife returned home, leaving the girls behind, who eventually took refuge with Sanborn as well. Eventually, word got to their parents of the horrendous situation that had occurred, as communication before then had been inconsistent and inaccurate, and the parents paid for the girls to return home. However, Kearns was washed overboard and died when the Empress of Asia was hit by a huge wave. Ainsmith is still considered partly responsible since he willingly left three teenage girls stranded alone and broke in Korea.
Leslie Mann identifies the player in slide 110 as Eddie Ainsmith on page 27 of 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 (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" taken from the lantern slide set owned by David Brayfield
Gregorich, Barbara. "Dropping the Pitch: Leona Kearns, Eddie Ainsmith and the Philadelphia Bobbies." Society for American Baseball Research, [ https://sabr.org/research/dropping-pitch-leona-kearns-eddie-ainsmith-and-philadelphia-bobbies ]. Accessed 22 May 2018. ___Internet Archive___ [ http://web.archive.org/save/https://sabr.org/research/dropping-pitch-leona-kearns-eddie-ainsmith-and-philadelphia-bobbies ].
Identifier:
LANT-Brayfield-110-03
110