Backyard Baseball Field

  

Backyard University in York Pennsylvania offers private baseball and softball instruction, including but not limited to hitting, pitching, catching and fielding. We also offer camps and clinics, tournament teams, coaching and umpire seminars, field rentals, batting cage rentals, pitching lane rentals and birthday parties. With 9,500 feet of indoor turf, we are always available for your indoor. An Ohio dad went 'Field of Dreams' and built an absolutely gorgeous baseball field in his backyard for his son. Jason Kidd, 36, was playing baseball with his now 5-year-old son, who asked whether.

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Build Your Own Baseball Field

To build our own baseball field like the one shown at the bottom of this page, this is what I did:

  • Removed brush and mowed the lawn down in a bigger area to accommodate longer hits by my Little League age kids. I used a machete and riding lawnmower but in retrospect I wish I had rented a brushing mower.

  • Hung up 10 foot & 7 ft wide sports netting (available at this sports net link at ebay) in areas that I did not wish to mow down. I placed some old snow fence I had in the far back. In a city lot, one could place netting closer in if space was limited. Also, for more limited space, use a T-ball in place of a hard ball - it will not travel as far when hit but provide much the same practice.

  • Used our shed for a backstop however the back of a garage would work well too. Also set up a pitch back net for times when a catcher was not used.

  • I covered obstacles (like the well pump covered by a bucket in several photos shown below), to avoid injury.

  • I mowed behind the shed (our backstop) to make it easier to find fouls hit behind.

  • The playing field, with bases arranged for the game of Two Bases, is shown below.

Notes About Our Back Yard Baseball Field

The only measurement that should be exact is the Little League 46 foot distance from plate to pitchers mound. Otherwise, a batter will not learn correct timing. All other base placement is arbitrary but try to match the Little League distances if you have the room.

The kids play off the net if balls bounce off the nets. Also, you can make rules for balls that go over the net or somehow get lost.

If balls are pitched to a catcher, a mask and protective gear are a must! Also, to reduce risk of injury, a softer T-ball works well. For small numbers of kids, a pitch back net may be used instead of a catcher (see the game First Base). So far our kids have only used the pitch back net and the pitcher covers home if needed.

How much it would cost to build a baseball field like this?

The netting I got cost around $180 on ebay. The snow fence was around $20 when I originally bought it. The posts were made of diseased & dieing small trees from our 35 acres. If you had the extra space (old farmer's field), you would not need the netting but it is still nice for smaller numbers of kids. Add in a 'bit' of my labor. Mind you this is not a full size field but it does offer much the same infield fielding practice as a regular little league field.

CLICK ON EACH IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW



Here's the new field with an extra row of snow fence at the back. Also, the fence has been moved back behind the tree. All set for the older kids!


Easton 2011 Rampage LX67 (-12.5) Youth Baseball Bat

Mizuno GPL1102 11inch Utility Baseball Glove

Easton Incrediball Softstitch Baseballs

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Michael Sakowski
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Backyard Baseball
Genre(s)Sports
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment
Infogrames
Atari
The Evergreen Group
Platform(s)Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Macintosh
First releaseBackyard Baseball
October 24, 1997
Latest releaseBackyard Sports: Baseball
2015

Backyard Baseball is a series of baseballvideo games for children which was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Atari. 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. There have been eleven different versions of the game since 1997. Some of the game titles that were created include Backyard Baseball, Backyard Baseball 2001-2010, and Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers.

The original game consisted of 30 neighborhood kids from which the gamer could choose to play.[1] Over the years, the idea of 'Pro players as kids' became popular, and the original statistics and looks of the players changed. Some of the professional players that were available 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. As the game progresses, there are some professionals that become available or 'unlockable' including Randy Johnson, Derek Jeter, and Mike Piazza.

In Backyard Baseball, players take a managerial role by creating a team of different players to compete against opponents. In the different installments, a player could play an exhibition game or a 14, 16 or 32 game season (different versions vary) followed by the 'Backyard Baseball League' playoffs, which contains the American League and National League divisional series, the AL and NL championship series and finally the 'Backyard Baseball World Series'. Series games will vary per game.

This game has various playable modes, they include: Single Game, Batting Practice, Spectator, and Season Game.

In 2013, The Evergreen Group acquired the intellectual property from Atari.

Legacy[edit]

Pablo Sanchez, one of the playable characters in the game, has been regarded as one of the strongest characters in video game history.[2][3][4]

The game has also been noted for its diversity (gender, race) 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.[5]

Power-Ups[edit]

Sometimes accompanying the four standard batting modes (Power, Line Drive, Grounder and Bunt), some beneficial power-ups appear. In the original Backyard Baseball, these batting power-ups appeared when the player got a hit when the computer used a 'crazy pitch' (see below). Starting from Backyard Baseball 2001, the power ups were awarded after a hit off a 'crazy pitch' and when the player turned a double play or triple play on defense. In addition to these batting power-ups, pitching power-ups, or 'crazy pitches,' also progressively appear, though they are much more frequent and in number, occurring whenever the player strikes an opponent out. These pitches consume much more energy and causes the strike zone to expand, so most of the pitches given are never used consecutively. In addition to the 'crazy pitches,' a strikeout may also award the player 'More Juice,' a full energy recharge for the pitcher that can be used when the player sees fit to use it.

