Batting Practice

Batting Practice may be Irving Kaye’s most well-known arcade game. Based on the Scientific Machine Corporation’s 1941 Batting Practice this game was introduced in 1965. (In 1957 former Scientific Machine designer Jack Firestone was put in charge of production and design at Irving Kaye.)

When introduced this game featured several new features not previously seen in baseball simulators. It is a single-player game that uses cast manikin players and uses plastic balls that fly through the air when batted into four decks at the back of playfield for scoring. The decks are labeled “1 run”, “2 runs”, “3 runs” & “4 runs”. The player could also hit grounders or fly balls into the outfield or into the decks, just like real baseball.

These machines have a lot of Bally parts. Score reels, Coin door, and Stepper units are all Bally components. (During this time Irving Kaye was a Vice President of Bally and a member of the Board of Directors as he was one of four investors who purchased Bally in 1963 to make electro-mechanical slot machines.)

Price Check Update:

1. April 2019 – $1088 Morphy Auctions (Estimated value $1000-$2500)
2. Feb 2020 – $8500 (ask) eBay

Note: Image analysis suggests the two sales/offers listed above are for the same machine. We are not sure if it did not sell at the auction or if it sold and this is a flip.

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