Backyard Baseball 2001 Game Returns With 28 Original MLB Stars
The Backyard Sports series has been revived under the Playground Productions label after extensive efforts to track down the rights to the groundbreaking PC titles and redevelop the original code. The newest game—available July 8—also required locating the pros who initially appeared in the game.
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Some were easy to connect with. Others were harder to find. Playground Productions CEO Lindsay Barnett said the team reached former Marlin Álex González through players he's currently coaching, for instance.
'2001 is already some time ago, and some of these players don't live in the U.S. Some of them don't have managers or agents or social media,' she said. 'So we got creative.'
In general, Barnett said, players were eager to lend their IP rights once again. In some cases, they leapt at the opportunity to show their kids, or grandkids, how big of a star they once were.
Three players ultimately declined to participate this time around: Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas and Barry Bonds. Bonds—notably—has not appeared in MLB video games since opting out of the MLB Players Association licensing agreement in 2003.
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Playground Productions also got buy-in from MLB, allowing for renewed rivalries such as Melonheads vs. Marlins.
'It just could not have been easier [working with MLB],' Barnett said. 'They really love this brand.' She added that the league recognizes how valuable the original releases were to the sport's efforts to grow.
'There were actually kids who learned about baseball through a very simple point-and-click game,' Barnett said. 'Now that we get to bring it back, we can start to capture even more kids who can become baseball fans for life.'
Recently released versions, including Backyard Baseball '97 and Backyard Soccer '98, have found success on gaming platform Steam and iOS, largely by entertaining nostalgic millennials, including those hoping to share their childhood favorites with a new generation. Backyard Baseball '97 also recently came to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5. Mega Cat Studios has been responsible for game development.
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Playground Productions is also creating an entirely new entry in the series. Though the group has not announced which sport it will feature first, Barnett said the company intends to continue the crossovers between original characters and real-life stars—that is, assuming she can get players on board.
In addition to Backyard mainstays such as Pablo Sanchez and Pete Wheeler, the MLB players available in the upcoming 2001 re-release are:
Jeff Bagwell
Carlos Beltrán
Jeromy Burnitz
Jose Canseco
Marty Cordova
Jason Giambi
Álex González
Juan González
Nomar Garciaparra
Shawn Green
Vladimir Guerrero
Tony Gwynn
Derek Jeter
Randy Johnson
Chipper Jones
Jason Kendall
Barry Larkin
Kenny Lofton
Mark McGwire
Raul Mondesi
Mike Piazza
Cal Ripken Jr.
Alex Rodriguez
Iván Rodríguez
Curt Schilling
Sammy Sosa
Mo Vaughn
Larry Walker
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