Who is baseball's mightiest batsman and how far can he hit a baseball? As I recall, it was a sunny Sunday afternoon that day. In 1921 alone, which was Ruth's best tape measure season, he hit at least one 500 foot home run in all eight American League cities. Harmon Killebrew, Twins' Hall of Fame Slugger, Dies at 74 - The New That day, Mee called the physics professor who had created the Twins home run chart and had him recalculate to take into consideration how far the ball would have traveled if unimpeded. * Click on a player to see more information about their specific events including videos of plays if available. But baseball has been around way longer than that, obviously. Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Willie Stargell hit a 507-foot home run to right field on August 5, 1969. Thankfully, we gathered the information for you. His regular bombardment of the left-field roof at Tiger Stadium has not been approximated in the 60-year history of that structure. Ruth later claimed this was the longest home run he ever hit, the News-Sentinel reported. The same process was at work for Mantle on September 10, 1960, in Detroit, where his right-center-field rooftopper was reported to have traveled more than 600 feet. It would have left Tiger Stadium, like Fielders shot, if not for a transformer perched on top of the right-field roof. They checked it over and off I went. It may be appropriate to cite another example of this same optical illusion. Foxx never quite measured up to Ruth, but it is remarkable that no once since Foxx has measured up to him. There were no American League stadiums where Mantle played where he did not hit a home run of at least 450 feet to both the left and right sides of the field. Copyright 1999- Glenallen Hill at Wrigley Field (May 11, 2000)When the wind is blowing out at Wrigley, everything seems possible for a slugger -- including the rooftops across Waveland Avenue. A blow of 450 feet shows exceptional power, as the majority of major league players are unable to hit a ball that far. I also saw Reggie Jackson with the As strike out about 3 times late in the 1969 season at Tiger Stadium. Simply clearing the first row of shrubs beyond the center-field fence is a big deal. But not so fast. Ted Williams hit a 502-foot blast to the right-field bleachers on June 9, 1946. Final Cardinals home run was special for Dick Allen | RetroSimba Almost all of the players on the field, and everyone in the home-plate area, including the press box, swore that the ball was still ascending when it hit the roof. She is very accommodating and made me feel at home, especially since I was unaware they don't operate a standard retail shop. Before, if you had power, you could hit the ball, said Oliva, who hit 220 home runs in 15 seasons. Lynn worked with me to swap out to something similar excellent customer service. The homer had an exit velocity of 111.3 mph. It's the kind of homer that would give Ellis flashbacks even without the LSD. Mo Vaughn at Shea Stadium (June 26, 2002)When the Shea Stadium workers put up that giant beer ad, did any of them think someone would hit a baseball off the blue part, three-quarters of the way up? The Big Unit put this pitch on the outer half of the plate, and McGwire still pulled it to the back wall of the Kingdome. By his own account he hit the longest home run of his career on May 22, 1963 at Yankee Stadium. Landed in the last few rows one per deck bleachers. When researching longest home runs, you'll likely run across claims that legends like Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth hit home runs well over 600 feet. As i pulled in I quickly understood this was a warehouse & office thinking this is a internet retailer. There were some very big hitters in the American League, but that was unbelievable.. Boucher of Albany, June 9, 1946, when Ted Williams of Red Sox bounced his longest Boston home run off owner's head. In his first season wearing the Old English D, Big Daddy hit 51 homers. Mike, I was at that game in 1996 when Delgado hit that blast, sitting the Box Seats in the upper deck in right. Ruth played during the height of American's newspaper culture, when approximately 10 New York papers gave first hand accounts of each Yankee game. Detroit Ruth crushed a pitch out of Navin Field versus Ty Cobbs Tigers on July 18, 1921. That was a big surprise, that somebody could hit the ball that far, said Tony Oliva, a slugger himself. Longest home run ever: Farthest home run in MLB history, longest home One of the major highlights as a kid back then was that game and especially that Jackson blast that Curt Gowdy called for a national viewing audience. Here, in no particular order, are 12 absolutely massive homers we wish came under Statcast tracking. The longest home run in Men's College World Series history at Charles Schwab Field Omaha unofficially belongs to Arkansas' Brady Slavens, who went deep 436 feet in 2022. The rules of baseball were made and refined by men; they have limitations. The home run went to straightaway center field, clearing the stadium and landing into the street. On June 23, 2015, Miami Marlin Giancarlo Stanton hit a 479-foot home run to left-center field off of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez. Anything in the 500-foot range is genuinely historic. When Kingman launched his wind-aided blow in Chicago, The New York Times somehow concluded that it had flown 630 feet. J.D. It is even easier to consider modern