Play Tony La Russa's Ultimate Baseball Online

Tony La Russa's Ultimate Baseball was way ahead of its time when it hit MS-DOS in the early 90s. I remember booting it up for the first time and being blown away by how real it felt compared to other baseball games—like someone actually understood how baseball works beyond just hitting and running. The fly ball cursor alone changed everything; no more guessing where a pop-up would land while squinting at a tiny shadow on the ground.

What really set it apart was the AI. La Russa wasn’t just a name slapped on the box—he helped shape the game’s decisions, so the computer actually managed games like a real manager would. Drafting your own team was wild for the time too, and the stats were deep enough that you could nerd out over matchups (lefty pitcher vs. power hitter? Yeah, that mattered).

It’s funny—playing it now, the graphics are obviously dated, but the mechanics still hold up. If you’ve ever wondered where modern baseball games got their DNA, this is one of the big ones.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".