- An iPhone used on Apple TV’s Friday Night Baseball is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame
- The iPhone 17 Pro captured new camera angles for gaming
- Apple plans to continue integrating the iPhone into Friday Night Baseball broadcasts
The iPhone may well be in its glory days. After being used during a live broadcast of a Friday Night Baseball game on Apple TV, the National Baseball Hall of Fame added one of the iPhone 17 Pros used to broadcast that game to its collection.
It’s the first phone to land in the collection, so effectively that the iPhone 17 Pro – which was already accredited by Major League Baseball – once again makes history and shows the evolution of how these sporting events are captured and shared with the world.
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And the reason for using the iPhone was quite simple. “It’s about going to new places to allow customers to see a game from a perspective they may not have seen before, and being able to see the story of a game in a different way,” explained Royce Dickerson, executive producer of Live Sports at Apple TV.
During that game, Apple TV placed an iPhone 17 Pro, held by two clamps, on the right field foul pole — aka the Pesky Pole — with one on the side of the first base line, one inside the Green Monster and another roaming on a gimbal. It also used the 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max’s built-in cameras – 48 megapixel wide, 48 megapixel ultra-wide and 48 megapixel telephoto – connected to the production team’s system using the Blackmagic Camera.
Now, as we approach the official start of the 2026 MLB season, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has added the iPhone 17 Pro that was attached to the Pesky Pole to its collection – the first time it has done so for a phone.
Speaking to TechRadar, Royce Dickerson shared: “Seeing one of the iPhones used in our show ‘Friday Night Baseball’ added to the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s permanent collection is incredibly meaningful for our team.
“By integrating iPhone into broadcasting, we were able to capture new perspectives and bring fans closer to the game. This recognition reflects our continued commitment to innovation in the way live sports are produced and experienced,” Dickerson said.
This is a call to Cooperstown like no other. An iPhone 17 Pro from @AppleTV’s #FridayNightBaseball final game of the 2025 MLB regular season – its first public use in a live professional sports broadcast – represents the first smartphone in our collection. #ShotoniPhone pic.twitter.com/3X4CBHlGByMarch 11, 2026
This allowed the Apple TV production team to capture more unique images and ultimately deliver a more immersive broadcast to viewers, and this approach will continue with the start of the new season.
In a statement confirming the schedule for Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV in 2026, Apple wrote: “Throughout the 2026 season, iPhone will be further integrated into the broadcast camera lineup for select games. » Essentially, this means that even if it doesn’t appear in every game, Apple TV is looking to use the iPhone in more unique ways, likely based on ballpark and where the most compelling shots are.
The fifth season of Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV will begin on March 27, 2026, as the Los Angeles Angels take on the Houston Astros at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas at 8:15 p.m. ET. Next is the Cleveland Guardians taking on the Seattle Mariners at 9:45 p.m. ET from T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington. We’ll have to watch and see if any iPhone photos are needed – it’s likely Apple TV will put the 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max in the game again.