history to help us understand that nothing has changed in the intervening years in our fascination with long home runs. No player has ever cleared the left field roof. Barry Bonds holds the all-time home run record in Major League Baseball Sadaharu Oh, pictured here in 2006, holds the officially verified all-time world home run record in professional baseball. Tiger Stadium / Detroit Tigers / 1912-1999 - Ballpark Digest After Ruth and Foxx, Mantle ranks as high as or higher than anyone else who ever tried to hit a baseball to faroff places. Buffalo Bisons pitcher Mike Murphy threw a 2-2 slider that Meyer crushed 582 feet into the thin Colorado air. As is often the case at Wrigley, Kingmans home run had a strong wind behind it. It is for that reason that we find their actions so thrilling, and will always want to identify them for special reward and distinction. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. The home run is memorialized with a red seat in the right-field bleachers. Reid, an engineer, estimates the distance in the air as no less than 610 feet, theTampa Bay Times wrote. Reggie Jackson's "539-Foot" HR is All-Star Game History A few times, he was able to send the baseball up and out of Tiger Stadium with his left-handed swing. This ball might have evaporated into the clouds if the Big O roof wasnt in its path. The lore has it that Mickey Mantle hit a 565-foot home run against the Washington Senators in 1953. . The Longest Home Runs in MLB History - Bleacher Report Privacy Policy As I approached the area I quickly realized I was in more an industrial & commercial area then retail. 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I think the Tigers won that game in the bottom of the 9th, when they were losing but then Jim Northrup hit a grand slam to win the game. Miguel Cabrera, June 29, 2016 (459 feet)Cabrera hit two tape-measure home runs to left-center field at Comerica Park in a nine-day span. Thompson was my favorite player at the time, so it was an awesome moment, to be sure. Who Hit the Longest Home Run? | Wonderopolis One of the largest men ever to play major league baseball, at six feet seven inches, 275 pounds, Howard was the absolute epitome of size and strength. Returns & Exchanges Simply hitting the shrubs in straightaway center field used to be a big enough deal that those home runs were tracked in the Tigers media guide. I measured it at 435 feet, said Tom Mee, longtime Twins public relations man and official scorer. Tampa, Fla. Ruth was wearing a Red Sox spring training uniform when he drove a 587-foot round-tripper on April 4, 1919 in Tampa. I put the location into google maps off I went. This home run was hit at Tiger Stadium in Detroit on September 10, 1960. STUDY SHOWS MANTLE HIT LONGEST HR - Sun Sentinel What Is the Farthest Home Run Ever? - Sportsmanist The ball struck the facade on the right-field roof approximately 370 feet from home plate and 115 feet above field level. He holds the record for longest home run in Cleveland Indians history at 511 feet, which he hit against the Kansas City Royals in 1999. This memorable blow was knocked down at a linear distance of approximately 415 feet and an altitude of 85 feet. Long HRs lengthen with time - Baltimore Sun 13 Youngest Players to Ever Hit a Home Run - Oldest.org Few people like the response given because, unlike other baseball stats, it is the farthest thing from perfect as illustrated by this superb article called Long Distance Home Runs written by William J. Jenkinson. I ended up buy a very nice winter Tiger jacket and as I tried it on and decided on it they noticed a very minor blemish on the back and quickly informed me I had a hard time even seeing it & probably would have never noticed it. Brubaker. The ball landed. Future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux was pitching for the Chicago Cubs. Arkansas slugger hits longest recorded HR at CWS ballpark September 14, 1991: When Cecil Fielder's home run left the ballpark It was heresy to suggest that Ruth's accomplishments could be surpassed, but for a few seasons it appeared that Foxx might do just that. Ruths barnstorming team traveled to Fort Wayne shortly after the Yankees won the 1927 World Series. Little could they have anticipated how great and immediate would be the return on their investment. Reggie was one hell of a master blaster!!!! And, how far did it go? 507 meters (right field) Only four times in history has a ball been hit entirely out of Dodger Stadium, with two of those balls being hit by Pirates legend Willie Stargell. Extremely satisfied with the wonderful personable service! The Tigers' Kirk Gibson hit a home run onto the street in 1983 but it was less than 600 feet. