~tlampian S~eectl ifesteri
13y 13ill Howard
The only l~nown example of the Champion Speed Tester is
featured on page 145 of Every Picture Tells a Story and shown
below. It is one of my favorite baseball machines because of its
extraordinary graphics and hand-eye coordination sl~ill ploy. The
deposit of one cent releases a colored boll from the top that the
player tries to maneuver into the matching colored poel~et as
the boll falls. This is not easy, but neither is hitting a baseball or
avoiding a left hool~. The beautifully cost marquee of two box-
ers and the extraordinarily detailed picture of the [3obe mol~e
the graphics simply wonderful . I hove never seen a better picto-
rial view of the face of [3obe Ruth. The identity of the figure on
the left upper corner of the paper is a mystery to me, although
I suspect it represents on accomplished pugilistic contemporary
of Ruth . I would appreciate hearing from anyone with on idea
of who he may be.
The manufacturer of this 1930 counter top machine is un-
l~nown , although [3 _Modorsl~y of [3rool~lyn , New Yori~ , is a lil~ely
suspect according to historian Diel~ [3ueschel , who featured my
machine on page 171 of this Guide to Vintage Trade Stimulo-
tors & Counter Gomes. where he describes it as a "l~iller. "
The machine cabinet is stained with a dorl~ wood finish with
more terrific aluminum costing on the bottom in the form of two
hands on the lower corners firmly holding a stiel~. This example
is all original except for a reconstructed troy on the inside that
holds the gumboils in place. Entry to the machine comes from the boel~ , which is bro-
l~en and warped . I found no evidence that the machine come with a cash box, as was
also true of the Modorsl~i Drop Coin Football , shown on page 124 of my bool~. In any
event, I suspect the operator offered some prize if the hand-eye sl~ill of the player was
able to match a hanging gumboil with the corresponding colored poel~et.
I acquired this machine from dealer Mil~e Murphy of Aurora , Illinois, at a Chicago-
land show early on in my collecting , and this led to a friendship resulting in my being
able to buy other great machines form Mil~e and enjoy his company when I see him
at Chicogolond .
The significance of the Gome of [3oseboll , and of [3obe Ruth in particular, cannot be
overstated when it come to trade stimulotors in the 1920's and 1930's. Ruth not only
built that house called Yonl~ee Stadium , but he almost single handedly pulled baseball
up out of the stinl~ing rubble that the [3Ioel~ Sox scandal of 1919 left it in . Ruth then did
for coin-op marl~eting what he hod done for the Gome of [3aseboll. An advertisement
appearing in the April 19, 1930, issue of [3illboord Magazine said it oil. "[3obe Ruth signed for $80,000.00 .
What about you?" was stated in bold writing to motivate entrepreneurs to buy coin operated machines and
mol~e money too . [3oseboll's inference went on to become so pervasive in the coin machine industry that I
started to go nuts collecting coin-ops with a baseball theme until I realized I hod to restrict my baseball col-
lection to really extraordinary examples or face the possibility that I would soon run out of money as I filled up
warehouses. Champion Speed Tester is among the best of those extraordinary examples.
Thank you, Mike Murphy.
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