Thursday BP: Baseball video games

Hello and happy Thursday. I hope the day treats you well.

This week is “Video Game Week” at SB Nation. And it’s “Get My Readers to Do My Work for Me Week” at Brady Klopfer LLC.

Which is to say that I have a confession: I don’t think I’ve ever played a baseball video game in my life, with two tiny exceptions: That home run game that Google put on their home page for Opening Day last year (or the year before?), and MLB Out Of The Park for about 30 minutes when the season was suspended, before realizing that everyone in the world who wrote about baseball was doing OOTP simulations in lieu of the season.

But while I can’t really talk about baseball video games, you can! So have at it: Dig deep into your closet to find your Atari or SNES, or perhaps blow your next paycheck on a PS5, and tell me what is the best baseball video game ever.

And also the worst.

Did Barry Bonds hit a home run today?

Well . . . yeah.

June 18, 1995: Against the St. Louis Cardinals, Bonds hit a solo home run in the 9th inning off of Rene Arocha. It gave the Giants a 6-1 lead, which was the final score. It was his 10th homer of the year.

June 18, 1996: Against the Florida Marlins, Bonds hit a solo home run in the 4th inning off of David Weathers. It gave the giants a 2-1 lead, and they would win 9-8. It was his 20th homer of the year.

June 18, 1999: Against the Chicago Cubs, Bonds hit a 2-run home run in the 1st inning off of Kevin Tapani, scoring Marvin Benard. It gave the Giants a 2-0 lead, and they would win 8-5. It was his 5th homer of the year.

Giants links:

• Podcast: Roger Munter talks with Melissa Lockard about the draft (There R Giants)
• Video: Grant Brisbee and Andy Baggarly join Old School Player of the Week to talk about the odds of a season, and to make fun of old school players (productiveouts)
• Dalton Johnson on Gabe Kapler’s excitement about Jaylin Davis (NBC Sports Bay Area)
• Scott Ostler on baseball needing a leader like Willie Mays (SF Chronicle)
• Alex Pavlovic on how the Giants could benefit from the latest proposal (NBC Sports Bay Area)
• Henry Schulman on why MLB should send two of its employees — former Giants Gregor Blanco and Nick Hundley — into negotiation talks (SF Chronicle)
• Daniel Brown on how the Bay Area’s top baseball voices have disciples across the country (The Athletic, subscription required)
• Josh Schrock on what it would look like if California legalizes sports gambling this year (NBC Sports Bay Area)

Have a great Thursday everybody!