After Ruth, several other players hit home runs that have been certified by the Hall of Fame as being at least 600 feet away from the center-field fence. One of the most notable came in July of 2015 when Yoenis Cespedes, then playing for the Detroit Tigers sent one into orbit off the Red Soxs Steven Wright. Mr. October receives the benefit of the doubt for his July feat, but watch the ball rocket off his bat. The actual distance was 480 feet 10 inches, which is one of the great tragedies of sports history. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; New research by National Baseball Hall of Fame, overturned that estimate and instead gives the mark to a 575 ft blast by Babe Ruth hit on July 18, 1921, also in Detroit.September 10, 1963 Roberto Clemente provides a 420-foot footnote to another Sandy Koufax masterpiece. Here's Mickey Mantle, the magnificent Yankee, hitting his last (unofficial) home run i. Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article: Jack Sackman This process allows for momentum to be carried into contact. The sound of bat meeting ball sounded like a cannon shot. Stobbs had broken into the majors with Boston in 1947,was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1952, and then to the Senators. The poor sap who fed the Hall of Fame outfielder a gopher ball: Chuck Stobbs. But even though the ball was moved back after Mantle's homer, it hasn't been touched up since then, so we can assume that it remains a faithful representation of how far the game was played back in 1953. I have been unable to confirm this, but if that is accurate, that blast would have more mileage that either Benchs or Trouts. ESPN's Home Run Tracker yielded a projected true distance of 443 feet. Mantle, a switch-hitter, batted right against Stobbs. While he hit .190/.323/.329 during 2003's sad swan song, the burly first baseman at least cleared the fences 26 times in 2002. This particular home run came off of a pitch by Senators' right hander Chuck Stobbs in Washington D.C. in April, 1953. I only saw Bo play one time and he didnt disappoint, hitting a long home run off the Twins Frank Viola to straightaway center field. 7 September 2016. Ruth, Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell and Adam Dunn have all hit blasts well past 500 feet in their careers. Canseco and fellow Bash Brother Mark McGwire teamed to hit their share of monstrous homers with the Oakland Athletics, none bigger than this blast. . Before getting benched for Homer Simpson, Darryl Strawberry tested Olympic Stadium's limits by sending a souvenir into the lights. The shot came in the top of the first. Big Mo struggled with injuries late in his career, but youd never know it witnessing this moon shot he hit as a member of the New York Mets. Thome lacerated the Royals with 49 career home runs, many coming in late game situations. Royals Rumblings - News for March 1, 2023. There really is nothing like getting the head of the bat out on a high fastball. There was no doubt when Bo hit one. These days, there is a new tool that should make this an easier debate moving forward. With no concrete numbers for anything before 2006, evaluating all-time distances remains an inexact science. While there's no definitive list of longest All-Star Game home runs, it's safe to say Reggie Jackson's 1971 blast would top it. Theres considerable debate about who hit the longest home run in Royals/Kauffman Stadium history. Slate's John Pastiercalculated a similar distance of roughly 479 feet. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. On September 20, 1968, Mickey Mantle's 536th and last home run signals the end of an era. Babe Ruth was said to have hit a home run over 600 feet. Urban legends of Mickey Mantle's power prowess have run wild. Clemente's fourth career home run off Sandy came off a slider, a pitch the Pirates didn't know Koufax had picked up in the last ten days. Fans of an earlier generation remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when Bobby Thompson beat the Brooklyn Dodgers with a ninth inning walk off or when Bill Mazeroski dispatched the Yankees in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the 1960 World Series. David Halberstam, October 1964, Villard Books, New York, 1994, 380pp. What is the longest home run wall in the MLB? There's a lesson for all the kids hoping to leave behind a lasting legacy: Stay humble, work hard and hit dingers. This is a great example of getting the barrel on plane with the pitch. The Dunn homer is at 6:20 in the video. This rocket came off a pitch from the Royals Don Wengert and traveled 511 feet onto a plaza in center field of what was then known as Jacobs Field. Bo was only in his second full season with the Royals. Oh yeah, that's not even Fielder's entry. That's the longest home run in history. The casual fan might not fully appreciate the modest masher, who becomes eligible for Hall of Fame consideration next year. Then Phil Rizzuto came to bat and grounded out to short. Maybe Mantle didn't quite hit it 565 feetWilliam Jenkinson suggested 510 feet as a better approximation. Nobody ever dreams of a statue, I certainly didn't.". Jenkinson's findings serve as the basis for the used mark of 530 feet. The Thompson home run was so famous in its time, it simply became known as The shot heard round the world. Famed writer Red Smith called it The miracle of Coogans bluff.. On April 17, 1953, Mickey Mantle's blast against the Senators was billed as the "the longest home run in the history of baseball." On this date in Philadelphia in 1972, the adventures of "Kiteman . What about Mickey Mantle? As a fan of the game, I love to see the ball exit speed and launch angles displayed while watching games. Own This Day - https://thebaseballpage.comSeptember 10, 1960 - Mickey Mantle unloads a cannon shot clearing the RF roof in Detroit and landing in Brooks Lumb. