Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 41

Specs Toporcer, a shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, is in the process of swinging at a baseball thrown to him by the pitcher while standing at home plate. A catcher stands with a slight squat behind home plate and Toporcer. Toporcer holds the bat in both hands directly over home plate as his front right foot remains planted on the ground while only the toe of his back left foot remains on the ground. There is a catcher behind him who is waiting to catch the baseball in the case that Toporcer misses the baseball when attempting to hit it.Toporcer stands in the middle of the batter's box when swinging the baseball. A batter can choose to stand in the front, middle, or back of the box. In this slide, Toporcer is demonstrating a generally correct batting stance as he attempts to hit the baseball. His eyes are looking forward at the baseball as he attempts to make contact with it. Toporcer's back foot is in the air as he makes contact with the baseball. This is ideal because it means that Specs is starting to step forward as he makes contact with the baseball. This will allow the quickest transition from hitting to running for Specs, which is ideal because it allows him to reach first base as quickly as possible which may be the difference in him reaching first base successfully or getting thrown out.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. For biographical information on Leslie Mann, see: https://springfield.as.atlas-sys.com/agents/people/563.There is very little information in Leslie Mann's manual about what this slide is trying to show. The main goal of the slide is to show that Toporcer chooses to stand in the middle of the batter's box.Leslie Mann identifies the player in slide 41 as Specs Toporcer on Page 9 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 (transparecy); the two images were then combined in Photoshop to create the final image