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Backyard Baseball

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Backyard Baseball
The logo of Backyard Baseball '97 (2024), a remaster of the original Backyard Baseball (1997)
Genre(s)Sports
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment
Mega Cat Studios
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment
Infogrames/Atari
The Evergreen Group
Playground Productions
Platform(s)Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii, Windows, iOS, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Macintosh
First releaseBackyard Baseball
October 10, 1997
Latest releaseBackyard Baseball '97
October 10, 2024

Backyard Baseball is a series of baseball video games for children which was originally developed by Humongous Entertainment. It was first released in October 1997 for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. Later games were featured on Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Wii, and iOS. It is part of the Backyard Sports series, of which this series serves as its first sub-series.

The original game consisted of 30 neighborhood kids from which the player must build a team.[1] Over the years, the idea of "Pro players as kids" became popular, and the original statistics and looks of the players changed. As the game progresses, there are some professionals that become available or "unlockable" including Randy Johnson, Derek Jeter, and Mike Piazza.

In Backyard Baseball, players take a managerial role by creating a team of different players to compete against opponents. In the different installments, one could choose to play a one-off exhibition game or a seasonal league, followed by the "Backyard Baseball League" playoffs, which contains the American League and National League division series,[a] the AL and NL championship series[b] and finally the "Backyard Baseball World Series".[c] Series games will vary per game.

This game has various playable modes, and they include: Single Game, Batting Practice, Spectator, and Season Game.

A remastered version of the first Backyard Baseball title was released on October 10, 2024,[2] with a remastered version of Backyard Baseball 2001 planned to release on a later date.[3]

Legacy

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Pablo Sanchez, one of the fictional playable characters in the game, has been regarded as one of the strongest athletes in video game history.[4][5][6]

The game has also been noted for its diversity (gender, race, disability, etc.) of characters, both in ratio of white to non-white and male to female, as well as skill level and the distribution of the best characters.[7]

Players

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In Backyard Baseball 2001, in addition to the 30 fictional kids, each team was represented by at least one MLB pro player,[d] many of which were all-stars during the 1999 Major League Baseball All Star Game. Eventual Hall of Fame players featured include Barry Larkin, Vladimir Guerrero, Jeff Bagwell, Larry Walker, Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter, Mike Piazza, Tony Gwynn, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken Jr., Ivan Rodriguez, and Randy Johnson, who are all playable characters to choose from.

Other professional players from the later games included Chipper Jones, Frank Thomas, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, Ichiro Suzuki, Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome, Albert Pujols, Nomar Garciaparra, Ken Griffey Jr., and Barry Bonds.

Several of these players would be featured in multiple releases including Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, and Alex Rodriguez.

Installments

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Title Year Platforms Cover athlete
Backyard Baseball October 10, 1997[8] Macintosh, Windows Original characters
Backyard Baseball 2001 June 6, 2000[9] Cal Ripken Jr.
Backyard Baseball 2002 Game Boy Advance Mike Piazza
Backyard Baseball 2003 2002 Macintosh, Windows
Backyard Baseball 2003 GameCube Alex Rodriguez
Backyard Baseball 2004 PlayStation 2
Backyard Baseball 2005 2004 Windows
Backyard Baseball 2006 2005 Game Boy Advance
Backyard Sports: Baseball 2007 2006 Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Windows Albert Pujols
Backyard Baseball 09 2008 Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2, Windows David Ortiz
Backyard Baseball 10 2009 Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2
Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers 2010 Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, Windows Original characters
Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015 2015 iOS, Android; published by Fingerprint Network
Backyard Baseball '97 October 10, 2024[10] Windows
Backyard Baseball '01 TBA

References

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  1. ^ Kram, Zach (2017-10-10). "How 'Backyard Baseball' Became a Cult Classic". The Ringer. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  2. ^ Silberling, Amanda (2024-09-25). "Backyard Baseball '97 is back, with a re-release coming soon on Steam". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  3. ^ Moore, Logan (2024-10-10). "Backyard Football, Basketball, and Soccer Remasters "Coming Soon" to PC". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
  4. ^ "Pablo Sanchez: The Origin Of A Video Game Legend". WBUR. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  5. ^ "The 25 Best Virtual Athletes In Video Games". Complex. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  6. ^ Carson, Dan. "The 15 Most Unfair and Terrifying Video Game Athletes to Play Against". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  7. ^ Delayo, Mike (10 May 2019). "The Inclusive Legacy of Backyard Baseball". Fangraphs.
  8. ^ "Contact: Mike Salvadore, Communications Manager". Archived from the original on 1998-05-25. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
  9. ^ "Baseball 2001 Availability". web.archive.org. Retrieved 2024-10-22.
  10. ^ Silberling, Amanda (2024-09-25). "Backyard Baseball '97 is back, with a re-release coming soon on Steam". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-09-25.

Notes

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  1. ^ Known in the pre MLB-licensed game as the All-City BBL Playoffs.
  2. ^ Known in the pre MLB-licensed game as the Super Entire Nation Tournament.
  3. ^ Known in the pre MLB-licensed game as the Ultra Grand Championship of the Universe.
  4. ^ The Cincinnati Reds were represented by two players: Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey Jr.
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