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Long Distance Home Runs by William J. Jenkinson 1996. As of 1995, the Mantle of baseball's longest hitter can probably best be worn by Cecil Fielder. The vast popularity of major league baseball's home run hitting contest before the annual All-Star Game is ample evidence that we remain enamored of the players blessed with unique levels of power. It is due to his immense popularity and constant involvement in the tape measure process that he is often thrust into the muddle of misrepresentation. Longest home run in the history of every single MLB stadium BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - SEPTEMBER 26: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees at bat during the top of the first inning of the. Certainly, this drive was propelled somewhere around 500 feet in the air, which makes it legitimately historic, but proof that it traveled 600 feet cannot be found. Why then would anyone care how far they go? Reggie came off the bench in the 1971 Midsummer Classic and golfed a ball off Pirates righty Dock Ellis that traveled an estimated 530-some odd feet. His slender physique belied his subtle strength and natural ability to generate bat speed. Mantle is generally credited with the longest home run of all time, a clout that left Tiger Stadium on Sept. 10, 1960, and landed in a lumberyard across the street. The Top 10 Longest Home Runs in History - baseballmonkey.com In fact, the ball bounced off a seat about eight rows back. Despite his extraordinary accomplishments, Babe Ruth is not immune. Included among the other great exaggerations in the history of tape measure home runs are Dave Nicholson's Comiskey Park rooftopper on May 6, 1964, and Dave Kingman's Wrigley Field blast on April 14, 1976. Allen could not hit with the same power in those directions as when he pulled the ball, but he seems to have lost less distance than almost anyone else when hitting to the opposite field. I told Bob Casey about the cover we put on the seat to commemorate the home run, Mee said, and he was telling the fans over the loudspeaker as Killebrew was coming up to bat. however, subsequent investigation indicated that the ball landed on the back of the roof before bouncing into the night. Griffey shared center stage the following year in Pittsburgh with Frank Thomas, as the two men took turns bombarding the upper decks at Three Rivers Stadium. Martinez hit the longest home run in Comerica Park history last season at an estimated 467 feet. These were men of great skill and power, and they unquestionable set the distance standards for their times. One might say the Reds fans sitting up there werent expecting a home run souvenir that day, but then again, they were already plenty familiar with Wily Mos work. His tremendous blow to right-center field in Detroit on June 8, 1926, has often been reported as traveling over 600 feet. In the years he played for his hometown team, Kirk Gibson frequently displayed his power. Whether it skips across the top of the railing into the first row of bleachers, or completely passes out of the stadium, the batter is award four bases - no more, no less. Top 10 Tigers homers of the decade. Tiger Stadium was famous for its low roof and a few players have hit balls completely out of the ballpark, but Jackson's 532-foot home run stands as one of the longest on record. This is dramatized by the fact that Connor's blow was the only home run he would hit that season. Later in the same game, Cecil Fielder hit a home run over the left field roof to show Canseco who was stronger. Hitters have been going well beyond that for over a decade. update=copyright.getFullYear(); Out of class C ball, hits 'em both ways, five-hundred feet both ways! Source: wikimedia.org. 457 Feet - Red Sox 1st Baseman Mo Vaughn hit a 457 foot bomb on July 7th, 1996. Statcast has tracked games at every Major League ballpark for eight seasons now, and with each passing year were getting a better understanding of just how hard and how far a big leaguer can hit a baseball. But its doubtful any of them would have won an arm-wrestling contest with Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa or Barry Bonds. We had five, six guys here on our ballclub who could hit the ball farther than anybody Killebrew, Allison, (Don) Mincher, Jimmie Hall, myself. Cecil Fielder was only Tiger to clear Tiger Stadium's left-field roof They have always liked them, and always will. As long ago as opening day 1883, there is information describing the excitement generated by Hall of Famer Roger Connor, who struck an unusually long home run at the original Polo Grounds in New York. Cecil Fielder In 1921 there was no SportsCenter, no 24-hour highlight machine called the Internet. I saw Jason Rooftop Thompson hit one out of Tiger Stadium over right center field off of Dick Tidrow of the Yankees. Directly behind Allen in the historic ranking of tape measure hitters were contemporaries Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey. I think they left Dick Allen in 1973 for the White Sox. . Only six batters hit as many as 20 homers that year. Such renowned sluggers and extraordinary physical specimens as Jose Canseco and Juan Gonzalez have never come genuinely close to the 500-foot threshold. Hank Greenberg and Willie Horton might also qualify as long time Tigers. Similarly, Comiskey's left-field roof was also visited by many batted balls, but only one is confirmed to have cleared it on the fly. George Kight says it was easy to tell how well a ball was hit at the old Metropolitan Stadium. Windy days at Wrigley are the best. The trajectory had it coming near me but it just never came down inside the ballpark! The sign's headlinereads The Longest Home Run in Competitive Baseball History.. The 5 Longest Home Runs Hit At Camden Yards - CBS Baltimore - CBS News It is the longest home run ever hit in a major league game where it was possible to get the exact measurement. The Babe cranked an exhibition game dinger there that traveled over the left-center field fence and into a moving train. Can Mickey Mantle's 565-foot homer be matched? - SweetSpot- ESPN There have been claims . Back in 21, Navin Field did not yet have the upper deck in center field that would