"The automatic umpire," as the inventor of this contrivance for training pitchers has 

 christened it, has a target the exact size of the "strike" area. If the pitcher makes a "strike," 

 the target is driven back a little— enough, as shown in the insert, to complete an electric 

 circuit and operate a "strike" indicator. If the pitcher fails to hit the target, the indicator 

 is not operated. In either case the ball is returned by a trough. Black silhouettes of batters 

 are painted on either side of the target. Either of them can be concealed by pulling a 

 cord which operates a swinging panel. Thus the pitcher is trained to cope with both right 

 and left-handed batters. In the illustration the concealed batter is shown faintly behind 

 the swinging panel, although the figure is not actually seen by the pitcher — this for the 

 sake of making the invention clearer 



Playing Baseball by Machine 



EVERY subject of popular interest is 

 an inspiration for the inventor. 

 It is, therefore, natural to expect 

 that baseball would spur the man of 

 wheels and springs, cogs, levers and 

 gears, to many efforts, resulting in a 

 large nunilier of inventions relating to 

 the (ireat American dame. 



Outside of those which relate specifi- 

 cally to the sport as practiced — patents 

 on balls, gloves, protectors, masks, 

 spikes, bags, marking apparatus and 

 similar things, mechanical baseball in- 

 ventions divide themselves roughly into 

 three classes. These are — games which 

 simulate the great game itself, and 

 which are supposetl to pro\ide at least 

 a modicum of the thrills of the real 



diamond, and which can be played upon 

 lawn or in parlor — games or sports 

 based on baselaall which are suitable for 

 country fairs, circuses, midways and 

 -similar places, in which the public 

 participates either as batter or as 

 pitcher, and finally, inventions designed 

 to aid in the actual training of ball 

 players, by making their practice easy, 

 or providing them with mechanism by 

 which they can tell when their practice 

 approaches perfection. 



Considerable ingenuity is displayed 

 in several such patented games in the 

 construction of a "pitcher" which (should 

 one say "who?") delivers the little 

 rubber ball at various speeds and 

 angles. 



