Yahoo! Sports Hits Home Run With Free Fantasy Baseball Yahoo! Users Can Now Create and Manage Their Own Pro Baseball Fantasy Team SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Feb. 23, 1999 -- Yahoo! users can now participate in America's favorite pastime online. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), a leading global Internet media company, today introduced Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball. Through Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com), a comprehensive resource for the latest sports news and information, baseball fans of all ages can now manage their own fantasy team using the real-life stats and results of today's big league stars such as Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey, Jr., Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, and Alex Rodriguez. Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball gives game managers the opportunity to draft, play, trade, cut and bench real-life, pro-baseball players and compete for bragging rights with family, friends, co-workers and experienced fantasy team owners alike. Managers can also configure a scoring and stats system for their own private league. And unlike many competitive fantasy sports sites, which charge users a fee to join a league, make trades, and access fantasy statistics and scoring, Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball is free to users. "Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball provides team managers with a tremendous number of interactive tools and top-of-the-line features such as live online drafts, customizable statistical configurations, unlimited trades and transactions, and prompt customer serviceall free of charge," said Tonya Antonucci, senior producer, Yahoo! Sports. "And by delivering pitch-by-pitch game coverage, timely and accurate statistical data, results, and news, Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball complements the fantasy game and allows users to participate in and get greater enjoyment from America's favorite pastime." Take Me Online to the Ballgame Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball's comprehensive scoring system rewards players for every contribution their athletes make on the playing field from home runs and stolen bases to strikeouts and complete games. Users from around the globe can join in public leagues composed of 10 fantasy team owners. Owners draft current pro-baseball players on active rosters to form their teams and can choose to trade, waive, bench or start any athlete on their team. In addition, team owners have the option to join a league that is private by invitation. By creating a private league, the user becomes the commissioner and can configure the rules and scoring system to match the needs of his or her own league, as well as invite friends and colleagues to the league. Field of Dreams Becomes Online Reality Beginning today, fans worldwide can sign up at http://fantasy.yahoo.com/baseball to register as a fantasy baseball team owner for the regular 1999 Major League Baseball season, which opens on April 4, 1999. Player drafts for public and private leagues begin Monday, March 15. Users who sign up for Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball prior to April 4, 1999, can enjoy a full season of playing. On an ongoing basis after April 4, users can sign up to become managers for a partial season of playing. Through Yahoo! Sports' dynamic lineup of content providers, Fantasy Baseball managers have easy access to all the baseball information they need to run their team. SportsTicker, an instant sports news and information service, provides pitch-by-pitch coverage; STATS, Inc., a leading statistical-information provider, supplies up-to-the-minute, year-to-date and archived player stats; My Baseball Daily, a leading fantasy news source, offers player-by-player portfolios and breaking news from the Pro Sports Xchange national network of writers, as well as fantasy analysis and columns from leading fantasy baseball experts; and The Sporting News, through an existing relationship with Yahoo! Sports, will offer fantasy-related columns and prospect-wtch stories for the baseball season. Get into the Swing of Things By providing the tools, baseball-related information and resources that fantasy team owners expect, Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball delivers a personal and entertaining experience to users and makes interaction with other team owners easy. Throughout the pro-baseball season, fantasy team owners can connect with other owners and the online baseball community through Yahoo!'s community and communication services such as Yahoo! Chat, Yahoo! Clubs, Yahoo! Message Boards, and Yahoo! Pager. Using these interactive tools, owners can take a swing at issues, talk about players, initiate trades, and obtain fantasy baseball tips. In addition, through Yahoo!'s interactive commerce offerings, including Yahoo! Auctions and Yahoo! Shopping, Fantasy Baseball managers can sell or purchase items such as sports memorabilia, equipment, trading cards, and player photos. Online with A-Rod Fantasy team owners as well as all other baseball fans can also reach out to one of baseball's top talentsSeattle Fantasy team owners as well as all other baseball fans can also reach out to one of baseball's top talentsSeattle Mariners All-Star shortstop Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod). Through an existing relationship between The Sporting News and Yahoo! Sports, registered Yahoo! users can access the Official Alex Rodriguez Club (http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/alexrodriguezclub) and take part in a series of chats with A-Rod hosted on Yahoo! Chat (http://chat.yahoo.com). Through the club, fans can connect with one another for real-time chats, get the latest news on A-Rod, post messages, view photos, and even check out his favorite places on the Web. Yahoo! Sports is part of the comprehensive Yahoo! global network of properties. By working with leading providers of sports content and services, Yahoo! Sports connects fans with news, information and coverage of sports leagues such as MLB, MLS, NFL, NBA, NCAA, NASCAR, and WNBA. Yahoo! Sports also provides coverage of golf, world soccer, tennis, and international sporting events such as World Cup. About Yahoo! Yahoo! Inc. is a global Internet media company that offers a branded network of comprehensive information, communication and shopping services to millions of users daily. As the first online navigational guide to the Web, www.yahoo.com is a leading guide in terms of traffic, advertising, household and business user reach, and is one of the most recognized brands associated with the Internet. The company's global Web network includes 18 world properties. Yahoo! has offices in Europe, the Asia Pacific and Canada, and is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. # # #