This time around, Albert Pujols would be that pick, as with the retirement of Beltran and Ichiro Suzuki, Pujols is the final remaining active player from the 2003 edition.Īthletics-I don’t think you could go wrong with Matt Chapman or Marcus Semien. But as some additional trivia, last time around, I gave Carlos Beltran an honorary “grandfathered-in” slot as well for being the last remaining player from 2001. George Springer, Alex Bregman, and a whole host of other players have their arguments, but Altuve has such a high profile (as an MVP and six-time All-Star), and is so recognizable that it would be easy to translate him to the game.Īngels-Like with the Astros, the Angels have a lot of high-profile stars, but it’s hard to see anyone other than Mike Trout representing them in game. So with all of that in mind, if we were picking one player per team, who would be the most likely pick?Īstros-Last time I did this, I went with Jose Altuve as the Astros’ rep, and it’s hard to see that changing. Being fun to caricature also doesn’t hurt. Also, there was little attention paid for balance (just under half of the picks from 2001 were outfielders, and just under a quarter were shortstops), especially when it came to picking position players versus pitchers (both 20 only had two pitchers among their MLB reps). In fact, it’s a larger gap than it took for Humongous to release their follow up, Backyard Baseball 2003 (released in 2002), and that already saw a lot of shift in its rosters.īut what did I learn last time was the series tended to go with more recognizable and experienced stars. So there’s the pitch: if we were making a modern reboot of the original, who would make our roster? This actually isn’t the first time I’ve written about this topic, but a lot has shifted in the nearly three years since I wrote that piece. (note: in the three years since this tweet, four more Backyard Baseball 2001 alumni have made it to Cooperstown, as has 2003 alum Jim Thome, with more likely to follow.) Marty Cordova /kcJ4PIdyxm- Céspedes Family BBQ January 18, 2017

Backyard baseball 2003 reddit