Backyard Baseball
Video game series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Infogrames/Atari
The Evergreen Group
Playground Productions
| Backyard Baseball | |
|---|---|
 The logo for the upcoming Backyard Baseball game, a recreation of the logo for the original Backyard 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 2026 July 9, 2026 |
The original game consisted of 30 neighborhood children from which the player must build a team.[1] Beginning from Backyard Baseball 2001 (2000), however, the games have additionally featured Major League Baseball players reimagined as children, with the exception of Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers (2010).
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 for Windows (via Steam) on October 10, 2024,[2] followed by ports for iOS and Android on March 27, 2025,[3] and for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 on June 12, 2025.[4][5] A remastered version of Backyard Baseball 2001 was released for Windows, iOS, and Android on July 8, 2025.[6][7][8] A new Backyard Baseball game—the first original game since Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015—is scheduled for release in July 2026.[9]
Legacy
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]
Players
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
| 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 | July 9, 2026[9] | Windows, macOS | N/a |
Animated special
On January 29, 2026, an 11-minute animated special entitled Backyard Sports: The Animated Special was released on YouTube. It was sponsored by Dave & Buster's and starred the voices of Ego Nwodim, Tiffany Haddish, Adam Pally, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Arturo Castro.[17]
