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| Backyard Baseball | |
|---|---|
 The logo for the upcomingBackyard Baseball game, a recreation of the logo for the originalBackyard Baseball (1997) | |
| Genre | Sports |
| Developers | Humongous Entertainment Mega Cat Studios |
| Publishers | Humongous Entertainment Infogrames/Atari The Evergreen Group Playground Productions |
| Platforms | Nintendo DS,PlayStation 2,Wii,Windows,iOS,Xbox 360,Game Boy Advance,GameCube,Macintosh,Nintendo Switch,PlayStation 5 |
| First release | Backyard Baseball October 10, 1997 |
| Latest release | Backyard Baseball '01 July 8, 2025 |
Backyard Baseball is a series ofbaseballvideo games for children which was originally developed byHumongous Entertainment. It was first released in October 1997 forMacintosh andMicrosoft Windows. Later games were featured onGame Boy Advance,PlayStation 2,GameCube,Wii, andiOS. It is part of theBackyard Sports series, of which this series serves as its first sub-series.
The original game consisted of 30 neighborhood children from which the player must build a team.[1] Beginning fromBackyard Baseball 2001 (2000), however, the games have additionally featuredMajor League Baseball players reimagined as children, with the exception ofBackyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers (2010).
InBackyard 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 theAmerican League andNational Leaguedivision series,[a] the AL and NLchampionship series[b] and finally the "Backyard BaseballWorld 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 firstBackyard Baseball title was released for Windows (viaSteam) on October 10, 2024,[2] followed by ports for iOS andAndroid on March 27, 2025,[3] and forNintendo Switch andPlayStation 5 on June 12, 2025.[4][5] A remastered version ofBackyard Baseball 2001 was released for Windows, iOS, and Android on July 8, 2025.[6][7][8] A newBackyard Baseball game—the first original game sinceBackyard Sports: Baseball 2015—was announced for a 2026 release via an ad shown at the end ofBackyard Sports: The Animated Special.[9]
Pablo Sanchez, one of the fictional playable characters in the game, has been regarded as one of the strongest athletes in video game history.[10][11][12]
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.[13]
InBackyard 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 the1999Major League Baseball All Star Game. Eventual Hall of Fame players featured includeBarry Larkin,Vladimir Guerrero,Jeff Bagwell,Larry Walker,Chipper Jones,Derek Jeter,Mike Piazza,Tony Gwynn,Ken Griffey Jr.,Cal Ripken Jr.,Ivan Rodriguez, andRandy Johnson, who are all playable characters to choose from.
Other professional players from the later games includedChipper Jones,Frank Thomas,Alex Rodriguez,Alfonso Soriano,Ichiro Suzuki,Sammy Sosa,Jim Thome,Albert Pujols,Nomar Garciaparra,Ken Griffey Jr., andBarry Bonds.
Several of these players would be featured in multiple releases includingNomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, andAlex Rodriguez.
| 1997 | Backyard Baseball |
|---|---|
| 1998–1999 | |
| 2000 | Backyard Baseball 2001 |
| 2001 | |
| 2002 | Backyard Baseball(GBA) |
| Backyard Baseball 2003 | |
| 2003 | Backyard Baseball(GCN) |
| 2004 | Backyard Baseball(PS2) |
| Backyard Baseball 2005(PC) | |
| 2005 | Backyard Baseball 2006(GBA) |
| 2006 | Backyard Sports: Baseball 2007 |
| 2007 | |
| 2008 | Backyard Baseball 09 |
| 2009 | Backyard Baseball 10 |
| 2010 | Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers |
| 2011–2014 | |
| 2015 | Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015(Mobile) |
| 2016–2023 | |
| 2024 | Backyard Baseball '97(PC) |
| 2025 | Backyard Baseball '97(Mobile) |
| Backyard Baseball '97(NS) | |
| Backyard Baseball '97(PS5) | |
| Backyard Baseball '01 | |
| 2026 | Backyard Baseball |
| Title | Year | Platforms | Cover athlete |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backyard Baseball | October 10, 1997[14] | Macintosh,Windows | Original characters |
| Backyard Baseball 2001 | June 6, 2000[15] | Cal Ripken Jr. | |
| Backyard Baseball | 2002 | Game Boy Advance | Mike Piazza |
| Backyard Baseball 2003 | Macintosh, Windows | ||
| Backyard Baseball | 2003 | GameCube | Alex Rodriguez |
| Backyard Baseball | 2004 | PlayStation 2 | |
| Backyard Baseball 2005 | 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 | |
| Backyard Baseball '97 | October 10, 2024[16] | Windows, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 | |
| Backyard Baseball '01 | July 8, 2025 | Windows, iOS, Android | Cal Ripken Jr. |
| Backyard Baseball | 2026 | TBA | TBA |
On January 29, 2026, an 11-minute animated special entitledBackyard Sports: The Animated Special was released onYouTube. It was sponsored byDave & Buster's and starred the voices ofEgo Nwodim,Tiffany Haddish,Adam Pally,Utkarsh Ambudkar, andArturo Castro.[17]
