| Leslie Mann | |
|---|---|
| Evans from The Arbutus, 1923
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| Sport(s) | Basketball |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | November 18, 1892 |
| Place of birth | Lincoln, Nebraska |
| Died | January 14, 1962 (aged 69) |
| Place of death | Pasadena, California |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1920 1923-1924 1925-1926 |
Rice Indiana Springfield |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 43-30 |
| 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 | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .282 |
| Hits | 1332 |
| Runs batted in | 503 |
| Teams | |
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Leslie Mann (November 18, 1892 – January 14, 1962), was a college football player, professional baseball player and football and basketball coach. He played outfield in the Major Leagues from 1913-1928. He played for the Boston Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants, and Chicago Cubs. He was the head basketball coach at Rice Institute (1919-1920 season) Indiana University (1922-1923 through 1923-1924 seasons) and Springfield College (1924-1925 through 1925-1926 seasons). He compiled a career record of 43-30 in five seasons as a head basketball coach.
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Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Mann attended the Y.M.C.A. College in [[Springfield, 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]
Mann later became a professional baseball player. From 1913 to 1928, he played for the Boston Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants, and Chicago Cubs. He was a member of the 1914 "Miracle" Braves team that went from last place to first place in two months, becoming the first team to win a pennant after being in last place on the Fourth of July.[3] The team then went on to defeat Connie Mack's heavily favored Philadelphia Athletics in the 1914 World Series.
Mann also worked for many years as a college football and basketball coach. From 1914 to 1916, he was a basketball coach at Amherst College.[1][4][2][5] In 1919, he became a coach at Rice Institute in Houston.[1] In February 1922, Mann was hired as an assistant football coach at Indiana.[1][6] He also coached the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team during the 1922-1923 and 1923-1924 seasons.[7] Starting in 1924, Mann was hired as the head basketball coach and assistant football coach at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts.[8]
After retiring as a player and coach, Mann became an advocate for baseball as an international sport. He founded the U.S.A. Baseball Congress, and organized a 20 game tour of Japan in 1935.
Through his efforts, baseball was selected as a demonstration sport in the 1936 Summer Olympics played in Berlin. Originally, the United States team was scheduled to play a Japanese 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 90,000 people on August 12, 1936.[9]
Mann went on to found the International Baseball Federation, which organized an international championship in England in 1938. The English team, composed mainly of Canadian college players, won 4 out of 5 games against an amateur American team. He also organized subsequent championships in Cuba in 1939 and Puerto Rico in 1941. World War II brought Mann's efforts to an end.[10]
He died in Pasadena, California.
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