- An iPhone used in Apple TV’s Friday Night Baseball broadcast is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame
- iPhone 17 Pro captured new camera angles for the game
- Apple plans to continue integrating the iPhone into Friday Night Baseball broadcasts
The iPhone may just be in its glory days. After being put to use during a live broadcast of a Friday Night Baseball game on Apple TV, the National Baseball Hall of Fame has added one of the iPhone 17 Pros used to broadcast the game to its collection.
It is 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 it 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 getting into new places where customers can see an angle of a game that they might not have seen before and being able to see a story told about a game in a different way,” explained Royce Dickerson, Executive Producer of Live Sports at Apple TV.
At that game, Apple TV placed an iPhone 17 Pro, held by two clamps, on the right field foul pole — aka the Pesky Pole — along with one on the first baseline side, one inside the Green Monster, and another roaming on a gimbal. It also used the built-in cameras on 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 using 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 attached to the Pesky Pole to its collection — the first time it has done so for a phone.
Speaking to TechRadar, Royce Dickerson said, “To see one of the iPhones used in our ‘Friday Night Baseball’ broadcast added to the permanent collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame 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 ongoing commitment to innovation in how live sports are produced and experienced,” said Dickerson.
It’s a call to Cooperstown unlike any other. An iPhone 17 Pro from @AppleTV’s final #FridayNightBaseball 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/3X4CBHlGBy11 March 2026
It allowed the Apple TV production team to capture more unique images and ultimately deliver a more immersive broadcast to viewers, and that approach will continue with the start of the new season.
In a release confirming the schedule for Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV in 2026, Apple writes, “During the 2026 season, the iPhone will be further integrated into the broadcast camera for select games.” Essentially, this means that while it may not appear at every game, Apple TV is looking to use the iPhone in more unique ways, likely depending on the ballpark and where the most captivating visuals can be found.
The fifth season of Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV kicks off on March 27, 2026, when the Los Angeles Angels take on the Houston Astros at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas at 7 p.m. 20.15 ET. It is followed by the Cleveland Guardians against the Seattle Mariners at 9:45 PM ET from T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington. We’ll have to watch and see if there’s a need for iPhone shots — chances are Apple TV will once again put the 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max into the game.
