Lucky Inning

Lucky Inning, manufactured by Williams in May 1950, is a single-player electro-mechanical game with a baseball theme, designed by Gordon Horlick with artwork by George Molentin. The designer was long credited as Harry Williams himself, but the manufacturer's original playfield drawing, dated April 14, 1950, carries the signed initials GTH, identifying Horlick as the designer. The game is closely related to its era's competition: its playfield invites comparison to Gottlieb's 1950 'Buffalo Bill', and both games were advertised in the same May 20, 1950 issue of The Billboard.

The game offers five innings for five cents and features two flippers plus a signature mechanical touch: pressing the flipper buttons also fires the ball from an oscillating turret shooter mounted between the flippers, a mechanism covered by Harry E. Williams' patent No. 2,459,011, filed in 1947 and granted in 1949. The backbox provides mechanical animation, with figures of men moving around the bases as the game progresses.

With its animated backglass, turret shooter, and Molentin's period artwork celebrating America's pastime, Lucky Inning is a charming example of how early-1950s Williams games blended novelty mechanisms with popular sports themes.