Backyard Baseball 2001 is a baseball game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. It is the second game in the Backyard Baseball series and the fourth game in the overarching Backyard Sports series. It is the first game in the former series to have the Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball Players Association licenses, and thus features all thirty MLB teams at the time and 31 MLB players as kids, one for each team except the Cincinatti Reds, which has two due to Ken Griffey Jr.'s trade to the team during development.
The game was released for Windows and Macintosh on April 25, 2000.
The game has been out of print for years due to the releases of later entries in the series, as well as the eventual closure of its developer. While the original Humongous Sports Online services have been shut down, a community-made alternative is active. A remaster, retitled as Backyard Baseball '01, was released on July 8, 2025. It is the third remaster released since the Backyard Sports franchise's 2024 reboot, following Backyard Baseball '97 and Backyard Soccer '98 and preceding Backyard Football '99. The remaster features 28 of the 31 pros from the original release, as well as the MLB license (with two MLB teams updated to use their current names and logos) and the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association license (since the pros have long since retired from MLB).
Availability
| Source |
DRM |
Notes |
Keys |
OS |
| Retail |
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If fully installed, the game does not require the CD to play. |
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| Steam |
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Backyard Baseball '01 (the remaster). |
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Demo
- A demo is available from ScummVM.
Version differences
- Backyard Baseball '01 lacks three of the professional athletes from the original release: Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., and Frank Thomas; all three are replaced with generic players with the same stats. It also removes the pros' real baseball card scans (Pacific Trading Cards, who provided the scans, was sold off in 2004), changes the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians, and changes the Oakland Athletics to just the Athletics (no city designation). Multiplayer is disabled with the option removed but can be readded by editing an INI file. Furthermore, as with Baseball '97, it adds online leaderboards, cloud saves, and Steam achievements.
Essential improvements
- Fixes the Pink Maria Luna boost bug so that it works on all defensive positions and fixes the screen resolution bug caused by modern Windows NT systems, respectively.
- This does not apply to Backyard Baseball '01 (the remaster), which removes the option by default.
- This is not the official update patch; the one which was obtainable via online play is long-lost.
Run Baseball2001_update.exe to install.
- Requires Cumulative patch and ScummVM 2.9.0 or later for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and Raspberry Pi.
- Polls are not implemented yet.
Disable online functionality (original release)
- This will disable most discontinued online functionalities for the original interpreter, in that case if not using ScummVM.
- This does not apply to Backyard Baseball '01 (the remaster), which removes the option by default.
- Removes the DirectPlay legacy component requirement if running on Windows 10 or later.
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Delete unneeded files
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Delete baseball 2001.u32, baseball 2001.x32, udpping.dll, BYMAIA.DLL, ROVER.DLL, UPGRADE.DLL, patchw32.dll, RESTART.EXE, baseball2001.esk, and baseball2001.mmz.
- The Cumulative patch automatically removes those files.
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Restore online functionality (remaster)
- Mega Cat Studios attempted to restore online multiplayer functionality in the remaster but apparently ran into game-crashing bugs, leading them to remove the option entirely by default.
- Knowing some players will attempt to restore the removed feature, they've added a hidden option to allow players to reactivate the feature.
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Edit an INI file[2]
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- Open
hegames.ini in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Mega Cat Studios\Backyard Baseball 2001\[folder with a random set of numbers].
- Below the line
[baseball2001], add a new line with the string OnlinePlay=TooCrashyCrashySorryWeTriedOurBest.
- Save
hegames.ini.
- Launch the game as normal. If successful, the Online Games option will be restored in the Clubhouse and the game will use Steam connectivity to log in.
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Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
- ScummVM 2.1+ supports cloud saves on third-party cloud storage services. See the ScummVM documentation for details.
Video
General and sound card options, accessed from pressing Space ␣ and selecting "Options...".
Game options. The interface around the Options "tab" can change depending on what the player selected.
Input
Audio
| Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
| Separate volume controls |
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Can only turn background music on/off |
| Surround sound |
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| Subtitles |
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| Closed captions |
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| Mute on focus lost |
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Localizations
| Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
| English |
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Network
Multiplayer types
| Type |
Native |
Players |
Notes |
| Local play |
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| LAN play |
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| Online play |
| 2 |
Game previously offered online play through Humongous Sports Network, but the servers have long since shut down; see Backyard Sports Online. Backyard Baseball '01 (the remaster) removes this option by default but it can be restored (see section above), although Mega Cat Studios does not recommend restoring it due to bugs that can cause the game to crash. |
Issues fixed
Pink Maria Luna not getting stat boost on defensive positions other than LF
Other information
API
| Executable | PPC | 16-bit |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
| Windows | | |
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For 64-bit use ScummVM 64-bit |
| Mac OS (Classic) | | | |
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Middleware
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Middleware |
Notes |
| Multiplayer |
Cavedog Boneyards |
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System requirements
| Windows |
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Minimum | Recommended |
| Operating system (OS) |
95/98 | |
| Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 166 | |
| System memory (RAM) |
16 MB
32 MB (for online play) | |
| Storage drive (HDD/SSD) |
5 MB uncompressed | 348 MB |
| Other |
4x speed (or faster) CD-ROM drive
33.6K Modem (for online play)
Internet service provider (for online play) | |
| Mac OS |
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Minimum |
| Operating system (OS) |
7.5.3 |
| Processor (CPU) |
132 MHz PowerPC |
| System memory (RAM) |
32 MB |
| Storage drive (HDD/SSD) |
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| Other |
4x speed (or faster) CD-ROM drive |
Notes
References
