After a decade-long absence, Babe Ruth makes his return to video games in “MLB 18” but there are many other notable additions that will get fans excited. There are two ways in which legends are utilized in “The Show,” as they are found as rare commodities in the team-building Diamond Dynasty mode or can be signed to teams as free agents in Franchise Mode. 

By turning on the “Allow Legend Free Agents” setting when starting Franchise Mode, the historic players enter the free-agent pool and can be signed by any team. Given that each club starts with limited monetary flexibility, considerable salary has to be dumped by those interested in signing one of them or the “Ignore Budgets” option needs to be turned on. The legends have been created based on their peak seasons, and that is reflected in their contract demands.

MORE: ‘MLB 18’s’ top-rated players and debut of Shohei Ohtani

LF Babe Ruth Age 26 99 Overall Rating Seeking $31M per year contractSP Vida Blue Age 22 99 Overall Rating Seeking $31M per year contractSP Bob Gibson Age 32 99 Overall Rating Seeking $31M per year contractRP Fergie Jenkins 98 Overall Rating Age 28 Seeking $8.3M per year contractC Mike Piazza 97 Overall Rating Age 28 Seeking $31M per year contractLF Albert Belle 96 Overall Rating Age 28 Seeking $31M per year contractRF Vladimir Guerrero 96 Overall Rating Age 29 Seeking $31M per year contract

SP Bob Feller 94 Overall Rating Age 21 Seeking $31M per year contractSP Don Sutton 94 Overall Rating Age 31 Seeking $29.5M per year contract1B Frank Thomas 93 Overall Rating Age 26 Seeking $31M per year contractSP Roy Oswalt 93 Overall Rating Age 26 Seeking $31M per year contractRF Dale Murphy 92 Overall Rating Age 27 Seeking $31M per year contract3B Joe Torre 91 Overall Rating Age 30 Seeking $23.1M per year contractRP Troy Percival 91 Overall Rating Age 40 Seeking $8.3M per year contractLF Billy Williams 91 Overall Rating Age 32 Seeking $20.5M per year contractSP Doug Drabek 90 Overall Rating Age 27 Seeking $29.5M per year contractRP Ron Guidry 90 Overall Rating Age 27 Seeking $8.3M per year contractRF Shawn Green 89 Overall Rating Age 27 Seeking $21.4M per year contractSS Omar Vizquel 89 Overall Rating Age 32 Seeking $17.3M per year contractC Benito Santiago 89 Overall Rating Age 25 Seeking $29.5M per year contractLF Jim Rice 89 Overall Rating Age 25 Seeking $31M per year contractRP Lee Smith 88 Overall Rating Age 25 Seeking $8.3M per year contractRP Dock Ellis 87 Overall Rating Age 26 Seeking $8.3M per year contractRP Eric Gagne 87 Overall Rating Age 27 Seeking $8.3M per year contractSS Pee Wee Reese 87 Overall Rating Age 30 Seeking $16.3M per year contract1B Tony Perez 86 Overall Rating Age 28 Seeking $20.2M per year contract1B Steve Garvey 86 Overall Rating Age 25 Seeking $31M per year contractLF Lou Brock 85 Overall Rating Age 35 Seeking $10.3M per year contract3B Paul Molitor 84 Overall Rating Age 36 Seeking $9.3M per year contractCF Richie Ashburn 82 Overall Rating Age 24 Seeking $22.4M per year contract1B Keith Hernandez 81 Overall Rating Age 25 Seeking $20.5M per year contractCF Larry Doby 81 Overall Rating Age 30 Seeking $7.3M per year contractRF Enos Slaughter 80 Overall Rating Age 26 Seeking $15.2M per year contract2B Bill Mazeroski 79 Overall Rating Age 21 Seeking $19.3M per year contractRF Harold Baines 78 Overall Rating Age 26 Seeking $13.1M per year contract

Among the players carrying over from the 2015-17 editions of the series are Ken Griffey Jr., Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, Joe Morgan, Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr., Nolan Ryan, Bert Blyleven, Chipper Jones, Johnny Bench, Willie McCovey, Wade Boggs, Roberto Alomar, Mike Schmidt, Cal Ripken Jr., Yogi Berra, Eddie Murray, Juan Marichal, Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson, Billy Wagner, Edgar Martinez and Ozzie Smith.

Bryan Wiedey posts sports gaming news and analysis daily at Pastapadre.com, is co-founder of the sports gaming site HitThePass.com, hosts the “Press Row Podcast” and can be reached on Twitter @Pastapadre.