The Pitcher's Battle

The Pitcher, manufactured by R.G. Kollmorgen of Coldwater, Michigan in 1935, is a rare piece from the early history of pinball. A pure mechanical (PM) bagatelle game, it reflects pinball's mechanical beginnings before the era of electromechanical and electronic machines.

The Pitcher's gameplay is characterized by its simplicity, typical of early mechanical bagatelle games. Players control a single ball on the playing field, aiming to score points. What sets The Pitcher apart is its baseball theme, with artwork depicting Detroit Tigers pitcher Tommy Bridges.

The machine's compact size - 24 inches long, 14 inches wide, and 3 inches high - reflects the space-saving design common in early games of this type. Per Kollmorgen's obituary, he patented the game in 1935 and sold 10,000 units at J.L. Hudson's department store in Detroit, later securing contracts with other baseball stars for similar boards before production halted due to wartime material shortages. A related 1935 patent (No. 96,384) filed by Herman C. Guetschoff depicts a very similar game board, though it shows an unidentified player swinging a bat rather than pitching, leaving some ambiguity about the design's exact origins.