Yankees Manager Joe Girardi Is Releasing a Sci-Fi Baseball Game Application

Joe Girardi isn't much for the Instagrams or the SnapperChat, but the 50-year-old New York Yankees manager recognizes how vital apps have become in bridging the gap between children and parents.

After watching his own kids playing with mobile apps on their phones, Girardi figured he'd try his hand at designing his own game, according to the Wall Street Journal's Daniel Barbarisi.

Barbarisi reports that Girardi then began taking the steps that led to "Portalball"—a mobile app that blends baseball and science-fiction elements with your phone's camera.

Portalball puts players in the midst of some kind of alien invasion. Portals are opening and shooting baseballs at you, and your duty is to clobber the ball with your flaming cyber bat and shut that stuff down.

Nick Wass/Associated Press

It's a fairly simple concept, but Girardi's app takes it a step further, using the "augmented reality technology" to step up the gaming experience.

What augmented reality entails is the integration of the app and your phone's camera. The game is overlaid onto the visuals coming through the camera lens. If you have your phone's camera pointed at a wall, the portals will appear on the screen as though they're coming through that wall.

Girardi said he didn't expect the game to come together so well.

"I'm a little surprised myself," Girardi told Barbarisi. "It was just an idea that we could do with families. Kids connect on phones, and they connect with parents on phones. I know I text my kids a lot, and they respond quickly. It's just another way to have connection with family."

The application will make its official debut on August 5. It's free to download in the Apple app store but offers in-game purchases such as different bats and baseballs. All proceeds from the game will go toward Girardi's charity, Catch 25.

Dan is on Twitter. He never made it past Level 20 on Candy Crush, which is basically the Khe Sanh of mobile gaming.