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| image = Championship Baseball Manual Cover.jpg
| alt = Front Cover of Championship Baseball Manual
| caption = Championship Baseball Manual Cover <ref>{{cite web|title=TI99ers On-Line User Group: TI-99 Cartridge Listing|url=http://www.ti99ers.org/timeline/cartbytitle.html#C}}</ref> <ref>{{cite web|title=TI Video Game House: Championship Baseball|url=https://www.videogamehouse.net/champbaseball.html}}</ref>
| publisher = [[Milton Bradley]]
| part = PHM 3148 & MB 4341
| price = $59.95 (USD)
}}
Championship Baseball is a [[:Category:Sports|sports]]/[[:Category:Baseball|baseball]] video game created by [[:Category:Milton Bradley|Milton Bradley]] for the TI-99/4A home computer system. It was programmed by [[Dwayne Jeffery]] and [[Dave Winzler]] and released on [[:Category:Solid State Software Command Module|Solid State Software<sup>TM</sup> Command Module]] cartridge. It was released during the [[:Category:1983 Software|fourth quarter of 1983]] and oringally sold for $59.95 (USD) and released as part number PHM 3148 (TI version) or MB 4341 (Milton Bradley Version). Championship Baseball requires the Milton Bradley MBX System to play and can be played using optional voice commands.
==Gameplay==
Championship Baseball is a two-player game only (there is no one-player vs. computer option) that requires the use of the Milton Bradley MBX system to play. The batter takes control of the MBX joystick and uses the trigger button to swing the bat. The batter also uses the control knob to control the strength and speed of the swing. The 3 buttons on the back of the joystick control provide options while running the bases like sliding. The batter also has other options like leading off, steal bases, and run back to a previous base.
The player on defense (i.e. in the outfield) controls his/her players using the MBX keypad with the Championship Baseball overlay. Using the MBX keypad, the outfield player can select a specific player on the field and then chose what that player will do such as throw or catch the ball. The MBX keypad also gives the outfield player the ability to select the type of pitch to throw. This offers multiple options including the speed of the pitch (slow, medium, or fast), and where the pitch is to be placed (inside, middle, or outside). The game itself plays just like regular baseball.
==Advertising Blurb==
===Triton Catalog - Spring 1985===
The most realistic major league baseball game ever devised. Listen to the cheering crowd and watch the teams take the field. Your pitcher can choose from 12 different pitches, even a curve ball. Field by voice commands, calling programmed players' names into action by speaking into the headset microphone. Or field by pressing appropriate keys on the MBX console. The MBX joystick lets you control batting swing and speed, base running and sliding.
==Review==
Here it is! The game that you hear people talking about all the time when it comes to the MBX gaming addon! This was the cartridge that Milton Bradley advertised with the MBX system and demoed most actively at the various CES shows that they attended. Championship Baseball was without a doubt the MBX's flagship game! It received lengthy reviews not just back in 1983, but also in the 1990s when people were starting to get into collecting classic video games. In my opinion, if there was one type of game that could best implement the voice recognition, speech synthesis, actioninput keypad, and special joystick the MBX had to offer it would be a baseball game. Speaking along those lines, I should mention that Championship Baseball was the only game to actually use all the features of the MBX to their full extent. This was because most of the other titles were games where it wouldn't make sense for them to use all of the bells and whistles the MBX had to offer. Anyway, enough of my rambling, lets get on to the review!
At first glance, it may seem that Championship Baseball is just your run-of-the-mill baseball game.
However, screen shots can not portray just how involved of a baseball game this title is since most of the frills come from external devices (similar in a sense to the Colecovision driving controller used with Turbo). First and foremost, this game requires the MBX system to be plugged in (so if you don't have an MBX system, you will have to get one if you want to play this game) and is actually one of the few cartridges that require it. As with most baseball games, the game takes place inside a baseball stadium and features two teams (each team must be controlled by a human player, since there is no computer controlled team). When the game starts, the players rush out onto the field and get into their positions. The person up to bat is controlled by the MBX joystick and this is where what makes this game stand out from the rest begins. On the joystick the trigger button will simply swing the players baseball bat, but the control knob located on the top of the stick allows you to actually adjust the speed of your swing! Turning the control knob a little towards the right allows you to hit the ball deep while turning it completely to the right provides a faster, more powerful swing. If the knob is turned a little to the left on the other hand, it allows you to bunt the ball while a full turn to the left provides a slower and less powerful swing. These additional options provided by the MBX joystick help add more strategy to the game.
