In 1988, baseball video games made another jump, when Electronic Arts (EA) released ''Earl Weaver Baseball'', which added an actual baseball manager provided run by artificial intelligence. The important of ''Earl Weaver Baseball'' was acknowledged by phillies game tonight in 1996 when it named ''Earl Weaver Baseball'' 25th on its list of the Best 150 Games of All Time. This was the second highest ranking for any sports game in that 1981-1996 period behind FPS Sports Football.

Nintendo also hit a homerun, in 1988 when it released ''RBI Baseball.'' RBI was the first video game to be licensed through the Major League Baseball Players Association. The game contained authentic major league players and rosters, and not surprisingly was a huge hit with players.

Twenty years after the first baseball video game, ''Tony La Russa Baseball'' appeared on shelves across the country. The game made significant advancements in baseball game play. First, ''La Russa'' included a circular Fly Ball Cursor that appeared where the ball was going to land, and grew or diminished in size based on the height of the ball. If the wind was blowing the cursor would move its location to reflect the changing course of the ball. The Fly Ball Cursor introduced real fly balls and pop-ups to computer baseball games, eliminating the last segment of the sport that had never been simulated accurately. Second, ''La Russa'' allowed users to conduct drafts and set up their own leagues, all with access to the game's comprehensive player statistics. Third, ''La Russa'' was the first baseball game to offer accurate stats for each individual pitcher against each individual hitter, data that actual managers use extensively in the dugout. In contrast to many sports celebrities who merely lent their names to games, Tony La Russa spent extensive sessions over a period of years working to make the game's artificial intelligence as accurate as possible.