(That’s because Griffey, the designers’ favorite player, was traded from Seattle to Cincinnati midway through the game’s creation, so they left him and Red Barry Larkin in the game but then needed to add another player to backfill the Mariners’ spot.) Which 31 players would warrant inclusion in an updated version? For Backyard 2001, the game featured one professional player from every MLB team, plus a second player from one select club. The Backyard franchise no longer produces new games, but as the 2020 MLB season and the celebrated game’s 20th birthday approach, let’s imagine it did. For a young baseball fan in 2000 such as myself, it was impossible to have more fun than spending an hour in front of the computer screen, clicking away to swing and throw and run.Ĭheck out all of The Ringer’s MLB coverage leading up to Opening Day
Thus, Backyard enthusiasts could draft a team that included kid Derek Jeter, kid Randy Johnson, and kid Ken Griffey Jr., replete with realistic attributes and aesthetics: Jeter with his charismatic grin, Johnson with his lanky legs, Griffey with his cap draped backward.
But for a certain generation of fan, no other game can match the Backyard Baseball franchise for sheer entertainment value.Īnd after the wildly popular original, released in 1997, came a beloved sequel with one crucial advantage over its predecessor: Thanks to a licensing agreement with the MLB Players Association, Backyard Baseball 2001-which was released, in typical sports game fashion, one year before the date in its title-could insert “kid” versions of professional stars alongside the game’s fictional characters.
Some baseball gamers might remember MVP Baseball 2005 fondly, or RBI Baseball from further back others might be convinced that modernity and sophistication make MLB The Show the latest and greatest option. Twenty years ago this spring, the best baseball video game ever made reached shelves.
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