The Video Game History Foundation has unearthed and shared bizarre, inappropriate commentary from the 2003 baseball game franchise ‘MLB Slugfest,’ originally developed by Midway Games. This audio, which was never used in the final game, includes absurd conversations such as discussions about kitchen utensils and smoked whale meat, showcasing the wild improvisation of voice actors Kevin Matthews and Tim Kitzrow. The Foundation’s digital archive has gained significant attention, with over 5,500 likes and 2,400 reposts on their BlueSky post.
The Foundation’s library director explained that the voice actors were simply going wild, giving free rein to their imaginations. Kevin Matthews and Tim Kitzrow, who have backgrounds in sports radio and comedy, were given prompts by the game’s producer and ran with them, creating wild nonsense like the audio snippets. The gaming site Aftermath notes the Foundation also has an archive page for all the other sound files on the CD. Maybe it’s the ultimate tribute to the craziness that was MLB Slugfest.
Years ago some fans of the game shared their memories on Reddit, recalling how the game’s gameplay evolved into chaotic and humorous interactions between players. The first time my friend tried to bean me and my hitter caught the ball was so hype, we were freaking out. Every game quickly evolved into trying to get our hitters to charge the mound.
I just remembered you could also kick the shit out of the fielder near your base if he got too close. Man that game was awesome. You could do jump kicks into the catcher like Richie from The Benchwarmers. Every time someone got on base we would run the ball over to them and beat their asses for 30 seconds. Good times.
Six years after the launch of the franchise, Midway Games declared bankruptcy.