Produced by Humongous Entertainment, the Backyard Sports franchise has been a staple of amusement for children since 1997. The Backyard Sports franchise included games such as Backyard Football, Backyard Soccer, Backyard Basketball, Backyard Hockey and yes, even Backyard Skateboarding. The majority of the games featured one or more professional athletes, which added a sense of realism to this imaginary sports realm.
More specifically, Backyard Baseball 2001 starred 31 different major league players from all 30 MLB teams. Out of the 31 players, nine have already been inducted into the Hall-of-Fame (Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken Jr., Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, Randy Johnson, Frank Thomas, Barry Larkin and Tony Gwynn), while Derek Jeter, Vladimir Guerrero and Chipper Jones promise to propel that number to 12 by 2019.
For myself, Backyard Baseball 2001 was the original catalyst for my obsession with the sport itself. I was able to learn about the players and teams that made the professional game so great. All baseball fans will remember icons like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Alex Rodriguez, who were all featured in Backyard Baseball 2001, although I will forever remember and respect lower-profile players like Marty Cordova and Alex Gonzalez, specifically because of this incredible game.
The final remaining active player from the 2001 class was Carlos Beltran, who just recently retired after winning his first World Series in his 20 years in the MLB. Beltran will make quite the Hall of Fame case, although looking back at his attributes in Backyard Baseball, I don’t recall him being one of the pros that chosen very often, if at all. He tended to be outshined by Kenny Lofton’s speed, Larry Walker’s power or Vladimir Guerrero’s all-around ability, causing him to consistently fall short of making my Humongous Melonheads lineup.
After looking back at each player’s in-game stats and their real-life stats prior to the 2001 season, it’s fair to say some of these major leaguers were significantly snubbed.
Carlos Beltran
Beltran took the league by storm in 1999, batting .293 with 22 home runs, 27 stolen bases, 112 runs scored and 108 RBIs. He was subsequently voted the American League Rookie of the Year, receiving 95 percent of the first place votes. His 2000 season was cut short due to injury, which was the likely cause for his low attributes.
At 24 years old, Beltran represented the Kansas City Royals in Backyard Baseball 2001, although his stats failed to resemble his real-life ability. His batting attribute was 5/10, which was the same rating given to pros Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson, who were the two pitchers featured in the game.
Both Schilling and Johnson’s career batting averages were under .151 at this point in their careers. Why the developers gave Beltran, Schilling and Johnson the same batting attributes is beyond me.
In 2001, Beltran had a 20/30 season while batting over .300. He must have used his poor attributes as motivation, as he would go on to hit over 400 home runs and steal over 300 bases in his illustrious career.
Jason Giambi
To me, Giambi is easily the most disrespected player on this list. As the American League MVP in 2000, Giambi batted .333 with 43 home runs and 137 RBIs. He led the league in walks, on-base percentage and on-base plus slugging.
Giambi, who represented the Oakland Athletics in 2001, had a batting attribute that measured 7/10, which may seem respectable at first glance. However, Derek Jeter and Jason Kendall, who also shared a 7/10 batting stat, had less combined home runs and RBIs than Giambi in 2000. Anyone who saw Giambi play in late ’90s knows that he deserved a full 10/10 batting stat, as he was arguably the most dangerous hitter in the game at that time.
In 2001, Giambi batted .342 with 38 home runs and 120 RBIs, coming in second in the American League MVP vote behind Rookie of the Year and MVP Ichiro Suzuki. In my opinion, Giambi was snubbed, as his WAR measured a full 1.5 points higher and lost by seven vote points.
Due to his admitted steroid use, Giambi will likely fall short of the Hall of Fame. His career .277 batting average, 440 home runs and 1,441 RBIs make him a Hall of Fame caliber player either way.
Jeromy Burnitz
Coming off of three consecutive seasons with over 30 home runs from 1998-2000, one would expect Jeromy Burnitz to receive one of the higher batting attributes among sluggers in Backyard Baseball 2001. I would consider his 7/10 batting rating to be a bit disrespectful.
Representing the Milwaukee Brewers, one could expect Burnitz to be snubbed in the ratings department, as the team had failed to reach the .500 mark since 1992.
Both Kenny Lofton and Barry Larkin had identical 7/10 batting stats as Burnitz, although Lofton and Larkin combined failed to hit as many home runs through the same three-year period as Burnitz did alone. I believe Lofton and Larkin deserve their 7/10 marks, as they were both great contact hitters in their own right, although I believe Burnitz absolutely deserved a higher rating in the batting category.
Shawn Green
Green had a miraculous 1999 campaign, batting .309 with 42 home runs, 123 RBIs and 20 stolen bases with the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2000, he would move out west to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deal centered around fellow Backyard Baseball pro Raul Mondesi.
Green took a step back in 2000, but still managed to score 98 runs and drive in 99 RBIs with 72 extra-base hits.
Due to our shared Jewish heritage, I tended to select Green quite often. His batting stats are not what I am putting into question, rather his fielding. The vision of Green costing me precious runs after taking a fly ball of the head remains to this day.
The Backyard Sports developers decided to give him 5/10 for his fielding attribute, which made him tied for the second worst fielding player of the featured pros despite being only one season removed from winning a Gold Glove award.
Two notable names that have a better fielding attribute than Green include Mo Vaughn (8/10) and Mark McGwire (7/10). McGwire won his sole Gold Glove in 1990, ten years before the game had been released, while Vaughn never did. Interesting to see Green be snubbed so blatantly.
Which sport stars do you think were disrespected in the Backyard Sports series?
Featured image by MuseumOfPlay.com
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