Backyard Baseball 2001

Humongous Entertainment brings us another installment of Backyard Baseball, this time featuring 31 MLB players and online play.

Mac

Backyard Baseball 2001 broke ground by being the first game in the beloved series to feature major league baseball players. A streamlined batting and pitching system combined with an easy learning curve made this game accessible for all ages.

Team Selection

All 30 Major League Baseball teams are available for use. There is also a selection of the classic Backyard Baseball teams, such as the Watermelon Heads and the Wombats. Customizable team colors and nicknames are available for custom teams.

MLB Players

31 MLB players are playable in the game, one from every team in the 2001 season (2 from the Cincinnati Reds):

Jeff Bagwell (Houston Astros)
Carlos Beltrán (Kansas City Royals)
Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants)
Jeromy Burnitz (Milwaukee Brewers)
Jose Canseco (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)
Marty Cordova (Minnesota Twins)
Nomar Garciaparra (Boston Red Sox)
Jason Giambi (Oakland Athletics)
Alex Gonzalez (Florida Marlins)
Juan Gonzalez (Detroit Tigers)
Shawn Green (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Ken Griffey Jr. (Cincinnati Reds)
Vladimir Guerrero (Montreal Expos)
Tony Gwynn (San Diego Padres)
Derek Jeter (New York Yankees)
Randy Johnson (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Chipper Jones (Atlanta Braves)
Jason Kendall (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Barry Larkin (Cincinnati Reds)
Kenny Lofton (Cleveland Indians)
Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals)
Raul Mondesi (Toronto Blue Jays)
Mike Piazza (New York Mets)
Cal Ripken Jr. (Baltimore Orioles)
Alex Rodriguez (Seattle Mariners)
Ivan Rodriguez (Texas Rangers)
Curt Schilling (Philadelphia Phillies)
Sammy Sosa (Chicago Cubs)
Frank Thomas (Chicago White Sox)
Mo Vaughn (Anaheim Angels)
Larry Walker (Colorado Rockies)

Fictional Players

Included alongside the 31 MLB players were the original 30 characters whom were all included in the first installment of Backyard Baseball.

Jocinda Smith
Ronny Dobbs
Mario Luna
Achmed Khan
Tony Delvecchio
Dimitri Petrovich
Gretchen Hasselhoff
Lueane Lui
Kimmy Eckman
Ricky Johnson
Annie Frazier
Mikey Thomas
Lisa Crocket
Amir Khan
Sally Dobbs
Pete Wheeler
Dante Robinson
Vicki Kawaguchi
Reese Worthington
Kenny Kawaguchi
Stephanie Morgan
Sidney Weber
Ashely Weber
Angela Delvecchio
Marky Dubois
Pablo Sanchez
Billy Jean Blackwood
Jorge Garcia
Ernie Steele
Kiesha Phillips

Create a Player

This game featured Create a Player feature, letting you decide the

Gender
Birthday
Right or Left handed
Race
Hairstyle
Nickname
Stats of player

Game Types

Single Game

Able to select your difficulty level, team, and players. You pick in a dodgeball type format, back and forth.

Season Mode

Play a full 14 game season. Pick your team and whatever players you want. Also pick your home-field and difficulty level.

Online Play

The first backyard game to feature online play. Played on a closed network provided by Humongous Entertainment.

Batting Practice

Robotic pitching machine Mr. Clankey throws you fastballs, slow balls, and curve-balls. You hit them all around the field.

Power-ups

During the game, you are rewarded both batting and pitching power-ups. To get a batting power-up, you need to make a double or triple play. To get a pitching power-up, you must get a strikeout with your pitcher.

Pitching Power-ups

Big Freeze: Right before the pitch reaches the plate, it freezes in place, throwing off the batter's timing
Corkscrew: Does a circular spiral towards the plate
Crazyball: As the name suggests, it goes in all different directions
Elevator: The pitch rides the ground on the way to the plate, but quickly rises right before reaching the strikezone
Fire Ball: An extremely fast pitch
More Juice: Refreshes pitching stamina
Slo-Mo: An extremely slow pitch
Spitball: Reduces hitting power when contact is made
Zig-Zag: Extreme horizontal movement

Batting Power-ups

Aluminum Power: The batters' wood bat transforms into an aluminum bat, increasing the chance of a home run
Crazy Bunt: A bunt that goes in all different directions. The only way the ball can be stopped is if a player touches it or if it hits a fence
Screaming Line Drive: A lightening fast line drive that screams while in the air
Under Grounder: Causes the ball to disappear into the ground, then reappear randomly in the outfield