Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 276

Item Information

Title:
Leslie Mann Baseball Lantern Slide, No. 276
Description:
Carson Bigbee, an outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, stands in foul territory at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Bigbee holds his glove out in front of his body slightly above waist level as he gazes into the air with his eyes protected through a pair of sunglasses. An unidentified player stands in fair territory in the background behind him.
Creator:
Mann, Leslie
Creator:
E.W. Goodrich (Tremont Temple, Boston)
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
Bigbee, Carson Lee
Pittsburgh Pirates
Fielding
Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Link to Item:
https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16122coll10/id/224
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:
Bigbee is demonstrating a proper way for an outfielder to position themselves to catch a fly ball. After judging the location of the baseball, Bigbee realized that the baseball was going to fall more in front of him than he originally anticipated. Because of this, Bigbee extended his left foot out in front of his right foot, which also allows Bigbee to extend his glove farther out away from his body than he would be able to do if he was standing with both feet right next to each other. This means that Bigbee is able to catch the baseball that was hit a lot more in front of him than he thought without having to move his body. This is ideal because the outfielder doesn't have much time as they prepare to catch fly balls, especially if these fly balls are hit more as line drives. Bigbee's decision to not move his entire body forward is a good one because it will make Bigbee less rushed and may decrease the chances of Bigbee committing an error in an attempt to catch the baseball.
Carson Bigbee was born on March 31, 1895, in Waterloo, Oregon. He played football, baseball, and basketball as a kid. He always had great speed, but was not a tremendous hitter. However, his incredible speed led to the interest of many scouts for Bigbee at a young age. In fact, in high school, Bigbee could score on a single hit to the outfield if he was on first base. He chose to go the University of Oregon where he continued to play football, baseball, and basketball. In 1916, he signed alongside his brother Lyle to the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League, but the coach wasn't impressed by either of the Bigbees. He was signed to the Tacoma Tigers, where he stole 50 bases. Many major league teams wanted to sign him, and Bigbee chose the Pittsburgh Pirates. He debuted at age 21 in 1916. Bigbee would have his breakout year in 1919. During this year, Max Carey, one of the starting outfielders, got the boils. This allowed Bigbee to earn a starting role in the lineup, where he stole 31 bases. When Carey returned, the Pirates traded Casey Stengel, one of their other outfielders, in order to make room for Bigbee. 1921 and 1922 were the best two years of Bigbee's career. In 1921, he had a 23 game hit streak while hitting .323 over the year. Bigbee also led the league in singles and was third in triples both years. In 1923, Bigbee began to suffer from sinus infections that hurt his vision and gave him headaches, which affected his performance in 1923. His sinus problems would continue, and by 1925, Bigbee found himself in a reduced role on the Pirates. However, in 1925, Bigbee pinch hit in Game 7 of the World Series in the bottom of the 8th against the Washington Senators. Bigbee drove a run in to tie the game, and would score the winning run later that inning. Bigbee's career, however, ended very controversially. Fred Clarke was the vice president of the Pirates, and he often would sit in the dugout and ridicule the players and managers. Clarke insulted Max Carey in front of Bigbee, leading to Bigbee telling Carey and the two of them staging a rebellion against Clarke alongside the third veteran on the team, Babe Adams. The three wanted to remove Clarke from the dugout, but the manager and the players surprisingly sided with Clarke. This led to the release of all three of these veterans, and effectively ended Bigbee's career in the Major Leagues. Bigbee attempted a revival in the West Coast League, but he only ended up playing a couple seasons there before officially retiring.
Leslie Mann identifies the player in slide 276 as Carson Bigbee on Page 50 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.
Lantern slide from the Leslie Mann baseball instruction course, "The Fundamentals of Baseball"
Bartholemy, Ed. "Carson Bigbee." Society for American Baseball Research, [sabr.org/bioproj/person/5b5d1b2d ]. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018. ___Internet Archive___. [http://web.archive.org/web/20181101135521/https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/5b5d1b2d].
Identifier:
LANT-BSBL-276-03
276