Baby Catch-A-Ball

After the spilled milk and Cheerios mishap mentioned, here, Baby Catch-A-Ball and I made a reconnection. Unlike Giggles, I had not considered her missing in action because I knew she was in the doll room.  In my mind she was either in the corner where she was found or at the back of the room where other mint or never removed from box dolls are stored.   I removed her from the box for a quick exam and found her in the pristine condition she was in when I purchased her sometime prior to 2003.  Like Giggles, she is illustrated and described in my first book, The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls.   See her entry below:

Side panel box graphics illustrate how Baby Catch-A-Ball can throw a ball.

Made by Topper in 1969, this battery-operated doll is supposed to be able to catch her ball and throw it back (as illustrated in the photo immediately above).  I have never inserted batteries to check her functionality.

Before returning the boxed doll to the corner where she was originally, I took photos of the box graphics, the doll, and her instructions, which are shared below:

Box graphics describe the doll's function.

Baby Catch-A-Ball is holding her ball.  The two metal bracelets on her arms activate her catch-a-ball function.

Isn't that face adorable?

Instruction sheet.

I found the following online description of how Baby Catch-A-Ball works:

The two* balls that she came with have a metallic coating.  Each of her bracelets are part of an open circuit to her arm cocking and releasing mechanism, which is actuated by a battery operated motor. The circuit is closed when the ball connects with both bracelets simutaneously. When this happens, the motor starts to turn, her arms lower, and the ball (hopefully) rolls into her cupped hands. Then, after a moment, her arms pop up, throwing the ball to you! http://www.bigredtoybox.com/cgi-bin/toynfo.pl?babycatchindex

*My doll has only one ball.

No, she is not one of the dolls I have decided to sell.

 dbg