Play Backyard Baseball 2001 Mac

[Vikki Nagindas]

No lie: I really wanted Jocinda with this pick but Tom is a bad friend. Mikey Thomas was my other consideration, but in the end I got an above-average player across the board who can quite literally do it all for my team, including back up on the mound.

We\u2019re sliding back into your inboxes for another weekly edition of \u201CRich People Conversations.\u201D Since there\u2019s a lack of professional baseball being played right now (and that\u2019s all we\u2019ll say about that topic), we decided to turn back the clock and revisit where our love for the sport of baseball began.

As kids, Curt, Jake and I spent hours on hours playing this classic computer game. Any time I wasn\u2019t emulating Torii Hunter catches in my room or taping Joe Mauer sideburns to my face, I was probably playing Backyard Baseball on our dusty, old computer.

Aside from the dozens of original \u201CBackyard kids\u201D characters, every MLB team had a player featured in the 2001 game. Jeromy Burnitz represented the Crew and Marty Cordova donned a Twins cap. Oof.

Curt: Cement Gardens. I\u2019m just imagining my first-round pick (teaser alert) running rampant in this wacky park with no left field fence and a never ending wall in left. The pizza box home plate is truly iconic. I don\u2019t remember how they determine what\u2019s a dinger and what\u2019s a double to left field, but I\u2019m just imagining Pablo Sanchez cranking one 400 feet to left and it\u2019s called a double and that seems maddeningly hilarious.

Jake: Playground Commons. When I think of Backyard Baseball, this is the first park I think of. Yeah, sure I remember Steele Stadium. I remember the nasty sandy ones. Tin Can Alley has some fun parts, but here\u2019s the deal: My team is diving for balls and swiping bags, I\u2019m not trying to lose anyone to skinned knees or the worst raspberries you could ever imagine.

Tom: Steele Stadium. My squad is going to hit dingers. So, why not play half of my games at a field where the center field wall is literally 30 feet behind second base? And there\u2019s no better feeling than porking a pitch into the pool in left field. Splash. I\u2019m just happy the evergreen trees in the outfield haven\u2019t been taken down yet (*cough cough Target Field cough cough*).

Look, unlike the first pick, there were certainly different options here to actually consider. I could\u2019ve nabbed pitching or another one of the 10-overall hitters like Achmed Khan or an all-around sound player like Luanne Lui. But let\u2019s be real here. Every single Backyard Baseball player in every single draft would take Pete Wheeler right after Pablo Sanchez was nabbed off the board.

Every neighborhood has a less-talented younger sibling who tags along with his or her older sibling to backyard games. (Yes, that was me.) I probably selected Amir too high, even when considering that both brothers get boosted stats for being on the same roster. But the younger Khan can hurl it, so he\u2019ll be the Melonheads\u2019 opening day starter.

I went back and forth between Keisha and Luanne Lui here before ultimately settling on Keisha here. Keisha provided everything I was looking for. She gives my offense an elite bat on top of the best OBP machine in the game. With these two picks, I\u2019ve also got plenty of speed and fielding ability. While Lui is a great pitcher and overall player, I figured I could nab pitching with my next pick, whereas finding a player with Keisha\u2019s bat+speed+fielding combo in the third round wouldn\u2019t be possible.

Time for a secret. Ready? Shh. Don\u2019t tell anyone. But...[looks around]...Luanne Lui is every bit as good as Pablo Sanchez. OK, sure, she doesn\u2019t have the same boomstick, but Luanne is ELITE in the field, steals bags and has a cannon for an arm. She\u2019ll do some pitching for us but don\u2019t be surprised to see Luanne chasing down balls in a spacious center field, either. I stan for Byron Buxton, a guy with elite speed and defensive ability and an up-and-down bat. I also stan for Luanne.

When I was little, I was convinced Stephanie Morgan was a pro ballplayer just like Derek Jeter or Larry Walker. Then I saw her in Backyard Soccer and realized, well, that she maybe wasn\u2019t real. She\u2019s a tone-setter who can play anywhere. I said we\u2019re diving for balls and swiping bags, right? Stephanie \u201CDon\u2019t Call Me Joe\u201D Morgan is going to make sure that happens.

We all know Angela Delvecchio is one of the best pitchers in the game, but am I the only one that had forgotten how good of a bat she\u2019s got? Not only did I get one of three pitchers tied for the best rating in the game (9), but I got the one with the highest hitting rating, as well, and as the third pitcher off the board.

Smith might be the Steal of the Draft\u2122. She\u2019s one of four Backyard kids with a 10-rating in hitting and will be the best fielder (... by far) on my roster. Pencil her in the cleanup spot, por favor.

