Short-Sox

Short-Sox, manufactured by Stoner Manufacturing Company in July 1936, is part of Stoner's "Aristocrat" series and is an early electro-mechanical (EM) baseball-themed pinball machine, offering a window into the development of sports-themed pinball in the 1930s.

Short-Sox features six balls for five cents, 18 trap holes, 2 free play holes, and 2 kicker lanes. Its most distinctive feature is its scoring system: the backglass displays two rows of numbers 1 through 9 (one red, one green) that light as balls fall into corresponding playfield holes. Lighting three numbers of one color that match the same numbers in the other color scores a Batting Average, and hitting the Double and Home Run holes increases the Batting Average further. Tilting the game lights an "Out" indicator on the backglass -- though notably, the Innings and Out indicators don't function according to actual baseball rules.

The machine's design is fairly simple by later standards, and while called "Short-Sox," it does not appear to specifically reference the Boston Red Sox or any real team. A surviving example bears cabinet serial number 3335, with the front door and legs stamped 586, offering collectors a tangible link to this rare piece of early baseball-themed pinball history.