By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

The stars of Major League Baseball have a few new rookies to deal with — guys who are pretty well-known in their own right — in a forthcoming video game release.

Who?

SpongeBob Squarepants, Ren and Stimpy, Chum Chum and Danny Phantom to name a few.

These rookies — and more Nicktoons – will be competing against actual MLB players in actual MLB stadiums in 2K Play‘s Nicktoons MLB for the Xbox 360 with support for Kinect along with versions for the Wii and Nintendo DS. The game arrives on Sept. 13.

Just think, SpongeBob in Wrigley Field … and who wins in a showdown between him and Cliff Lee?

Among the MLB stars who will be profiled — and appear on the video game’s box art — are Lee,Robinson Cano, Andre Ethier, Miguel Cabrera, Jason Heyward and many more. Each team will have players represented. While some players will have a home-field advantage at times in their real-life ballparks in the game, it also will include new digital parks that are more energized for the child’s gaming experience — how will guys like Matt Holliday hold up at Frosty Freeze Field?

Well, then again, Holliday did play in Colorado …

The game is actually a first for combining Nickelodeon’s characters with MLB players, according to Shaan Kandawalla, the VP for digital retail games for Nickelodeon.

“Our Nicktoons stars are taking the field and plan to go yard against the best players in Major League Baseball,” Kandawalla said. “Nicktoons MLB will introduce a whole new rivalry on the baseball diamond.”

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

To see more from the game, check out our Box Busters (of an admittedly different kind) video below … and you’ll have a chance to win a copy of the game right here closer to release and then in the October issue of Beckett Baseball.

Click here to view the embedded video.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Contributing Editor

After two months of talking, designing and meetings, fans have an opportunity to own clothing designed by some of baseball’s biggest stars.

Major League Baseball’s Players Choice Signature Series jerseys and T-shirts are back for a third year. This time, the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera are putting their ideas on these unique products.

In addition, players from the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants have designed apparel for the 2011 season, including Carl Crawford, Kevin Youklis, Cliff Lee, Carlos Ruiz, Tim Lincecum, Cody Ross and Matt Cain.

The pieces of clothing are interesting because you have players’ direct input going into the product. Because the players are putting their personalty on shirt, the designs are uniquely different between players.

Look at Cano’s shirt where he uses one of Yankees radio broadcaster John Sterling‘s catchphrases with the New York second baseman simply standing there. Most of the other players use action shots.

The Posada shirt is much different with a picture along the side and the player’s name on back in a trendier design.

Youkilis’ shirt has more going on than any of the other players with his nickname ‘Dirt Dog’ on the front and the player in grayscale with red thrown in on the back in celebration.

The Phillies’ Lee showed exactly what he’s into with his camouflage shirt. It’s just has his name and number on the back with a silhouette of the Liberty Bell on the front.

The only questionable shirt – taste aside – is Ruiz’s jersey. The Phillies catcher has a jersey that more resembles the New York Mets color than the Phillies. The jersey is the opposite of what the Phillies have now with blue lettering and red piping, but the blue makes it seem more like their rival’s jerseys.

Susan Lulgjuraj is a contributing editor for Beckett Media. You can email Susan here. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Chris Olds | Baseball Editor

The 28th series of McFarlane Toys‘ MLB SportsPicks figures arrives next month with several first-time figures and a few veterans with their new teams.

Oh, and more than a few members of the Boston Red Sox.

Among the first-timers with figures are Atlanta Braves slugger Jason Heyward, reigning NL Rookie of the Year Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier (no offensive fingers this pose). Rounding out the list are veterans Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Daisuke Matsuzaka in their Red Sox uniforms and Cliff Lee as a Philadelphia Phillie.

The remainder of the lineup includes Kevin Youkilis – the fourth Boston player in the 11-player lineup — Ryan Howard, Mariano Rivera and David Wright, who have all previously appeared as toys.

See more images after the jump. (Click for a closer look.)

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.