Backyard Baseball Highlights

Blewer Unlocks 4th Dimension. Yvonne Carter Web Gem. Piazza gets a big piece of the ball and reaches the pizza box. Backyard Baseball is a series of baseball video games for children which was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Atari. It was first released in October 1997 for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. Mar 09, 2020  Wake Up With Some Backyard Baseball Highlights. RDT 3/9/2020 12:05 PM. You remember this game. I mean I remember spending hours on my parents computer absolutely destroying teams in Backyard Baseball. This game was truly ahead of its time. I'd still love to sit down and bang out a handful of games with Pete Wheeler, Pablo Sanchez, Achmed.

Ah yes, the good old days. Growing up in the early 2000s, my memories of baseball are fond. Hitting a homerun off of Toby Mac in Ben Zobrist's backyard, meeting Chipper Jones before a 2003 game against the Cubs, seeing Sammy Sosa hit a 450-foot bomb in that same game, getting to witness the greatest defensive outfielder in baseball history (Andruw Jones) make the most difficult plays look routine. However, some of my best memories stem from the little room directly adjacent to the one that belonged to my parents. This was the computer room, and the focal point was the glamorous Dell Dimension XPS R450 sitting against the back wall. That's where I would go to escape, and my drug of choice was Backyard Baseball. I can still hear my dad's inquisitive voice; 'Why do you come home from baseball practice just to play virtual baseball?' Moving into my high school years, my post-practice game of choice was MLB The Show, and don't get me wrong, it's a great game, but it will never live up to the simplicity yet pure joy of playing that pixelated version of our national pastime that Humongous Entertainment so elegantly designed. So, I decided to conceptualize a new iteration of the game. Yes, I know that different companies have tried to revive the series in the past, but none of them quite hit the mark. They were trying too hard to modernize the game. You know what they say. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. So, without further ado, here is my take on that what a Backyard Baseball game would look like if it were put out this year.

A few notes before we get started.

-This is a modern reimagining of the original game, so the players will all be active, but the player rating system Remains the Same as it was when the game first came out.

-The five simple aspects of the game each player will be rated on our contact, power, speed, defense, and pitching.

-How I assigned pitching ratings to position players: the more experienced the player is, the higher their pitching rating. If the player has had a pitching appearance in his career, his rating is pretty high. This allows for a team to have more than one pitching option, even though there are only nine players to a team. Arm strength somewhat factors into a player's pitching rating. The highest pitching rating a position player can have is five.

-Just like the original versions of the game, there is one player in the game from each team. No more, no less.

-I will be releasing the ratings and artwork (done by me) for 5 players with each post.

Enjoy!

Arizona Diamondbacks

Eduardo Escobar

Contact: 7

Power: 7

Speed: 5

Defense: 5

Pitching: 5

Escobar has flown under the radar for the majority of his career, and he owes part of that to the majority of his time being spent in Minnesota oh, but he has broken out this year in a big way. He is arguably one of the top 5 best third baseman in the league right now.

Atlanta Braves

Ronald Acuña Jr.

Contact: 7

Power: 9

Speed: 9

Defense: 6

Pitching: 2

Arguably the most exciting young star in the league, Acuña is the obvious choice to represent the Braves in this game. If he can learn how to play the field, he could easily develop into a 5-tool player and the next best player in the game.

Baltimore Orioles

Trey Mancini

Contact: 6

Power: 7

Speed: 4

Defense: 5

Pitching: 1

Mancini is finally looking like the player he has been thought to become. I halfway wanted to put Chris Davis on here instead just for his pitching ability, but I couldn't justify picking him over Mancini with the way Davis has been hitting over the last 3 years.

Boston Red Sox

Mookie Betts

Contact: 10

Power: 8

Speed: 8

Defense: 9

Pitching: 3

This one is a no-brainer. Betts is probably the best player in the reimagining of Backyard Baseball, and he might just be the best player in Major League Baseball. He's off to a rough start in 2019, but that doesn't stop him from becoming our first player on the list with a 10-rating in a category.

Chicago Cubs

Javier Báez

Contact: 8

Power: 8

Speed: 7

Defense 8

Pitching: 4

There aren't a ton of players in the conversation for most exciting player in the game, but Báez is quite possibly right at the top of that short list. A five tool player, he does everything for the Cubs, and he was born to be in this game.

Hope you enjoyed the first installment of this project of mine! Stay tuned for part 2!

Backyard Baseball is a series of baseballvideo games for children which was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Atari. 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. There have been eleven different versions of the game since 1997. Some of the game titles that were created include Backyard Baseball, Backyard Baseball 2001-2010, and Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers.

The original game consisted of 30 neighborhood kids from which the gamer could choose to play.^[1] Over the years, the idea of 'Pro players as kids' became popular, and the original statistics and looks of the players changed. Some of the professional players that were available 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. 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, a player could play an exhibition game or a 14, 16 or 32 game season (different versions vary) followed by the 'Backyard Baseball League' playoffs, which contains the American League and National League divisional series, the AL and NL championship series and finally the 'Backyard Baseball World Series'. Series games will vary per game.