In addition to the control knob on the joystick, the 3 buttons on the back of the controllers also provide the player with a few options while running the bases. By pressing "Button 1" on the joystick while pushing up on the lever, you can actually make the player slide into a base. There actually is a purpose behind sliding into a base, as doing so speeds up the player which can be the difference between being safe or called out on a close call. Other options also available in the game are the ability to overrun first base by pressing the trigger button when near first, being able to "lead off" from a base, steal bases, and also run back to the previous base you were on if needed. As demonstrated by all these options, there is a a lot being offered here and I've only covered the team up to bat!
Before continuing I should make note of the great calls the umpire makes throughout the game, phrases like "Yer out!", "Steeerike!", and "Ball!" all sound realistic and add to the appeal/addictiveness of the game. All you have to do is listen to the umpire to hear how the game is being called, which is much more fun than if the balls, strikes, etc were all simply just tallied on the board at the bottom of the screen without the voice. Now as to the players in the outfield (which again must be controlled by another person as there is no option to play against the computer), they are controlled through totally different means than one might think. Instead of using a joystick of any kind, the action input keypad on the MBX unit itself is used to control which players you want to move to catch/throw a ball and also how you want the pitcher to throw. An overlay for the MBX membrane keypad is included with the game which uses pictures to show which buttons perform which functions. The use of the actioninput membrane keypad really makes selecting which players you want to catch/throw a ball to very easy. In addition to being able to select someone on the field, there is also the option for tagging a player where the person with the ball will go after the runner if he's not on a base. It's just another feature that helps recreate the whole baseball experience more accurately on your TV set.
Another important aspect of the game is how the pitching is controlled (I know, this is a fairly lengthy review but believe me in that I am not trying to ramble on all that much. It's just there there is so much in this game to talk about!) . As mentioned earlier, selecting your pitches is all done on the actioninput keypad on the MBX itself. However, there is not simply just one or two or even three ways to pitch. You can select from a variety of options to try and strike your opponent out. On the keypad you first select the speed of your pitch (slow, medium, or fast) and then where you want your pitch to be thrown (inside, middle, or outside). There is also the option to throw a curve ball which is a nice way of catching your opponent off guard. As you can see, there are a wide variety of pitching combos to choose from which again just adds more elements to an already great game. As a matter of fact, it almost feels like you are playing at an arcade because of the ability to use the keypad and fancy joysticks for controlling the players on the field!
In the final segment of this review I just wanted to comment on the speech recognition capabilities of the game, which is available on most MBX video game cartridges. The neat thing about Championship Baseball though is the ability to train the game to recognize the players by name. For example, instead of voice training the game to call the Shortstop by its position ("Shortstop"), you can actually train it to go by the name "Bill". It's just another feature that really makes the Championship Baseball all the more entertaining. As with a number of other MBX games, Championship Baseball also stands up there in the TOP 10 video games for the TI99/4A system and definitely is recommended to all sports video game fans. What really sets it apart from even modern baseball games is the voice recognition capability, which probably will be a coming attraction in a few years (still!). If you're interested in seeing what the future of baseball video gaming holds you might have to take a step back 22 years! The only downside to the game though is the lack of a computer to play against, but hey bring a friend over and have a hot dog since this one is definitely a home run! <ref>{{cite web|title=Retrogaming Times Monthly: Issue #9 - February 2005: The TI-99/4A Arcade page 10|url=http://www.classicplastic.net/trt/arclegacy/RTM-Standard/RetrogamingTimesMonthly-009.zip}}</ref>
by Bryan Roppolo
<!-- Manual -->
* [https://www.everygamegoing.com/litem/Championship-Baseball/65859/ Every Game Going: Championship Baseball]
* [https://www.mobygames.com/game/ti-994a/championship-baseball_ MobyGames: Championship Baseball (TI-99/4A)]
* [http://www.ti99ers.org/timeline/cartbytitle.html #C TI-99ers On-line User Group: TI-99 Cartridge Listing]
* [https://www.videogamehouse.net/champbaseball.html TI-99/4A Video Gamehouse: Championship Baseball]
[[Category:1983 Software]]
[[Category:Baseball]]
[[Category:MBX]]
[[Category:Milton Bradley]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Solid State Software Command Module]]
[[Category:SoftwareSolid State Speech Synthesizer]]
[[Category:Sports]]
