Leslie Mann | |
|---|---|
 Mann fromThe Arbutus, 1923 | |
| President of the IBF | |
| In office August 18, 1938 – October 6, 1940 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Jaime Mariné |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1892-11-18)November 18, 1892 Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died | January 14, 1962(1962-01-14) (aged 69) Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | International YMCA College |
Baseball player Baseball career | |
| Outfielder | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 30, 1913, for the Boston Braves | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 30, 1928, for the New York Giants | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .282 |
| Hits | 1,332 |
| Runs batted in | 503 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Coaching career | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Basketball | |
| 1915–1918 | Amherst |
| 1919–1920 | Rice |
| 1922–1924 | Indiana |
| 1924–1926 | Springfield (MA) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 43–30 |
Leslie Mann (November 18, 1892 – January 14, 1962) was an American athlete and sports administrator. He playedcollege football and professionalbaseball, and went on to coach football, baseball, andbasketball. He was the founder and first president of theInternational Baseball Federation, the predecessor to the modernWorld Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).
Mann played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) as anoutfielder from 1913 to 1928 for seven teams, spending eight years of his career with theBoston Braves. After his playing career, Mann became a tireless promoter of international amateur baseball, founding theU.S. Amateur Baseball Federation in 1931 and the International Baseball Federation in 1938. He helped bring baseball to the1936 Berlin Olympics and coached theUnited States national team at the inaugural1938 Amateur World Series. His efforts to further internationalize the game were derailed byWorld War II.
Mann was the head basketball coach atRice Institute (1919–1920),Indiana University (1922–1924), andSpringfield College (1924–1926). He compiled a career record of 43–30 in five seasons as a head basketball coach.
Born inLincoln, Nebraska, Mann attended the Y.M.C.A. College inSpringfield, Massachusetts.[1] He played both football and basketball at Springfield and was regarded as "one of the best football players the training school ever had."[2]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Leslie Mann" athlete – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Mann later became a professional baseball player. From 1913 to 1928, he played for theBoston Braves,St. Louis Cardinals,Cincinnati Reds,New York Giants, andChicago Cubs.
He was a member of the1914 "Miracle" Braves team that went from last place to first place in two months, becoming the first team to win apennant after being in last place on the Fourth of July.[3] The team then went on to defeatConnie Mack's heavily favoredPhiladelphia Athletics in the1914 World Series.
Mann jumped to the rivalFederal League in 1915, signing with theChicago Whales. The short lived league was in its final season, but Mann recorded his best season as a professional, batting .306 and leading the league with 19 triples asthe Whales won the pennant.
With the demise of the Federal League, Mann returned to Major League Baseball as a member of the Chicago Cubs in 1916. As a member of thepennant winning Cubs in 1918, Mann also recorded an RBI single offBabe Ruth in Game 4 of the1918 World Series. Ruth'sBoston Red Sox defeated the Cubs 4-2 to win the Series, theirlast World Series title until 2004.
Mann served mostly as a platoon player from 1919 onward. Although he'd bat over .300 in several season over the final part of his career, Mann did do so falling well short of the necessary plate appearances to qualify for a batting title.
Mann had a reputation as a "clean" player, who disapproved of vices like drinking and gambling in the clubhouse. While he was with the Cardinals in 1922, he received a letter from Giants pitcherPhil Douglas. Douglas, at odds with Giants managerJohn McGraw, suggested that he would be willing to jump ship, effectively tipping the pennant race to the Cardinals. Mann advised managerBranch Rickey, who passed the letter toBaseball CommissionerKenesaw Mountain Landis, who banned Douglas from baseball for life.
Mann also worked for many years as a college football and basketball coach. From 1914 to 1916, he was a basketball coach atAmherst College.[1][2][4][5]
In 1919, he became a coach atRice Institute inHouston.[1] In February 1922, Mann was hired as an assistant football coach atIndiana.[1][6] He also coached theIndiana Hoosiers men's basketball team during the 1922–23 and 1923–24 seasons.[7]
Starting in 1924, Mann was hired as the head basketball coach and assistant football coach at his alma mater, which by then had becomeSpringfield College.[8]
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Leslie Mann" athlete – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
After retiring as a player and coach, Mann became an advocate for baseball as an international sport, founding the U.S.A. Baseball Congress. He organized a 12-game tour of Japan in 1935, with an American amateur team taking eight games and dropping four against Japanese opponents.[9]
Mann went on to found theInternational Baseball Federation (IBF) in 1938. Its inaugural tournament was held in England, billed as theAmateur World Series. TheEnglish team, composed mainly of Canadian college players, won 4 out of 5 games against theAmerican team. The IBF also organized subsequent championships inCuba in 1939 and Puerto Rico in 1941.
Mann fought to includebaseball at the Summer Olympics. He petitioned theUS Olympic Committee to include baseball as a demonstration sport at the1932 Los Angeles Games, but the committee chose football and lacrosse instead.[10] Baseball's inclusion in the Olympics was opposed by powerful figures likeAvery Brundage, head of the USOC (and future president of theInternational Olympic Committee), who was "a firm believer in the idea that there was no such thing as an amateur baseball player."[11] Nevertheless, Mann's efforts to promote the sport got baseball was selected as a demonstration sport in the1936 Summer Olympics played in Berlin. Originally, the United States team was scheduled to play aJapanese team, but the Japanese withdrew. The American team was separated into two squads who competed against each other in a single game. The "World Champions" lineup beat the "U. S. Olympics" lineup by a score of 6–5 before a crowd of 100,000 people on August 12, 1936.[12]
World War II brought Mann's efforts to an end.[13] His plans for the1940 Olympic Games in Tokyo – where baseball had already been approved as a demonstration sport – were scuttled after Japan forfeited the games. Mann also had hopes to establish Olympic baseball at the1944 Games in London, but those too were canceled due to the outbreak of war.[10]
Mann also arranged a 33-game tour ofSouth Africa andRhodesia between November 1955 and February 1956.[14]
He died inPasadena, California on January 14, 1962, aged 69.[citation needed]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice Owls(Southwest Conference)(1919–1920) | |||||||||
| 1919–20 | Rice | 6–6 | 2–5 | 4th | |||||
| Rice: | 6–6 (.500) | 2–5 (.286) | |||||||
| Indiana Hoosiers(Big Ten Conference)(1923–1924) | |||||||||
| 1922–23 | Indiana | 8–7 | 5–7 | 7th | |||||
| 1923–24 | Indiana | 11–6 | 7–5 | T–6th | |||||
| Indiana: | 19–13 (.594) | 12–12 (.500) | |||||||
| Total: | 43–30 (.589) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
Source:[15]
· Baseball Almanac