Batting Practice

Batting Practice, manufactured by the Scientific Machine Corporation of Brooklyn, New York in 1941, is an electro-mechanical (EM) pinball machine with a baseball theme. According to a 1941 Billboard announcement, the manufacturer had actually begun developing the game four years earlier, in 1937, testing twenty units in New York before deciding -- based on their strong earnings -- to build 2,000 more even before publicly announcing the game for sale.

The machine's standout feature is its ball-pitching mechanism: the ball is pitched from above the playfield down a metal slide, and the player must bat it airborne into the bleachers to score. Play cost five cents for 15 balls, reflecting the affordability of arcade entertainment of the era.

Little is known about the machine's designer, but Batting Practice appears to be the only baseball-themed game the Scientific Machine Corporation released in 1941, making it a distinctive piece of early sports-themed pinball history.