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

In 2013, The Evergreen Group acquired the intellectual property from Atari.

Legacy[edit]

Pablo Sanchez, one of the playable characters in the game, has been regarded as one of the strongest characters in video game history.^[2][3][4]

The game has also been noted for its diversity (gender, race) 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.^[5]

Power-Ups[edit]

Sometimes accompanying the four standard batting modes (Power, Line Drive, Grounder and Bunt), some beneficial power-ups appear. In the original Backyard Baseball, these batting power-ups appeared when the player got a hit when the computer used a 'crazy pitch' (see below). Starting from Backyard Baseball 2001, the power ups were awarded after a hit off a 'crazy pitch' and when the player turned a double play or triple play on defense. In addition to these batting power-ups, pitching power-ups, or 'crazy pitches,' also progressively appear, though they are much more frequent and in number, occurring whenever the player strikes an opponent out. These pitches consume much more energy and causes the strike zone to expand, so most of the pitches given are never used consecutively. In addition to the 'crazy pitches,' a strikeout may also award the player 'More Juice,' a full energy recharge for the pitcher that can be used when the player sees fit to use it.

Backyard Baseball 2001

Batting Power-Ups

• Aluminum Power: This power-up is the most valued and can disappear after one or no tries when in use. Players use an aluminum bat to increase the chances to hit a home run.
• Screaming Line Drive: The power-up last about two uses and appears more frequently. Players hit a fast line drive to the wall and allows the batter to run more or all bases.
• Under Grounder: This move lasts at least two uses. Players hit a ground ball that goes into the ground, causing the ball to reappear in any random area of the outfield.
• Crazy Bunt: The move disappears after one or no tries when in use, but if the power-up is used sparingly, the move can last up to four uses. When the ball is hit, the ball rolls around the field erratically as fielders just barely miss catching it.

Pitching Power-Ups

• Big Freeze: The ball is thrown like normal but suddenly stops just before it enters the strike zone, often faking the hitter into swinging at the pitch.
• Elevator: The ball is thrown low along the ground and then the ball suddenly jumps into the air at the last moment.
• Crazyball: the ball 'laughs' when thrown, and it moves in random directions in the air. Easier to hit if swingspot is enabled
• Corkskrew: The ball makes a spiral motion through the air. Easier to hit if swingspot is enabled
• Zigzag: The ball makes a zig-zag motion through the air. Easier to hit if swingspot is enabled
• Slomo: The ball travels very slowly through the air, requiring precise timing to be hit.
• Spitball: The ball is covered with saliva and jerks in the air.
• Fireball: One of the most powerful pitches, the ball blazes past the batter in a ball of fire at an incredibly high speed. When used by a player, this pitch is the most draining of the pitcher's stamina.

Backyard Baseball 2005

Batting Power-Ups

• Sonic Boom: The player knocks down opposing fielders with a super-powerful shockwave.
• Rubber Bat: The batter bounce a grounder really high into the air — the player will have a chance to reach base before any fielder catches the ball.
• Butter Fingers: The player will splatter the opposing fielders with butter. They'll have a slippery time trying to field your hit.
• Jumping Bean Bunt: This tricky power-up makes the ball jump all over the place!
• Lightning Bat: Produce tremendous power when you connect with the ball.
• Geyser Hit: The batter makes the ball burrow deep underground before it suddenly surfaces somewhere in the outfield.
• Piñata Bat: The batter drives fielders crazy when the ball is hit, the ball multiplies into dozens of bouncing baseballs.
• Orbiter: Knock the stuffing out of the ball.

Pitching Power-Ups

• The Fang: The Fang looks like a normal curve-ball, but it bites hard at the last second and goes straight into the dirt.
• Freezer: The Freezer stops just before reaching the strike zone, pauses briefly, and then continues.
• Slo MO: This ball starts moving at ultra-slow speed just before reaching the strike zone.
• Juice Box: The Juice Box will refill your pitcher's Pitch Juice Box.
• Rainbow Pop-up: When it's hit, the ball goes straight into the air for an easy out.
• Crazy Pitch: The Crazy Pitch is so wild that even the pitcher doesn't know where it will go.
• Splitball: This pitch splits into two separate curve-balls, one of which is a fake, unhittable baseball.
• Fireball: The Fireball is so fast it can burn a hole in your catcher's glove.

Installments[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^https://www.theringer.com/features/2017/10/10/16451300/backyard-baseball-20-year-anniversary
2. ^http://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2017/06/23/backyard-baseball-computer-game-history
3. ^http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/03/the-25-best-virtual-athletes-in-video-games/pablo-sanchez
4. ^http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1990299-most-terrifying-video-game-athletes-to-play-against
5. ^Delayo, Mike. 'The Inclusive Legacy of Backyard Baseball'. Fangraphs.

External links[edit]

Baseball Highlights Videos

Baseball Highlights Youtube