Baseball

The 1945 Victory Games Baseball pinball machine is a rare and historically interesting example of electro-mechanical (EM) pinball design from just after World War II. It is a conversion of Genco's 1941 'Seven Up,' repurposed by Victory Games with a baseball theme, and it is a flipperless game -- like most machines of its time, it predates the invention of the flipper by two years.

Baseball's key gameplay features center on its 19 passive bumpers, which players used to score by letting the ball bounce and roll across the playfield under gravity and the tilt of the cabinet, rather than by aiming shots with flippers. The machine's design carries the minimalist artwork characteristic of wartime and immediate postwar EM pinballs, with a straightforward baseball theme capturing the spirit of America's national pastime.

As a conversion kit produced during a period of material shortages in the mid-1940s, this Baseball holds a special place in pinball history, illustrating how manufacturers like Victory Games adapted existing cabinets to new themes. Its preservation as an intact example from this era allows enthusiasts to appreciate a transitional moment in EM design, just before the flipper would reshape the game entirely.