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In 2016, Michelle Obama told Variety that “for so many people, television and movies may be the only way they understand people who aren’t like them.” Her point is clear: Pop culture can provide exposure to other cultures that one may otherwise never have. The use of words like “racism” and “sexism” in these conversations make some people (who are likely male or white or both) quite uncomfortable, but the words and discomfort alike are necessary to communicate the gravity of the situation. In the past few years, the fight against discrimination in pop culture has gained unprecedented prominence in the public discourse, but it has been taking place for the entirety of the industry’s existence. Every effort matters in the fight against sexism, and that a children’s computer game was one of so few works to make one is both a testament to Humongous Entertainment and an indictment of American pop culture at large. Pitch made a valiant effort (and may get to make another) to make an impact, but ultimately couldn’t quite find its footing in the national discourse.
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As great as 1992’s A League of Their Own is, it should be a movie about women’s baseball by now, 27 years later, instead of the movie about women’s baseball. A quick look at a list of baseball films is all the evidence one needs to get a lay of the land. But the Backyard cast includes 15 female players alongside its 15 male players, a 50-50 split that seems almost too good to be true but isn’t.īaseball’s history is inextricable from the women who have played and continue to play it professionally around the world, yet popular culture has almost nothing to show for it. No women have suited up for a major league team as of 2019 and even fictional representations are mostly lacking, with the exception of the fantastic Ginny Baker. That this level of racial diversity may not be the game’s most inclusive attribute is perhaps the most impressive thing about it.
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Each character has a skin tone that is unique t (save for the five pairs of siblings), and this spectrum includes a variety of Black, Latinx, and Asian players. Making characters of color the majority provides a platform for unparalleled representation within the context of the sport, and the game does not waste it. Though the 13 available white players (43.3 percent of the total) still constitute a group larger than that of any other race, Humongous Entertainment’s decision to include 17 total players of color is one that not only distinguishes the game from its sports-centric peers, but from baseball’s most prominent platform: Major League Baseball.Īccording to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports, major league baseball’s player population was 58 percent white in 1997, the year of the game’s release and was just a tick more so (59 percent) in 2018. For perhaps the first time in the ( shockingly lengthy) history of baseball video games, white players do not account for a majority of the roster. One way this is achieved is through the races of the available players. What isn’t immediately obvious even to the most devoted fans is that the original cast exudes a level of diversity, inclusion, and equality that, even two decades after the game’s initial release, remains inexplicably rare in the world of sports media. Over two dozen sequels, which branch into various sports, have ensured the game became a cultural touchstone for its generation of players.
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But despite the large shadow these games cast, most of the world’s baseball playing is not done at the professional level some games account for this in their design.įor most people, baseball begins as a kid’s game, and that is exactly what Humongous Entertainment’s 1997 release Backyard Baseball aimed to capture with its 30-character cast of children. The most polished and popular games of the 21st century have the luxury of licensing, and therefore feature increasingly impressive recreations of the world’s best professional athletes, and do so to great effect. Fortunately, that is not a world we have to live in.
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The closest we could otherwise get to the genre that has captivated fans for decades might be the PC classic Hot Dog Stand: The Works, a game with no actual athletic competition (but one that does feature an iconic theme song). Sports video games wouldn’t be much of anything without their athletes. While not the most realistic baseball simulator, Backyard Baseball holds a special place in many hearts.