Now that this ended.

[Butch7999]

Hi Steven -- The Pitcher's Battle, made around 1935 by R. G. Kollmorgen, is a basic bagatelle/pinball game. The plunger/shooter that launches the ball is at the lower right. Bridges' picture is part of the original graphics, unlike the Cobb photo on the Peg Base Ball shown in jcmtiger Joe's post, which was presumably pasted on there by some youthful previous owner of that game.

The Cooper catalogue is indispensible for collectors of baseball games, but the prices listed in the price guide there are, with few exceptions, enormously and unrealistically high. An example of The Pitcher's Battle shows up in on-line auctions about every year and a half or so, averaging around $260. in nice shape. One did fetch a bit over $550. on eBay not quite two years ago, the only time we've seen it top $300., but Joseph is correct, the $150.+ on eBay a few days ago was a bargain for the buyer.

There's an alternate version of The Pitcher's Battle -- The Professional Player, made a few years earlier or later by H. C. Guetschoff. It features a portrait illustration of a snarling tiger (the large cat, not a Detroit ballplayer) where Bridges appears on The Pitcher's Battle, but the two games are otherwise almost identical. Kollmorgen's nephew visited our own Forum some time ago to talk about his uncle and the game.