A Picture that Brought Back Memories.

[Wyandot Jim]

I saw this picture on the net. First time I had seen a picture of the pin setting machines from the rear. I worked as a Pin Boy when I was 13-14 Three nights a week, Wednesday and Sunday afternoons. We got paid .10 a game. I also got out of school early to set pins for an afternoon woman's league. Weeknights and Sunday night were leagues. Saturday and Sunday afternoon was open bowling. We could bowl as much as we wanted when not setting.
In one of the post we talked about how hard baling hay was. Well setting pins was hard arsh work and you could get hurt from flying pins. Most of the time it was just bruises on the bottom of your legs. You would set on the backstop with your legs on top of the rack, the rack is what you put the pins into. This kept a pin from hitting your face or chest. On accession you would get a pin from the side into the chest. NOT good. That kid would not be setting in that location unless he wanted hurt. No protection for his legs from a pin that ricochet from the side
The cut out by the near guys legs is so you could go from one lane to the other setting doubles. I could set women's doubles but was not fast or big/strong enough to set the men's doubles. By doing doubles you made twice the money. During league you sat 5 bowlers for 3 game .10=$1.50 and 2 leagues a night so $3.00 a 4-5 hour night BIG BUCKS. You also had to keep track of spares, strikes, and 10th frame all had a different pin setting procedure.
Bowling leagues were very popular in the winters in the 50s. In fact our Bowling Alley was closed in the summer since it didn't have AC. The year I sat pins was the last of the Pin Boys since the owner bought automatic machines the next year.
My summer job was yard mowing until I started working on farms, in an Aluminum Foundry and stocking in a supermarket.. Looking back to all of the jobs I had as a kid . Well It beat the hell out of flipping burgers. USAF at 17.

Anyway a REAL long time ago. Gives a new meaning to "Keep Your Eye On The Ball"

 

[Wyandot Jim]

I just saw this WOW 100% correct

If you are headed back to work this Monday, consider for a moment the by-gone job of the pinsetter.
In the 50's, before the fully-automated bowling machine replaced the pinboy -- an irascible border-line delinquent usually too young to acquire employment in any other field except the delivery of newspapers or mowing of lawns -- pinsetting was like having a real job!
At the end of the bowling alley (lane) was a pit -- above the pit, sitting on a wall-like structure was the all-important pinboy -- if you wanted to bowl, you had to have a pinboy to reset your pins. Unlike a machine, one could argue about strikes and spares, blaming human error on the part of the pinboy's lack of expertise in resetting the pins. There was a relationship with the bowler and the pinboy that was quite volatile!
In many towns in the Midwest, the fully-automated AMF bowling machines along with television did not arrive until the late 50's. A rack was used that one could throw the pins into, then push a lever down to set the pins in the correct position. This provided a good job for young men that liked a little excitement. The pinsetter would sit on the edge of the pit with his feet clear of the bowling ball that would come crashing down the alley. Most of the time all the pins would remain in the pit, but sometimes they would fly out and if the boy were not alert he could get hit.
Being a pinsetter was like Pinocchio with a job! The crash of pins, the thud of the ball, jumping down into the pit to reset the pins (there was an up-and-down machine in which to place the pins) -- hoping that the bowler who was poised to pick up the spare saw the fragile human in the pit! If the pin setter was too slow and the ball reached the bowler before the pin setter was through in the pit the person bowling may throw the ball and catch the pinboy in the pit. The bowler usually could not see the pinsetter down in the pit, or maybe they could and liked to see him jump!
Violent bowlers required distancing oneself from the area of the pit entirely due to the flying pins -- many a ghastly bruise was obtained by the novice. On occasion, the bowler would bowl while the pins were being reset -- that justified rolling the ball back up the alley to the bowler! Imagine the hothead that the pinsetter hit with the ball charging back to the pin setting area to find no one in charge of setting his pins!



Ladies night was particularly interesting to the pinsetter -- lots of splits and spares and gutter balls! The slow-moving rumbling ball allowed the pinsetter to leisurely ogle up the alley to determine the quality of undergarments, if any. The tips were spent for the most part on the pinball machines at the entrance, from which a bowler had to wrest an unwilling rascal to take his abuse

 

[turd]