by Bill Howard
This very rare baseball-cricket counter top coin-oper-
ated machine was manufactured by the Blackbum Mfg.
Co. of San Antonio, Texas. Because of the machine's
look and its "cricket aspect", I believe it was introduced
in the late 191 O's or early 1920's, although no ads for
it have appeared. Blackbum Mfg. Baseball is featured
on page 152 in the baseball section of my book, Every
Picture Tells a Story. It is one of two known examples,
the other having turned up recently in the hands of col-
lector and friend Jim Grimwade.
chine featuring a vertical ball drop was the Peo Play
Ball advertised in the January, 1928, issue of Automatic
Age on page 28. To my knowledge, no Peo Play Ball
has ever surfaced. But the ad is very relevant as to the
time issue as it offered a "spiffed up" machine that cop-
ied an earlier vertical coin-op concept, complete with a
winning "bullseye" target on the back wall, an obvious
attempt to copy the earlier and cruder Blackbum Mfg.
Baseball.
In spite of what little we know about this machine, its
manufacturer is certain because its name is cast into the
marquee that sticks out from the outside of the other-
wise wooden cabinet as you face the back of the player.
As I have stated, the internal mechanism that drops the
steel balls is quite unique. The balls are routed laterally
into a tube and then released vertically into the field of
play to allow the player to swat at them individually
with a wide, flat bat similar in style to one used to play
cricket. The object is to hit the balls so that they drop
into one of the four holes in front of the wal I. As win-
ning and losing balls alike are recycled underneath the
machine for the next play, offering no verification of
winning hits before the insert of another penny brought
up the three balls again for another play. This machine
was for skill or arcade play, and not for gambling. As in
the game of baseball, the timing necessary to just hit the
ball requires a lot of skill.
My example also appears on page 149 of Dr. Mark
Cooper's Baseball Games. At the time his book was
published, my example was owned by collector Mike
Brown of Philadelphia, PA. Because so little was known
of this machine prior to my purchase, Mike made an in-
quiry to the late historian, Dick Beuschel, through his
column in Coin-Op Classics. In the May/June, 1995, is-
sue Dick responded by reporting that the machine was
never advertised and did not appear in any known trade
journals. Although Dick suggested that the Blackbum
Mfg. Baseball was probably made in 1929 or 1930, I
disagree for the following reasons. First, the player in
my machine looks original and bears no number one
on his jersey, a tell tale sign among baseball historians
that suggests an earlier date than 1920. In addition, the
"cricket aspect" of this game also suggests an earlier
time frame, when the game of baseball was still evolv-
ing from our English ancestors. Also, the vertical ball
drop feature is not like other sports games of the era,
and was contained within a crude, dull wooden cabinet
not common to those sports machines of the late l 920's
or early 1930's. In fact, the only other baseball type ma-
In conclusion, I consider this to be an early counter top
baseball arcade-skill game that is fun to play as well as
a challenge to master. I feel lucky to own this wonder-
ful and unusual machine. Thank you, Mike Brown.
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