Playograph

The Playograph was a machine used to transmit the details of a baseball game in the era before television. It is approximated by the "gamecast" feature on some sports web sites: it had a reproduction of a baseball diamond, with an inning-by-inning scoreboard, each team's lineup, and it simulated each pitch: a ball, a strike, a hit, an out, and so on. A telegraph operator transmitted the details of the baseball game to the two people operating the Playograph. An "X" on the diamond represented a runner; an "O" was displayed if the runner got out. A ball was moved animatronically to show fastballs or curveballs, where it was hit, and so on.

A similar contraption, called the "Gridgraph," was used for football games.