The Baseball Video Games of My Youth

I rarely blog about things not related to my call as pastor.  Usually I write for Christians about things that are of eternal importance.

This post is not at all like that.  This is just me reminiscing.

Recently I've been introducing my kids to some of the video games I grew up playing. I played a lot of different types of video games, but sports have always been my favorite genre.  So, without any further introduction, here is my list of top baseball video games from my childhood.

1. Atari Baseball

This was a terrible game.  Truly awful.  But it was the first baseball video game I ever played and for that reason it deserves to be mentioned.









2.  RBI Baseball

This was the first game I remember using real baseball players.  It was a blast to play, but it had a major weakness in that the starting pitchers would fatigue quickly and there were only 4 pitchers per team. You reasonably needed to use all 4 pitchers to get through a game, but if you played a season, your starting pitchers would both be tired for the next game.  So this was a great game to play against another person, but lousy for playing a season.











3. Bases Loaded

Now this was the game of my childhood.  I easily spent more hours playing this than any other baseball game.  I knew the rosters through and through, including bench players.  My brothers and I had specific teams we liked to use (though we did use all of the teams).  Seth used Boston, Matt used Utah, and I favored DC.

This game stands out for several reasons.

  1. This was the first game on which I could actually play a full season in a somewhat realistic way.
  2. This was the first game in which a player could get ejected (one player on each team could be ejected if you hit him when he came to bat after his first plate appearance. 
  3. The players looked somewhat realistic, unlike RBI Baseball or Atari. 
  4. When you changed pitchers, the new pitcher was brought out in a baseball shaped golf cart. 
  5. There was a glitch that allowed the first baseman to throw the ball away (down the right field line) after getting an out at first base.  Done right, you would be charged with an error (even though no runners were on base).  So collecting the most errors in this way became a game within the game.
  6. There was a glitch (I think it only happened if you struck out with the bases loaded) where the ump would say, "You bum! Out!" 
I spent a lot of hours playing this game against my brothers and still love to play it, even though it is quite simple.

4.  Bases Loaded II

I loved Bases Loaded and so was thrilled when this game came out.  The game play is a little more challenging, but not terribly difficult.

Some of the things that stood out about this game were...

  1. It was the first to have players vary in their performance.  It used "biorhythyms" to show if a player was feeling well or poorly, which would effect their play. 
  2. It had clearly defined roles for pitchers (starters, middle relief, and closers).
  3. Players were more realistic than in the original Bases Loaded.
  4. There were several different pitching styles.
This was probably my favorite baseball video game to play because it was quite realistic for the time. Unfortunately this was the last quality game in the Bases Loaded series. 
Bases Loaded III was an abomination and I don't think I've ever seen a copy of Bases Loaded IV.


5. Baseball Stars

This game was revolutionary.  The game play wasn't all that realistic and the players looked like cartoons, but this game changed everything. 
  1. This was the first game where money comes into play.
  2. There were female players (and even full teams of females).
  3. You could create a player and improve him little by little.
  4. You could create a team, choose its uniforms, and run it in a similar way to running a real baseball team.
  5. You could trade players.
  6. There was a 10 run mercy rule. 
  7. There were historic players included.
This wasn't my favorite as far as game play, but it stood out for the reasons listed above.



There were other games along the way and that came after these, but these were the ones I'll always remember (and am going to collect again to share with my kids)!

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