Fifth Inning

The Fifth Inning pinball machine, manufactured by Bally in April 1939, is a flipperless electro-mechanical baseball game from pinball's pre-war era. Available in both Novelty and Free Play (Replay) models, it is in fact the same game as Bally's 1939 'American League' - a common practice of the period, when manufacturers released identical games under different names.

Gameplay on Fifth Inning is characterized by its simplicity and charm. Players get 5 balls for 5 cents and send them through a playfield populated by eleven spring bumpers and a single trap hole. The standout feature is the backbox light animation, which depicts men running the bases as scoring events unfold - an early example of the animated backglass features that made baseball games perennial favorites.

Little is known about the game's specific production numbers or its designer, but Fifth Inning stands as an appealing piece of late-1930s Bally history, capturing America's pastime in lights and steel just before the war halted pinball production.