- An iPhone used on Apple TV’s Friday Night Baseball broadcast is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame
- iPhone 17 Pro captured new camera angles for gaming
- Apple plans to continue integrating the iPhone into Friday Night Baseball broadcasts
The iPhone could 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 is the first phone to arrive in the collection, so effectively that the iPhone 17 Pro, which has already been accredited by Major League Baseball, is making history once again 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 pretty simple. “It’s about reaching new places so that customers see an angle on a game that they may not have seen before and can see a story told about a game in a different way,” explained Royce Dickerson, executive producer of Live Sports on Apple TV.
In that game, Apple TV placed an iPhone 17 Pro, held by two clamps, on the right field foul pole, also known as the Pesky Pole, along with one on the first base line side, one inside the Green Monster and another wandering on a gimbal. It also used the cameras built into the 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max (48-megapixel wide, 48-megapixel ultra-wide, and 48-megapixel telephoto) connected to the production team’s system via Blackmagic Camera.
Now, as we approach the formal start of the 2026 MLB season, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has added the iPhone 17 Pro that was connected 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 ‘Friday Night Baseball’ broadcast added to the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s permanent collection is incredibly meaningful to our team.”
“By integrating the iPhone into the broadcast, 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.
It’s a call to Cooperstown like no other. An iPhone 17 Pro from @AppleTV’s final #FridayNightBaseball game of the 2025 MLB regular season (its first public use on a live professional sports broadcast) represents the first smartphone in our collection. #ShotoniPhone pic.twitter.com/3X4CBHlGByMarch 11, 2026
It allowed the Apple TV production team to capture more unique shots and ultimately deliver a more immersive broadcast for viewers, and that 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 writes: “Throughout the 2026 season, the iPhone will be further integrated into the lineup of broadcast cameras for select games.” Basically, that means that while it may not appear in every game, Apple TV is looking to use the iPhone in more unique ways, likely depending on the stadium and where the most captivating shots can be found.
The fifth season of Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV begins on March 27, 2026, when the Los Angeles Angels take on the Houston Astros at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas, at 8:15 p.m. ET. The Cleveland Guardians will then take on the Seattle Mariners at 9:45 pm ET from T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington. We’ll have to watch and see if any iPhone opportunities are needed; Apple TV will likely put the 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max back in the game.