I was honestly astonished Mikey fell to me. He crushes balls and makes it look easy doing so. Admittedly, lefty power guys are going to see a little dip at Playground Commons because of the giant effing fence in right field, but my guy has power to all fields. He\u2019s the anti-Stephanie Morgan in the energy department, so there\u2019s mild concern in the clubhouse, but a good manager (check out pick #18 for more on that) will help that.

The Monsters are committed to not committing errors and Ernie will be our rock in that regard. A 10 in the defensive department, my guy also can throw a bit and has sneaky speed. He has a projectible, Nerlens Noel-like frame, so I\u2019m hoping by fourth or fifth grade, he\u2019ll be able to tap into that potential and take advantage of a short porch in left field. If nothing else, he\u2019s going to have a field day playing at Cement Gardens with the opening on the left side.

With Angela, Keisha and Sally on the roster, I could now completely ignore pitching and focus on the other three categories. Dimitri Petrovic sure can mash, but the sum of Tony Delvecchio\u2019s parts was tops on the board.

Baseball is an analytics-driven game, right? Well, the Melonheads now have the smartest kid on the block. When he\u2019s not hitting dingers over the short center field wall at Steele Stadium, Petrovic will be designing an elementary version of Houston\u2019s \u201CCodebreaker.\u201D

We\u2019ve got some big personalities in the clubhouse (see Petrovic, Dimitri and Khan, Achmed) so I thought I\u2019d bring in all-around nice guy Ronny Dobbs. I\u2019m just glad I was able to separate him from his older sister, Sally. Eight-year-old Tom hated Sally Dobbs.

This is literally the first time I\u2019ve ever picked Billie Jean Blackwood in any Backyard setting. But an 8 bat and 6 run in the sixth round? I\u2019m fine hiding that 4 fielding rating at second base at that cost.

Ricky Johnson is my favorite Backyard athlete, period. He captained the Super Duper Monsters to dozens of Backyard Soccer championships back in the day and has been on every Backyard roster I\u2019ve ever created. It was a risk leaving him so late, but I knew Curt and Tom wouldn\u2019t respect him the way I do. Ricky is stepping in as player-manager. He has his hands full with quite the mix of personalities, but there\u2019s no one I\u2019d rather have take on the challenge.

Ricky and I are building this team around speed and fielding and would lookie here, with the 24th pick we get someone that has 9 running and 10 fielding? Easy pick every day of the week. Maybe some would be concerned about having two people with a 1 in the hitting column (Vicki and my best pal Rick) but I\u2019m not. When this game came out, we were in the midst of watching a Twins team that was fifth in the league in stolen bases (146 in 2001!) and batting average (.272). I built this team with the Cristian Guzman mindset: put the ball in play and run it out.

Of the even more slim pickings available with my last pick, I ended up taking Reese \u201CDon\u2019t Call Me Witherspoon\u201D Worthington because of his high-end fielding rating. Little man\u2019s got a cannon.

Curt: Pablo Sanchez alone makes the Monsters the, well, Monstars. His top four is a pretty good top four, I must say, but good luck getting much much from the bottom half of that order. I\u2019m also walking Pablo every time he comes up to the plate. I don\u2019t think we can account for how much Stephanie Morgan\u2019s clubhouse presence will help.

Tom: My butt cheeks are going to clench every time the \u201CSecret Weapon\u201D digs into the box. He\u2019s that scary. I also like Jake\u2019s move of batting Pablo leadoff like he\u2019s 2019 Mitch Garver. The bottom of the order might be a problem, but the Monsters will be Super Duper in the field.

Jake: The top three here is terrifying. Any defense with Pete roaming the outfield is a bad time for contact-focused teams like the Monsters. Keisha is always underrated and is going to smack a ton of balls off my right-field fence. Not looking forward to that. After that, I\u2019m not afraid of anybody named Billie Jean Blackwood or Lisa Crockett. Reese Worthington could be a problem for the Monsters behind the dish, though.

Tom: I completely forgot about Reese Worthington. That dude was a legend in Backyard Soccer. Curt\u2019s team is probably the most balanced, although he\u2019s got my two least favorite characters in the game -- Sally Dobbs and Billie Jean Blackwood.

Curt: I\u2019m still fuming over not getting Jocinda Smith in the fourth round but I have nobody to blame but myself. The Melonheads will take you deep at the top six of the order and the Webbers are better together, but, uh, Tom better hope his pitching strikes literally everyone out because his defense is an absolute issue. Only one of the top 15 fielders are on the Melonheads.

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