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. It would have left the park, almost certainly would have cleared Lansdowne Street and the House of Blues. in 1926. Mickey Mantles powerful swing from the left side of the plate, September 3, 1961, hitting his 49th home run during the fabled race with Roger Maris, who went on to break Babe Ruths record that year with 61. In a 5-3 win against the Japan Stars at the Tokyo Dome, Ortiz drove a ball into the lights high above the upper deck in right field. But none of them came close to breaking the record he set in 1953. Hitting a baseball hundreds of feet is incredibly hard. Sitting in the first row behind home plate, I had a great view of the ball's flight. Whether because of overinflated estimations or technical questions of eligibility for a list of MLB home runs, these notable exceptions missed the cut: Joey Meyer, a minor league first baseman for theDenver Zephyrs, hit a long ball onJune 3, 1987, which reportedly went a staggering 582 feet. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; For everyone's entertainment, Miami should loan Stanton to Colorado and see how much damage he could inflict during a full season at Coors. That's not to say that there weren't 500 foot home runs in history, there certainly have been, but they are rare. Only Mantle. As MLB.com's Ben Weinribnoted, the blast marked the longest homer since MLB installed Statcast in all stadiums in 2015. The ball actually sailed right over the right field roof of the ballpark, which is mind-boggling to contemplate. Joe Dimaggio Hails Mantle, Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1953, p. C-1. Own This Day - https://thebaseballpage.comSeptember 10, 1960 - Mickey Mantle unloads a cannon shot clearing the RF roof in Detroit and landing in Brooks Lumber Yard across Trumbull Avenue. So even though many people think that Ruth's shots were all over the field, some of them had to have been less than this distance. On April 17, 1953, in a game against the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium, Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees hit what could have been the most majestic home run in a career filled with them. There is a huge difference between a ball that is hit squarely in the air and a ball this has been sliced and resulted in a true pop up. He doesn't just hit pitchers, he takes away their dignity.. The new system pinpointed a 115.8-mph exit velocity with a launch angle of 18.3 degrees. Its by far the longest home run ever hit at the Rogers Center and few players have gotten the ball up to the top deck. However, the longest home run in Rockies history came in a road game against the Florida Marlins in May, 1997. In 1921 alone, which wasRuth'sbest tape measure season, he hit at least one 500 foot home run in all eight American League cities. According to Statcast, someone soon to follow topped Mike Piazza's 496-foot homer from Sept. 26, 1997, as the longest home run in Coors Field history. That's the longest home run in history. Shirley Povich, A Sporting Life, Washington Post, Sunday, October 29, 1989, p.W-22. amzn_assoc_linkid = "a21f09e861185b9fce4ae88cc0fe0a70"; Either way, everyone can agree he hit the ball very far. Determining the longest homer ever in MLB history is an exercise in myth-busting. 6/21/2019 Nomar Mazara- 505 feet pic.twitter.com/xRgKESrJTs. Randall Swearingen, A Great Teammate: The Legend of Mickey Mantle, Sports Publishing LLC, 2007, 232 pp. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Many times the player who swings down to avoid pop ups often ends up creating the very problem he is trying to avoid. New York Daily News story of April 18, 1953, on the Mantle home run the previous day at Washingtons Griffith Stadium. In an epic drama spiced with improbable plot twists, New York Yankees stars Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris dueled in 1961 to break Babe Ruth 's Major League Baseball season record for home runs . "It looks like beer's coming down.". amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; Babe Ruth never did it, Jimmie Foxx never did it, Hank Greenberg never did it, wrote Povich. There's the unbelievable power of Wily Mo Pea or Glenallen Hill. Special Offer on Antivirus Software From HowStuffWorks and TotalAV Security. amzn_assoc_region = "US"; In his penultimate 2000 season, Glenallen Hill registered a career-high 27 home runs for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. In his second plate appearance, facing the Seattle Mariners Glenn Abbott, Hurdle turned on a pitch and deposited the ball in the upper fountains in right-center field. Some statisticians and baseball experts believe that Mickey Mantle's 565-foot (approximately 172 meters) blast off Chuck Stobbs of the Senators in Washington in 1953 was the longest batted baseball ever. On April 17, 1953, when Mickey Mantle cleared the left-center-field bleachers at Clark Griffith Stadium in Washington, the whole baseball world assumed the ball had gone 565 feet from home plate to the place where it landed. The stadiums