The BIGS

I just did it. 1,000,260. And I found a simple solution, one that moreorless guarantees high multipliers.

Be warned, this is still the hardest achievement in the game, and you're still going to need a lot of skill to pull this off.

You know those street lamps in the middle area? The ones you can hit if you just tap A without aiming? Well, I think there are 5 or 6 of them, and they work in the same way at the other objects: the cabs, the HOTEL, CASTLE, and BCG signs, etc...

BUT here's the kicker. These signs ALMOST ALWAYS yield high multipliers. 3X, 4X (most common) and I even got a 5X on my successful run. I'd recommend going for the lamps FIRST, and restart if you don't get a multiplier. If you can knock out the globe and possible one (or both if you're good enough) of the other bonus targets, you can potentially hit 500,000 before you get the changeup thrown at you!

It's still tough though. You have to deal with the pitches constantly changing in speed & type, you'll hit the pitches in the oddest locations, and you'll miss good chunks of pitches. I found that when he alternates between fastballs and changeups, I do the worst. Curveballs may be your best bet for success.

The first time is roughly a 75% chance that you'll get the 3X or 4X when you get all the lights, but every other time the lights come on and you get em all, its ALWAYS a multiplier, or at worst, a 50K bonus. If you get all the lights at the start, they should come back on at approximately the same time the pitcher starts throwing change-ups. The third time will likely come when you're around the 700,000+ range, if you're lucky. I never got far enough to see them come back a fourth time.

Also, there's no specific "time," but if you're in the game for long enough, it'll go into a "sudden death" type of mode, where every pitch thrown is a super-pitch; the same time as the "payback pitch" you get if you drill the pitcher in the gut with a ball. I only got to this point ONCE (@ 950,000), but believe me when I say you're pretty much up shit creek without a paddle at this point. And that means your paddling with your hands.

Also, be warned. Technically, I got this achievement earlier today but I got ripped off. I had a little over 800,000 points, a 4X multiplier (on the 3/3 hit), and the globe staring me in the face. Essentially, if I hit the globe, I win, right? Well, I DID hit the globe, but instead of giving me 200,000 points (50,000 X 4), it only gave me 100,000 (50,000 X 2). This doesn't happen all the time, but sometimes if you get a good hit like that on the LAST hit of a multiplier, it screws you over. This wasn't the first time this happened to me either.

Taking risks is a HUGE, well, risk. I had about 3 balls left @ 900,000. I took a gamble, and hit the globe with no multiplier. Then I got SUPER lucky and just BARELY made the 1,000,000 cutoff.

And PRACTICE. Figure out a pattern that works at the start and go with it (for example, hitting the cabs early on usually results in a Pitch Mania). Try not to hit the big ass targets unless you have at least a 3X multiplier. 2X's help, but use those on the 10,000 point targets if you can.

UPDATE - I'm going to doing a video to show you how to do this. Cause I like you a lot. But don't take that too seriously. Stay tuned.

I'm gonna cover a few things here: the basics of what you'll face during this mode (that is, the pitches and the powerup spaces), as well as a few strategies that should increase your chances. This guide is made for right-handed hitters.

FASTBALL: The first pitch you'll face, and the only one he'll have at this point. At the beginning, it's really more of a meatball than a fast ball. Find the sweet spot and swing away.

Here's my strategy - with decent luck (hitting multipliers only occasionally), I've gotten up to about 930,000. Yeah, this is a good time to mention that some luck will be necessary.

First pitch: aim for the low hanging "flying diamonds" billboard in the center background - it's orange, if you're not sure which one I'm referring to. (10,000 points)

You're going to want to hit this one every time it pops back up, within just a few pitches. It's a good scorer, and we're also going to use it to gauge the rest of our early game (up to about 350,000 points) strategy. From here, starting swinging away at the 10,000 point multiplier targets - the "BCG" globe on the left, and the "CASTLE" sign on the right.

BCG Globe - Hit area: Up-Left + B (strong swing)
Score - 10,000 per hit
Panels: 3

CASTLE sign - Hit area: Up-Right + B
Score - 10,000 per hit
Panels: 6

Take out all but one light on each of these. Along with a couple random hits , you should have between 80 and 95,000 right now. The slider will be introduced at this point. Go ahead and finish off the CASTLE sign to activate your first powerup. Power Boost 1 earned.

POWER BOOST: Three swings which go really, really far - if you do it right. These are meant to hit the three highest value targets (see below).

SLIDER: Not very different from the fastball for the majority of the time. Think of it as a fastball that comes in from the side. This will probably become your favorite pitch to hit, late in the game.

POWERUPS: You get three chances to activate them (see below for where these are and how to hit them) This early in the game, you're likely to see one of three:

Extra Ball: Self-explanatory. Not particularly useful; once you get to the point where you miss any balls, you're probably going to be missing a lot.

Pitch Mania: Only really useful(ish) later in the game. The pitcher starts firing several times faster than usual (virtually no wind-up, each pitch immediately follows the previous one), and you won't lose a ball if you miss any pitches. Lasts 5-7 swings, I think.

Multiball: Each ball you hit splits into three. Not terrible; you can often use it to hit the Blue-Sky Building target. Lasts... 5 swings?

Blue-Sky Building - Hit Area: Up-Left + B (Multi-Ball or Power Blast only)
Score: 20,000.
Panels: 1

You have the choice of either using the power boost now, or holding onto it. I tend toward using it now, as the pitches early are easier to hit.

