bullpen led by Ellis; and a lineup with a solid middle of the order of Evans, Oko, and Rubin but otherwise average offense Texas - has a high hitting offense anchored by Marcus but a very porous pitching staff Utah - has one of the best offenses in the game led by Agua and Harlan, featuring a Jekyll and Hyde pitching staff with a strong starting pitching rotation led by Quinta, Lep, and Stava and an inconsistent bullpen led by Bella, one of the best closers in the game, but also features three of the five worst earned run averages. Also noteworthy is the fact that the umpires' names are given. In the Western version, they are as follows: PL: Yuk 1B: Dum 2B: Boo 3B: Bum In the Japanese version, the names shown are the last names of the developers. Disembodied catcher's mitt One of the trademark images of the Bases Loaded franchise was the disembodied catcher's mitt, also referred to as the "phantom paw", that would catch pitches that were thrown extremely outside. Developer Heep Sop Choi claims it was programmed to show the catcher making some terrific snatches without any bodily movement. Release A defective chip was found during manufacturing, delaying the Nintendo Entertainment System version's North American release. A port for the Atari Jaguar was planned to be developed by Jaleco, after being signed by Atari Corporation to be a third-party developer for the system, but it was never released. Sequels The game saw three sequels on the NES: Bases Loaded II: Second Season (released in 1988 in Japan and 1990 in North America), Bases Loaded 3, released in 1991, and Bases Loaded 4, released in 1993. The game also had two arcade sequels: Moero!! Pro Yakyū Homerun, released in 1988, and Jitsuryoku!! Pro Yakyū, released in 1989. Japanese game magazine Game Machine listed Jitsuryoku!! Pro Yakyū on their September 1, 1989 issue as being the eighth most-successful table arcade unit of the month; the magazine has listed it in English as Bases Loaded. Super Bases Loaded was released for the SNES in 1991, and saw two sequels: Super Bases Loaded 2, released in 1994, and Super Bases Loaded 3, released in 1995. A 32-bit installment was also released: Bases Loaded '96: Double Header, released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1995. Reception Computer Gaming World compared the game unfavorably to Accolade's HardBall!, both focusing