It may not have been the only home run ever to leave Jacobs Field, but it was memorable. 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. A significant factor is that Mantle had 1,733 walks and 1,710 strikeouts. In virtually every other field of endeavor in which physical performance can be measured, there are no Ruthian equivalents. We now present to you the 15 longest home runs ever hit. The ball. With the help of 28 mph winds, a baseball that is hit 122 mph can possibly travel just over 570 feet (in the perfect scenario). A familiar feat for power hitters at venerable Wrigley Field is to hit a home run onto Waveland Avenue. 7 September 2016. ____________________________________. If we take a closer look at the swing of Jose Canseco, we can begin to understand why he was able to hit a baseball 540ft. 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. Sports writer Jane Leavy explains the practice that dates back to Mickey Mantle's historic 565 foot hit in 1953. . Mark McGwire played in the Major Leagues from 1986 to 2001, over that time span he hit 583 home runs. Koufax shelved the slider for the rest of the night. In virtually every other field of endeavor in which physical performance can be measured, there are no Ruthian equivalents. Mick said the hardest ball he ever hit came off the Kansas City Athletics Bill Fischer in May of 1963, a shot that nearly left Yankee Stadium, knocked out of its orbit when it hit the top of the right field faade. April 14, 1976. Brandon Moss only spent one season in Kansas City, but he did produce 22 home runs. Mantle homered off 224 different pitchers during his career, connected most often while batting third in the lineup, and drove in 859 total runs when he went deep! 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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. 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. While I don't doubt his greatness, he most likely could not have hit a ball that far in the air. * 21+ (19+ CA-ONT) (18+ NH/WY). If you know of any other epic shots in Royals history, feel free to share. To maximize our exit velocity, the path of the bat needs to match the path of the oncoming pitch perfectly. Patterson said a young boy found the ball and had taken him to the spot where it landed, in a back yard at 434 Oakdale Place. So it's reasonable to assume that at least one of his homers was hit 605 feet or more from home plate. He hit for a career .237 batting average. ESPN's Home Run Tracker docked his true distance down to 487. Man, that ball got out of here in a hurry! Ready for a breakdown of the longest home runs ever? The radio call of Carters home run by Tom Cheek was a classic, touch em all Joe! In order to square the baseball with optimal efficiency, the angle of our shoulders and bat need to be parallel at the point of contact. "The ball assumed what can only be called a majestic arc and landed on the left-field roof in Tiger Stadium," Ryan wrote. As ESPN's Home Run Trackerverifies, one moonshot onMay 11, 2000, went 500 feet with a116.7 mph exit velocity. "An inning or so later, they told us it was charted at 484 feet. Ive witnessed hundreds of long balls. Few sluggers were stronger in their prime, making him one of baseball's most feared batters despite his strikeout woes. Here are the 12 longest dingers in the Statcast era: T-2. It was commemorated with a card in the Topps 1961 baseball set. The barrel his tipped forward, this mechanic can be seen by the top home run hitters of all time. Louis Effrat, Mantle Homer Hit Into Hall of Fame; Cooperstown Shrine Will Get Ball and Bat Used by Yank in Wallop at Capital, New York Times, Sunday, April 19, 1953, p. S-1. The date:April 17, 1953. The fastest exit speed velocity in the MLB over the last decade is 122 MPH. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. William Jenkinson, who credited Ruth with setting distance high marks in every MLB ballpark, wrotethe Yankees icon "defies rational analysis": Amazingly, many of those records remain unequaled, which is to say thatRuthis a true athletic anachronism. He crushed it. Estimates have the blast traveling at least 600 feet. David Halberstam, October 1964, Villard Books, New York, 1994, 380pp. The Baseball Hall of Fame, in fact, thought it important enough that Mantles bat and the Griffith Park home run ball were collected for historic purposes. It was here, on April 4, 1919, in a game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Giants, that Babe Ruth hit his longest home run ever -- 587 feet. Amazingly, many of those records remain unequaled, which is to say that, is a true athletic anachronism. Dave Kingman hit one entirely out of Wrigley Field onApril 14, 1976. Not only did Big Mac hit this shot into the second deck of the Seattle Mariners former home, the Kingdome, he hit it off the back wall behind all the fans. The surefire Hall of Famer was made to look like a minor leaguer, at least for one at bat. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. Not bad at all, but ESPN's Home Run Tracker determined that Williams deserves even more credit. This study shows that achieving zero offset in swing plane vs. pitch plane is optimal for ball exit velocity. He was already America's homerun king. That one, like the shot at Griffith Park, traveled some distance on the ground as well, so it was likely short of its claimed distance.Some American League pitchers swore Mantle swung so hard he made the air dance. Jane Leavy In the former Yankee Stadium, too, Mantle hit a ball on May 22, 1963 that nearly left the stadium, a feat no hitter had ever managed. The Yankees defeat the Kansas City Athletics 7-4 in a game that lasts only 95 minutes because of rain delays. And, the fact that this bomb came in the post-season makes it even more impressive. He was Big Papi before Big Papi. In 2019 Jorge rewrote the Royals home run record book, blasting 48 long flys. amzn_assoc_region = "US"; Ill never forget the night, April 8, 1974, my sisters birthday, when Henry Aaron, a black man playing in the Deep South, turned on an Al Downing fastball and with his powerful wrists, sent the ball over the left field fence for career home run 715, breaking Babe Ruths long-standing record. 