New Year's Ball - Hit Area: Up + B (Power Blast only)
Score - 50,000
Panels - 1

Green Target Billboard - Hit Area: Up-Right + B (primarily during Power Blast, though it can be hit at other times)
Score - 20,000
Panels - 1

If you hit at least two of these, you're looking at a score of about 175,000. From here, you can aim at:

The Taxis - Hit Areas: Down-Left and Down-Right + A (normal swing)
Score - 5,000
Panels - 6

PARK Billboard - Hit Area: Up-Left + A
Score - 5,000
Panels - 4

HOTEL Billboard - Hit Area: Up-Right + A
Score - 5,000
Panels - 5

Logo Panels - Hit Area: Right + A
Score - 5,000
Panels - 5
(These are found under the 2k Sports sign in the right foreground.)

Lampposts - Hit Area: A
Score - 5,000
Panels - 6

These are all multiplier-earning areas. HOTEL and PARK are probably the easiest. Take out one or two of these, and then leave the rest alone for a little while. Aim at some other areas. These three, in particular, do not go away no matter how many times you hit them (they are also the spaces that allow you to active power-ups):

League Billboards - Hit Area: Up+B
Score: 5,000
Panels: N/A; does not deactivate
(These are the squares in the central background above the flying diamonds billboard and under the New Year's Ball)

Tasty Juice Billboard - Hit Area: Left + B
Score - 5,000
Panels - N/A, does not deactivate

Hybrid Billboard - Hit Area: Right + B
Score - 5,000
Panels - N/A, does not deactivate

You should probably also be seeing the curveball around now.

CURVEBALL: Loops in from the high right. A little more difficult than the slider, but swing a little later and you'll be fine.

The power blast targets should start reactivating within a dozen-and-a-half or so pitches (I think; that might be a low estimate). Clear another set of multiplier targets (the first one or two you took out should be respawning, too).
Some new power-ups are going to start to be seen around now:

Points: 25, 50, and 75k. Hit 'em to earn 'em. You might also see 25k early in the game.

Multipliers: 2x, 4x, and very occasionally 5x. These are your game-winners. Multiplies your next three swings by that value.

What would be ideal would be a 5x multiplier, followed by activation of Power Blast and successfully hitting all three of the PB-only targets. This is worth a whopping 450,000 right off!

Before long you'll see the change-up.

CHANGE-UP: I hate, hate, HATE the change up. It comes off slightly higher than a fastball, but only about half as fast. You can really get into a rhythm with all of the other pitches, but once the change-up is introduced you just have to recognize each pitch by how they are released.

The last amp-up in pitches is one you'll likely encounter around 700,000 to 800,000 points: he'll start tossing 'em like he had turbo enabled (this also happens when you accidentally hit him with a swing, but now it's EVERY pitch). Finish up as quickly as possible, the changeups are going to start KILLING you, in all likelihood.

From here I can only suggest you find a good rhythm for hitting power-up groups and high-value targets. Eventually, and with some good fortune, you'll get it. Seems a bit much for 30 GS, yeah?

MISCELLANEA:

Other targets:

News Ticker - Hit Area: Left + A, A (hit early)
Score - 5,000
Panels - 2
These are the tickers that read "The 2007 season is in full swing! Can the Rookie lead his team to victory?"

MLB LCD Billboard - Hit Area: B (early); Left + B (early) Up-Left + A/B (possible, but very infrequent)
Score - 10,000
Panels - 6? I can't vouch for this; I've hit 4 of them.

2K Sports Sign - Hit Area: Right + B (late)
Score - 10,000
Panels - 1

Pretty much anything else worth points is worth 1,000 points. These areas do not deactivate at any time.

As I mentioned earlier, it is possible to accidentally hit the pitcher. This makes the next pitch a "Payback Pitch" - turbo-charged pitches that you should probably expect will be really fast. If it's a change-up, though... really slow. You can probably hit any of the fast pitches with the same rhythm, but I can't say anything about hitting the change-up.

To see a lot of this in action, I would recommend x360a's short video guide. It might be a lot to read, but it's probably much easier to take in that way.

Additionally, you might well consider the point strategy introduced in the video - not activating power blast at all until you catch your first multiplier. Basically, take from this all what works best for you... and good luck!

Thanks to x360a.com for making the video guide.

Possible solution for people that can not get the timing down for the change up or even the curve ball like myself.

What i tried to do is be around 300k+ by the curve ball. Even if it meant that i just restart 5 to 6 times. Then when the curve ball is introduced, i learned the timing of his delivery and would pause(start button) the game a split second after his release and see what direction the ball was going. That would give me enough information on what type of pitch it was. No movement was a fact ball. Directly to the side was a slider. For booth of these pitches,i would press "A" as fast as I could to get the swing off in time. For the curve, it goes up and right a large amount. The change up would slightly rise and stay up near the pitchers head. For both of these, i would put a slight pause between unpausing it and swinging.

Took a few runs to get the timing down, and with the curve and change up, you can actually work in aiming and hit the 10k targets and get bonuses. Save your power blast for 3x-5x combos and then stay alive. I managed to get to 1 million on his second power pitch.

Felt like i was gaming the system, but it got the job done. Best of luck!

I just got this achievement and I am so happy. This is not in any way an easy achievement to get and honestly I never thought that I would get it. So... my final score was 1,154,880 I was at about 700,000 points I got a 5x multiplier and had the homerun blast so i was set. I got the 5x multiplier and used my homerun blast and got over 1,100,000. If you really want to get this achievement start early in the day and keep constantly playing, and don't give up. You will eventually become better at reading what pitch is coming at you and exactly when to swing. This achievement took me about 4hrs non-stop playing. So if you're really dedicated to accomplish it keep playing and you will get it. Also, don't ever use a homerun blast on the big ball without at least a 2x multiplier. You wouldn't believe how much it will make a difference in your score and you getting the achievement or not. Well good luck everyone and DON'T GIVE UP.