Beloved ‘Backyard Sports’ Brand Says It Will Relaunch After Decade Hiatus

Backyard Baseball is coming out of retirement. 

The parent company of the computer game said Tuesday that it is relaunching after a nearly decade-long hiatus. 

Playground Productions launched Backyard Baseball in 1997, starring a child character named Pablo Sanchez. The game recreated some of sports’ biggest stars as animated kid cartoon figures playing sports in a backyard, Sandlot-esque setting.

The announcement came in a trailer, but the plans were largely vague.

“We’re incredibly excited to reintroduce Backyard Sports to a new generation of players,” Chris Waters, chief product officer at Playground Productions, said in a press release. “We’re taking great care to preserve the look and feel that made the original games so special while updating them with modern features and gameplay that today’s audience expects.”

The company said the games “will return bigger and better than ever while staying true to what made the franchise so special” and will be released “in the coming months,” according to the release. The company also plans to expand the franchise into TV, film, merchandise, and more.

Playground eventually branched out to other titles including Backyard Football, Backyard Soccer, Backyard Hockey, and Backyard Skateboarding. The games were originally developed by Humongous Entertainment, but they were published by Atari and were mainly for computer consoles. As its popularity increased, the game expanded into GameCube, Game Boy, Wii, PlayStation 2, and other systems over time. The franchise hasn’t had a release since its app version in 2015. 

“‘Backyard Sports’ is more than just a game; it’s a cherished part of childhood for millions of people,” said Playground Productions founder and CEO Lindsay Barnett in the release. “I look at media as the largest classroom in the world. As such, our goal is to produce meaningful content that not only entertains but also educates and inspires. The return of ‘Backyard Sports’ is the perfect embodiment of that goal.”

Among the franchise’s most famous fans are NFL brothers Travis and Jason Kelce, who discussed the franchise on their popular New Heights podcast in January. 

“I don’t even know if I want to mention this,” Kelce said on the podcast in January. “I’ve secretly been looking into seeing if anybody holds the rights to Backyard Baseball and Backyard Football because I want to buy it and get this thing going again.”

Sources told Sports Illustrated the Kelces are not involved in the franchise’s relaunch. But seven months later their wish has appeared to have come true.