MVP Baseball 2005: The Legend of Jon Dowd
The MLB baseball season has been in effect for some time now, so obviously some of us at the store have been discussing this very important matter - who was the greatest video game baseball player of all time?
Ken Griffey Jr. was a monster in his classic 'Ken Griffey Jr. Major League Baseball' series for both the SNES and N64. You could also go with Nolan Ryan in his 'Nolan Ryan Baseball' series for the NES. Both of these pale in comparison to the late & great Jon Dowd.
The game was MVP Baseball 2005. Then were the days of Barry Bonds methodically walking up to the plate to completely obliterate the ball beyond the San Francisco right field wall and into McCovey Cove. That said, by 2003 Bonds decided to revoke the use of his likeness to EA Sports, which gives way for one of the greatest stories in fictional sports history.
Jon Dowd was the ferocious fictitious slugger EA Sports decided to replace Bonds with in their video games. A man by the name of Jon Dowd was one of the production leads at EA studios at the time, which is how they chose the name. His attributes were an identical replica of Barry Bonds' play in those days; only differences were the elbow pad hanging over the strike zone and the fact that Dowd was a right handed batter. Pitching to Dowd was like fighting Mike Tyson in the NES classic 'Punch-Out!' - you had to be perfect or he would punish you. Dowd's slow, confident trot around the bases after destroying a hanging curveball upper deck 500+ feet still runs rampant in my nightmares. The guy was simply unreal (Complex has him listed as the ninth best virtual athlete of all time).
One fearsome game of slugging after another, Dowd's legend hangs at the top of video game baseball lore. Many have said he hit over 100 home runs per season. Just a video game? Maybe. But the legend of Jon Dowd is forever.
Oh, and he never took steroids.
Want a special customized San Francisco Giants #51 Jon Dowd jersey? Call us at 952-960-0783 and we will see what we can do!
Like us on Facebook!
Follow us on Instagram!