‘Backyard Baseball’ video game to be adapted into animated special

In an effort to identify and milk every source of intellectual property for every penny it’s worth, the popular Backyard Baseball video game series is getting its own 2D animated special.

That’s right, Pablo Sanchez will be the star of a new animated film, according to Katie Campione of Deadline. Arturo Castro will voice Sanchez, with a star-studded lineup set to voice the rest of the Backyard gang. Tiffany Haddish, Ego Nwodim, Chris Mintz-Plasse, Donald Faison, Ashleigh Crystal Hairson, Adam Pally, and Utkarsh Ambudkar will all lend their voices to various characters within the franchise.

The story of how Backyard Baseball found it’s way to a 2D animated special is quite interesting. Lindsay Barnett, a former elementary school teacher, took a liking to the ’90s-era game for her students during the COVID lockdowns of 2020. That inspired her to track down the rights to the franchise. She hired a private investigator (yes, really) to find who owned the rights, bought them, and began to revive the decades-old series, first by reintroducing the video games for modern devices.

Now, Barnett is spearheading the first ever scripted adaptation to Backyard Baseball, turning down offers from major studios to produce the project independently.

In another interesting twist, Dave & Buster’s (yes, the restaurant chain) is helping finance the special. As a result, it will premiere in Dave & Buster’s locations across the country, along with the Backyard Sports YouTube channel.

Here’s the premise, per Deadline: “It’s Opening Day at Steele Stadium. But team superstar Stephanie ‘Bubbles’ Morgan is in crisis. She’s lost her gotta-have-it, never-play-without-it lucky bubble gum! With just 30 minutes until game time, the Backyard kids embark on a wild mission to track it down and save their season.”

It sounds like this project is just the start. Barnett owns the rights to the football, basketball, soccer, and hockey versions of the Backyard franchise as well, opening the door for more adaptations down the line.