dimensions, though varying over the years with changes to its structure, were roughly 400 feet down the left field line, 420 to center, and just under 330 to right. Mickey Mantle Blasts 480 Foot Homer in St. Louis, Washington Post, April 30, 1953, Sports, p. 25. The ball. Manage Settings The grandest account of his power? The 66 journeyman outfielder had great extension, enough to hit 306 career homers, mostly during his prime with the Seattle Mariners and the Milwaukee Brewers. The noted historian also backed ancient anecdotes of the Sultan of Swat's hitting one. Mark McGwire played in the Major Leagues from 1986 to 2001, over that time span he hit 583 home runs. The following year, his five postseason home runs led the Pirates to a World Series championship. The late Ed Browalski of the Polish Daily News and veteran. 0:00 / 1:25 #tbt This Week in Baseball History: Mickey Mantle's Longest Home Run | Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated 431K subscribers Subscribe 1.4K 278K views 8 years ago Sports. The second came on August 3 off Kyle Gibson and traveled an estimated 465 feet. Heady days for Royal fans, having the best team in baseball plus the best rookie. Bo to us. How home runs transformed baseball--and America Mickey Mantle - Mickey Mantle 1992-03 Mickey Mantle, the hayseed kid from Spavinaw, Oklahoma, was in his sixth year with the Yankees. Lets take a look at some of the longest home runs ever hit. We now present to you the 15 longest home runs ever hit. Ive spoken to a few fans who say that the Royals John Mayberry hit a gargantuan home run that bounced off the top of the concession stand in the right field plaza. On September 17, he hits his final home run at Yankee Stadium against Los Angeles Angels' pitcher Bill Renna. "I don't think anyone could ever be comfortable getting a statue, I mean that respectfully," Thome said during the unveiling ceremony, per Cleveland.com's Joey Morona. Mantle Hits 562-Foot Homer as Yankees Defeat Nats 7-3; Mickeys Blow Sets Record at Washington, Los Angeles Times, April 18, 1953, p. B-1. As reported by the New York Times' Joseph Durso, physics professorBob Moore said the ball would have carried 525 feet if not for hitting the lights. In 1987, Joey Meyer, playing for the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs, launched this ball an astonishing 582 FEET! Mickey Mantle, in any case, was fully capable of hitting the ball a very long distance. June 9, 1946, for a dinger deemed to have traveled 502 feet. In case you're wondering, the minimum distance for a ball to be legal at the time was 60 feet, 6 inches. On Sept. 27, 2008, the slugger secured his fifth season with 40 deep flies. A ball landing on the plaza might have bounced clear to I-70. The record has since been beaten three times, most recently by Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros in 1997. Though this home run is impressive, it pales in comparison to the one later in this list, an absolute blast against future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. He hit for a career .237 batting average. By holding the barrel forward, the bat must untip and then turn around the hands and into the baseball. Mantle is holding the home run ball he hit out of Washington, D.C.'s Griffith Stadium, estimated to have gone a distance of some 562 feet. Babe Ruth was said to have hit a home run over 600 feet. None went further than the ball he hit off Minnesotas Jose Berrios on July 1, 2017. Martinez strikes out 17 batters, the most Yankees ever fanned in a single game. From interviews with the biggest newsmakers to discussions with our award winning writers and editors, SI Now is your spot for all things football, basketball, baseball and everywhere else around the world of sports:http://po.st/PlaylistSI-NowThe best of SIs award-winning video storytelling. Maris hit 26. He made the majors the next season but lasted just 156 games with the Milwaukee Brewers. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1961 Nu-Card Scoops Mickey Mantle Hits Longest Homer At Stadium PSA 8 #450 HOF at the best online prices at eBay! He hits them a long way.". Many coaches are against hitting the ball in the air because of the perceived "easy out.". Some estimated it might have gone 600 feet plus had its flight been unimpeded. Whats most impressive about the moon shot is that McGwire hit it off of Mariners ace Randy Johnson, who would go on to win 20 games that year and nearly capture his second Cy Young. Boh logo. As ESPN's Home Run Trackerverifies, one moonshot onMay 11, 2000, went 500 feet with a116.7 mph exit velocity. (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum) However, for much of MLB history, there wasnt even an exact way to determine the length of tape-measure home runs. Shirley Povich, To Whom It May Concern, Washington Post, April 26, 1953, p. C-1. In June, 1985, Mantle's blow was retroactively measured at 643 feet, and was listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the longest Home Run in History. Player profile Power hitting. Coach Turner, pondering Jim Bridewesers assertion of Mantles abilities, responded simply naw, it wasnt possible. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. In 1921 alone, which was, best tape measure season, he hit at least one 500 foot home run in all eight American League cities. It's also not the last time the three-true-outcomes prototype appears on this list. 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