Backyard Baseball 2001

Batting Power-Ups

  • Aluminum Power: This power-up is the most valued and can disappear after one or no tries when in use. Players use an aluminum bat to increase the chances to hit a home run.
  • Screaming Line Drive: The power-up last about two uses and appears more frequently. Players hit a fast line drive to the wall and allows the batter to run more or all bases.
  • Under Grounder: This move lasts at least two uses. Players hit a ground ball that goes into the ground, causing the ball to reappear in any random area of the outfield.
  • Crazy Bunt: The move disappears after one or no tries when in use, but if the power-up is used sparingly, the move can last up to four uses. When the ball is hit, the ball rolls around the field erratically as fielders just barely miss catching it.

Pitching Power-Ups

Diy Backyard Baseball Field

Yard baseball field
  • Big Freeze: The ball is thrown like normal but suddenly stops just before it enters the strike zone, often faking the hitter into swinging at the pitch.
  • Elevator: The ball is thrown low along the ground and then the ball suddenly jumps into the air at the last moment.
  • Crazyball: the ball 'laughs' when thrown, and it moves in random directions in the air. Easier to hit if swingspot is enabled
  • Corkskrew: The ball makes a spiral motion through the air. Easier to hit if swingspot is enabled
  • Zigzag: The ball makes a zig-zag motion through the air. Easier to hit if swingspot is enabled
  • Slomo: The ball travels very slowly through the air, requiring precise timing to be hit.
  • Spitball: The ball is covered with saliva and jerks in the air.
  • Fireball: One of the most powerful pitches, the ball blazes past the batter in a ball of fire at an incredibly high speed. When used by a player, this pitch is the most draining of the pitcher's stamina.

Backyard Baseball 2005

Batting Power-Ups

  • Sonic Boom: The player knocks down opposing fielders with a super-powerful shockwave.
  • Rubber Bat: The batter bounce a grounder really high into the air — the player will have a chance to reach base before any fielder catches the ball.
  • Butter Fingers: The player will splatter the opposing fielders with butter. They'll have a slippery time trying to field your hit.
  • Jumping Bean Bunt: This tricky power-up makes the ball jump all over the place!
  • Lightning Bat: Produce tremendous power when you connect with the ball.
  • Geyser Hit: The batter makes the ball burrow deep underground before it suddenly surfaces somewhere in the outfield.
  • Piñata Bat: The batter drives fielders crazy when the ball is hit, the ball multiplies into dozens of bouncing baseballs.
  • Orbiter: Knock the stuffing out of the ball.

Backyard Baseball Field

Pitching Power-Ups

  • The Fang: The Fang looks like a normal curve-ball, but it bites hard at the last second and goes straight into the dirt.
  • Freezer: The Freezer stops just before reaching the strike zone, pauses briefly, and then continues.
  • Slo MO: This ball starts moving at ultra-slow speed just before reaching the strike zone.
  • Juice Box: The Juice Box will refill your pitcher's Pitch Juice Box.
  • Rainbow Pop-up: When it's hit, the ball goes straight into the air for an easy out.
  • Crazy Pitch: The Crazy Pitch is so wild that even the pitcher doesn't know where it will go.
  • Splitball: This pitch splits into two separate curve-balls, one of which is a fake, unhittable baseball.
  • Fireball: The Fireball is so fast it can burn a hole in your catcher's glove.

Installments[edit]

TitleYearPlatforms
Backyard BaseballOctober 24, 1997Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Baseball 2001May 19, 2000Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Baseball2002Game Boy Advance
Backyard Baseball 20032002Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Baseball2003Nintendo GameCube
Backyard Baseball2004PlayStation 2
Backyard Baseball 20052004Microsoft Windows
Backyard Baseball 20062005Game Boy Advance
Backyard Sports: Baseball 20072006Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Baseball 092008Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2, Windows
Backyard Baseball 10 2009Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2
Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers2010Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Sports: Baseball 20152015iOS, Android published by Fingerprint Network

References[edit]

  1. ^https://www.theringer.com/features/2017/10/10/16451300/backyard-baseball-20-year-anniversary
  2. ^http://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2017/06/23/backyard-baseball-computer-game-history
  3. ^http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/03/the-25-best-virtual-athletes-in-video-games/pablo-sanchez
  4. ^http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1990299-most-terrifying-video-game-athletes-to-play-against
  5. ^Delayo, Mike. 'The Inclusive Legacy of Backyard Baseball'. Fangraphs.

External links[edit]

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