One Nostalgic Season With the Melonheads: A Backyard Baseball '97 Review

A sneak peek at the re-released "Backyard Sports" classic computer game that will be available for fans to play on Thursday.

"Backyard Baseball '97" will be available to play via Steam on Thursday. / Playground Productions

In exactly one day, Pablo Sanchez and the rest of the Backyard Sports gang will head to Eckman Acres once again for the official return of Backyard Baseball '97.

Back in August, Playground Productions—a new production company dedicated to creating family-friendly content—announced plans to bring back the iconic Backyard Sports franchise that was a staple in many millennial childhoods. And in September, it was announced that the original Backyard Baseball '97 video game would be re-released exactly 27 years after it was initially launched in 1997.

That day nearly has arrived. On Thursday, Oct. 10, Backyard Sports fans will be able to purchase Backyard Baseball '97 on the PC for $9.99 via Steam and lead their teams to Backyard League glory, just as we did decades ago.

Sports Illustrated was lucky enough to get early access to the video game early for a chance to review it. There was only one way to properly do so: Play an entire season in league mode.

Let's get to it:

Establishing the rules

Alright, so for my first season in the Backyard Baseball League in probably 15 years, I decided to make it as difficult as possible. I didn't want to select a team of all studs and defeat the Mighty Bombers 15–1 every game.

So, here are the ground rules I set for my first season: Play on the hardest level with no pitch locator, making it difficult while batting to determine a ball or strike. Also, the only power-up that I was allowed to use—hitting or pitching—was "More Juice," which increased my pitcher's stamina during the game. Additionally, every player that I selected, no matter their skill set, would have to make at least one start on the mound during the year. I wasn't about to have Reese Worthington's mom sending me nasty emails about unfair playing time.

Picking the team

The first step to create any Backyard Sports franchise is to pick the team name and color scheme. I had to go with the classic "Humongous Melonheads." I know the Melonheads are really the New York Yankees of the Backyard League, but it just felt right for my first season back.

The Mighty Wombats finished a close second, though.

There was only one correct choice for my team's name. / Playground Productions

Now, to pick my roster. I couldn't play a season without Pablo Sanchez, so he was my first pick.

As I listed above, however, I didn't want to take a bunch of studs. Sanchez was my only selection with a maximum batting rating (four of four possible points). I took two players with three batting points (Stephanie Morgan and Dmitri Petrovich) and six with two batting points (Kenny Kawaguchi, Sidney Webber, Ashley Webber, Ernie Steele, Jorge Garcia and Ricky Johnson).

Offense might be an issue, but Sanchez is capable of carrying the team on his back, obviously.

Pablo Sanchez, aka the "Secret Weapon," is indisputably the best player in the game. / Playground Productions

Here was my starting lineup for the season opener against the rival Fishes, with the fan-favorite Kenny Kawaguchi taking the mound.

This lineup would go through many, many tweaks throughout the season. / Playground Productions

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose. Or something like that.

Playing the regular season

A wave of nostalgia overcame me as Sunny Day and her broadcasting partner Vinnie The Gooch graced my computer screen for the first time. Every one of their comments took me back to my family's shared PC in the living room in the early 2000s.

But there wasn't enough time to get sappy. It was time to win some ball games.

The legendary Sunny Day and Vinnie The Gooch. / Playground Productions

The script writers in Hollywood couldn't have written a better season opener. Trailing the Fishes 1–0 in the fourth inning, Pablo Sanchez hit a go-ahead two-run homer off a zig-zag pitch for a 2–1 lead, which proved to be enough for the Melonheads' first win.

We cruised to a 3–0 win over the Bombers and a 5–3 victory over the Wombats on Ashley Webber's walk-off two-run blast in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Melonheads were 3–0 and taking the league by storm, just as we planned.

But then, just as I gained all the confidence in the world that this season would be a cakewalk to the playoffs, disaster struck. It became obvious that the 3–0 start was against three bottom-dwellers in the league, and I wasn't ready to face the better competition.

The Backyard Baseball '97 gameplay was exactly as I remembered. / Playground Productions

The Melonheads suffered three straight losses to the Hornets, All-Stars and Giants to drop to .500. I couldn't buy a run. The opposing teams would not make a mistake. I was reminded the hard way that speed is incredibly important in the game when Ricky Johnson was thrown out at first on a line drive to left field. Or when Stephanie Morgan flew out to the warning track, and Dmitri Petrovich—representing the winning run in extra innings on third base—tagged up only to be thrown out at home by five feet.

That's just poor coaching on my part.

In order to advance to the BBL All-City Playoffs, I needed to finish in the top two in the league. But with five games to play, I was three games out behind the juggernaut Giants and Hornets. I needed a miracle.

Unfortunately, the Melonheads never found that miracle. We lost a couple more tough ones, 1–0 to the Wombats and 3–1 to the Hornets. By the time I found some rhythm on offense (which mostly was me finally learning what a ball and strike looked like with no pitch locator) it was too late in the year, and the Melonheads finished one game out of a playoff spot.

My experiment to take Pablo Sanchez and a rag-tag group of Backyard Sports kids to postseason glory had failed. At least this time.

Playground Productions

To make matters worse, the legendary Mr. Clanky sent me the saddest note after my Backyard League failure.

Playground Productions

You will definitely see me back next season, Mr. Clanky.

Backyard Baseball '97 review

In no way did the Melonheads missing the playoffs affect my enjoyment of the game. In fact, it probably enhanced it.

Playground Productions' re-released Backyard Baseball '97 video game is exactly how I remember. It brought me a ton of joy to be back on the PC, listening to the same Backyard Sports theme songs and on-field chatter that was often the soundtrack of my childhood.

Really, the only difference in the revamped game is the Steam achievements and global leaderboards that will track home runs, grand slams and strikeouts among all users. The users that find themselves on top of the leaderboards will get "Backyardified," meaning the Backyard Sports artists will whip up a cartoon drawing of yourself that make it look like you're in the game. Pretty cool.

The only bummer of the game is that it is only available on PC due to the complicated process of remastering the game from the original CD-rom version, but Playground Productions did state they plan to bring their games to multiple platforms in the future. (Also, a pro tip: If you start up the game and it opens in a tiny window, just hit the spacebar and click "expand screen." This took me way too long to figure out.)

The game holds up. Whether you're a millennial looking to relive the glory days or hand the iconic video game franchise to the next generation, Backyard Baseball '97 is worth your time. And hopefully there will be more re-released classics and new Playground Productions originals to play in the new future.

Backyard Baseball '97 is available on Steam Wishlist now and will be available for fans to purchase on Thursday for $9.99. Once you do purchase it, just don't miss the playoffs in your first season like I did.

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