later be a haven for diehard fans. About Us A Mickey Mantle homer was originally estimated to have gone 734 feet. The exact date is unknown. Baseball Record: What's the longest home run ever hit? - MARCA Share your opinion on our baseball message boards where a topic on the longest hit ever has already begun. document.write(update); Paul was great to work with and offered to delay shipping when I told him I would be on vacation on the original delivery date. 5. If you wanted to see a home run, you had to waddle your butt down to a baseball diamond somewhere and hope a skinny batter wearing a wool uniform would swat the ball over the fence. What is the highest mountain in the world? The home run was Reyes sixth of the season. Longest home run in the history of every MLB stadium - FanSided 5/5 Clemson Tigers split action on Saturday morning at the USF Tournament in Tampa, Florida. Recently got a blank jersey stitched at Vintage Detroit and the finished product looks awesome! Mickey Mantle Died 25 Years Ago Today | SportsRaid - Medium This was Piazzas 38th home run of the season. On July 6, 1974, he powered a torrid drive that crashed against the roof facade in deep left-center field at Tiger Stadium. Tim Hagerty is the broadcaster for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, and is on Twitter at @MinorsTeamNames. One of the greatest quirks in baseball history is that Jimmie Foxx, following immediately in the footsteps of Babe Ruth, was to establish the second-greatest distance legacy in the annals of the game. Coincidentally, that was the same ballpark where Mickey Mantle had supplanted Williams as the game's longest hitter seven years earlier. You've got to see him." Allen may have hit some of his sport's longest home runs, but neither he nor anyone else ever hit a baseball nearly that far. Yet again, we have an example of a genuinely epic home run that has been grievously overstated. Accounts from the time say the ball came to rest on the banks of the Ohio River, meaning Dunn was potentially feet away from hitting a ball to Kentucky. Houston Astros Jake Marisnick hit a 469-foot home run to center field off Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price on June 18, 2017. Juan Soto is your Home Run Derby champ! Takeaways and our favorite Stopped by Wed morning 7/6 and had the pleasure of dealing directly with Lynne. the Nearest to me was Vintage. Those are amazing stats, and yet they dont measure to Killebrews 522-foot blast. The decade of the fifties was particularly blessed with the presence of many great sluggers, who should be mentioned in any discussion of long hitters. A Bo Jackson homer remains a favorite memory 30 years later | The On May 4 of that year, Williams cleared the towering right-field grandstand in Detroit and served notice that he was as powerful as he was refined with a bat in his hands. Benjamin Tetteh scored his first goal for . Jose Canseco hit a home run to center field lower deck. It was the 26th homer of the 2015 season. Oliva was in the dugout with the rest of the Twins when Killebrew hit what is still known as the longest home run in Twins history. This was his first game since 17 September, when he . In case you're not familiar with it, Jackson hit what I believe is the longest home run of my lifetime, and I've been around a while. These were not temp help that knew nothing these were professionals who knew not just everything but were truly looking out for me. Since 2015, Nomar Mazara owns the longest homer distance at 505 feet. Duke came out on top in the first game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, part of their perfect record at home. Awed by such a demonstration of power, the writers would then describe the event for posterity as a 500-and-some-foot home run. Advertisement That puts it up there with legendary home runs from the likes of Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. Wily Mo Pena at GABP (April 17, 2005)This ball was river-bound too, if it wasnt for that pesky upper deck standing in the way. It has been confirmed that the ball struck against the third house beyond Waveland Avenue, which is situated about 530 feet from home plate. J.D. Perhaps the longest of those not previously mentioned was Ralph Kiner, who bombarded all the National League left-field distance plateaus of his times. ESPN's Home Run. When you consider that many baseball stadiums have centerfield fences around 400 feet from home plate, such blasts would be truly spectacular. On July 1, 1990, Kansas City Royals outfielder Bo Jackson hit one of the longest home runs in Kauffman Stadium history against Jack Morris and the Detroit Tigers. By looking back, we can confirm the preoccupation with long-distance hitting in the early stages of baseball history. Bay Area, Chicago, Milwaukee, Iowa City, Des Moines, St. Paul/Minneapolis. - The University of Missouri baseball team will open its first home series of the 2023 season this weekend at Taylor Stadium, hosting Texas Southern for a three-game set consisting of two seven-inning games on Saturday (March 4) and a 1 p.m. contest Sunday (March 5). Whats the longest home run in every MLB stadium heading into the 2022 season? But baseball has been around way longer than that, obviously. His 1974 blast certainly traveled over 500 feet, but just as certainly it was not rising when it was forced to as sudden stop. 1. Based upon that belief, this drive has commonly been estimated at about 620 feet if left unimpeded.