All-Star Baseball 2004
Taunt crowd
When playing an away game, hit a homerun and press L3 when running the bases to taunt the crowd.
Homerun celebration
Press R1 when you are running the bases after hitting a homerun. Your player will blow kisses to the crowd. If you continue pressing R1, your player will jump on home plate.
Easy points
Start a two player game, with only one actual player. Throw a perfect game, striking out every batter. Save the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with two strikes and two outs. Finish the game, collect your points, and save the options. Reload the game and repeat to collect the points again. Also, change to the team that you are facing and make them play poorly, allowing your original team to score a lot of runs. In the last inning, switch back to your team and claim your team’s cheaply made points.
Easy homeruns
When controlling Barry Bonds at bat, press the Square so that you are on “Power” and not “Contact”. When you are on “Power”, only the yellow box will appear, and when you are on “Contact”, there will be a shaded area covering the yellow box. If the pitch is up and in, move the box there and swing. It will almost always be an automatic homerun.
Easy win
Start a game with and set the skill level on anything except “Manage Only”. Pause gameplay go to “Controller Select”. Switch the controller to the team that you want to lose. Then, go into “Team Management” at the pause screen. Change the pitcher and the fielders to the wrong positions. You can also put pitchers in as pinch hitters. Then, return to “Controller Select” and change back to your original team. The CPU may switch the players around, but you can put the wrong ones in again. You will not get any card points if you play the entire game with the losing team. Note: There is a slight chance of your game freezing if player positions are swapped too often.
Easy scoring at Pac Bell Park
Try to hit the ball to the right-center field corner. If your man has speed and you are on third before the ball gets to the cutoff man, run home. The cutoff man should throw it to the catcher, and most of the time he gets down in a stance to block the plate. When he does this, press L2 and you will stop. When he gets out of his stance, continue going home and you will be safe.
Free balls
If you are down in the count or need a quick ball, pretend to lay down a bunt. Pull back while the pitcher is in his motion. This should result in a ball being thrown. Note: This only works up to two times in an at bat.
Throw hard 4 seam fastball correctly
If you have a pitcher or created player that throws a hard 4 seam fastball, always place the pitching cursor below where you want the pitch to go. The pitch will automatically rise after the pitcher releases it. However, with other pitches (curveball, slider, changeup, etc.) the ball will end up where you put the pitching cursor.
Restore pitcher’s energy
Wait until your pitcher has low energy then pause game play. If your pitcher is still on the mound, go to “Save Game and Quit”, then save the game. Restart the system, and when you go to the main menu, load the game. When you finish loading, it should automatically take you back to the game, and it should show your pitcher on the mound with the full green energy bar.
Slide step
Use this trick to do a slide step. When your pitcher is in the stretch, select a pitch, and before you press Pitch, hold the Left Analog-stick.
Pick off from the catcher
When the ball is released, hold L1 and the base that you would like to throw the ball to. The catcher will then snap up and throw the ball to the selected base. Note: This only works when you are pitching.
View player’s energy in franchise mode
When at the main menu in franchise mode, go to “GM Office”, then “Roster Management”, then “Disabled List”. Press X and look through your players to see which ones are tired (except pitchers). If a starting player is tired, you should bench and rest him for one game.
Change jerseys in franchise mode
Before playing in a franchise mode game, go to quick play, and on the team’s options highlight “Change Uniform”. Go back, exit quick play, load the franchise, and when you get to the play game screen on options, your pointer will be on the blacked out uniform part. Press X and you can change uniforms. Once you change lineups or pitchers, this option is no longer available; it only works for that one game.
Better players
Select the “Extras” option at the main menu, then choose “Player Management”. On that screen is a category called “Player Editor”. It allows you to improve players. In season mode, go to “GM”, then choose “Player Management”, then “Player Editor”. Note: Making a player all A+ may result in the game freezing in later innings.
Demote player without other teams claiming him off waivers
Go to the player editor and make all his stats to D- so that no teams would want to claim him off waivers. When you want to promote a player back to the Major Leagues, change his ratings back to his default settings.