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. Using the best information available, let's take a stab at locating the longest recorded home runs ever. The poor sap who fed the Hall of Fame outfielder a gopher ball: Chuck Stobbs. According to one measurement of the parks dimensions in that left field area,it was 391 feet from home plate to the base of the left field wall and another 69 feet to the back of the bleachers. The casual fan might not fully appreciate the modest masher, who becomes eligible for Hall of Fame consideration next year. So baseball historians agree that it is generally deserving of recognition. Griffiths answer: I dont care about that, he said. Eleven years before the Milwaukee Brewers drafted his son, Prince, they watched Fielder punish a baseball. That's right, Mantle actually topped himself. Bo to us. Many in the crowd were still settling into their seats when Cespedes came to the plate. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. OnJuly 3, 1999, the Cleveland Indians star sent a ball screaming an estimated 511 feet. The sign, a piece of monetary-inspired visual pollution besmirching the beauty of Fenway, is situated in left-center field. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Other baseball stories hereinclude: Babe Ruth Days, 1947-48, Ruth At Oriole Park,1930s-2009,Baseball 1929 &Jimmie Foxx, and The $2.8 Milliion Baseball Card. 1964 WS Gm3: Mantle hits a walk-off home run MLB 4.05M subscribers Subscribe 2.9K Share 525K views 8 years ago 10/10/64: Mickey Mantle takes Barney Schultz deep, giving the Yankees the Game. "He is an icon and mentor to three generations of customers from all corners of Oklahoma and surrounding states . 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. While the Miami Marlins slugger doesn't need a ballpark's help to punish a baseball, he collaborated with the high-altitude venue to produce a 504-foot homer on Aug. 6, 2016. It's also not the last time the three-true-outcomes prototype appears on this list. . Although the blast was touted at 529 feet,ESPN arrivedat 468 feet. The longest verified home run in American professional baseball history didnt even happen in the majors. What is the distance between home plate and the mound? Notice where Canseco holds the barrel as the pitch is being thrown. Mickey Mantle hit many home runs during his career -- 536 to be exact. This writer trusts the newer, in-depth data (Statcast) over a ballpark number given without much supporting evidence, so Piazza makes the cut over other tape-measure hits reported at greater distances. Without a closer look from ESPN at this Adam Dunn dinger, the lofty 535-foot approximation receives the benefit of the doubt. Despite the scarcity of film on. "I was sitting on a changeup, because he only threw like 88," Dunn recalled to Cincinnati Enquirer's C. Trent Rosecrans a year later. Estimates vary with some pegging the blast at 636 feet. Bo hit this ball harder than Brian Bosworth. HistorianWilliam J. Jenkinson reported the home run's distance at 502 feetthe longest estimate from IBM's measuring system from 1982 to 1996in a study published by Baseball Almanac. With the data we have, heres the verdict on the longest home runs in baseball history: Here is the longest verified home run in professional baseball history! ESPN's Home Run. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; A Mickey Mantle homer was originally estimated to have . A Mickey Mantle homer was originally estimated to have gone 734 feet. One of baseball's most unheralded sluggers, Jim Thome retired with the quietest 612 home runs and .956 OPS ever. So take any urban legends about someone's 600-foot homer with a grain of salt. Some estimated it might have gone 600 feet plus had its flight been unimpeded. The slugger will either strike out or mash a hanging curve ball into the bleachers. Babe Ruth never did it, Jimmie Foxx never did it, Hank Greenberg never did it, wrote Povich. June 9, 1946, for a dinger deemed to have traveled 502 feet. Mantle gets his batting title back from Carl Yastrzemski with a.356 average. As MLB.com's Ben Weinribnoted, the blast marked the longest homer since MLB installed Statcast in all stadiums in 2015. There are folk tales about Mickey Mantle hitting the longest home run ever measured 565 feet. And just because he bats from the left side, doesnt mean its a good idea to strategize by putting a southpaw on the mound. Yet near the top sits a journeyman who belted 186 home runs over a career devoid of regular playing time. A ball hit 122 mph can normally travel 500-515 feet. However, sluggers in this list make 400 feet seem like childs play as all of them have hit the ball at least 503 feet. I have been unable to confirm this, but if that is accurate, that blast would have more mileage that either Benchs or Trouts. How is the pitching distance measured in Little League? Facing Boston started Bill Spaceman Lee, leading off the Royals half of the fourth, Lee hung one over the plate and McRae teed off. Theres considerable debate about who hit the longest home run in Royals/Kauffman Stadium history. Willie Stargell scorched plenty of moonshots over his career. He loves his job because every day is different, and you never know what kind of athlete you're going to be dealing with that day. Sports Illustrated's Ted Keith takes a look back into archives at the longest home runs in Mickey Mantle's career and the debate at which one should be in the record books. This particular homer came courtesy of The Big Cat Andres Galarraga, who absolutely smoked an inside pitch from Marlins ace Kevin Brown into the top deck of the old Pro Players Stadium. "An inning or so later, they told us it was charted at 484 feet. The ball was hit on August 16, 1935. amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; Meyer made his big league debut the following season with the Milwaukee Brewers. As a result, no assortment of baseball's longest blasts can be considered 100 percent credible. As Sports Illustrated's Cliff Corcorannoted, Jenkinson also acknowledged The Bambino as owner of the three longest home runs ever hit in his book The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs. On Sept. 27, 2008, the slugger secured his fifth season with 40 deep flies. Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton marveled at Stargells homer hit against his Los Angeles Dodgers. It was one of five home runs Baseball Almanac listed as going at least 500 feet in 1998's record-setting season. 6/21/2019 Nomar Mazara- 505 feet pic.twitter.com/xRgKESrJTs. This would put him in the feasible discussion for the longest round-tripper ever. In the 1989 American League Championship Series, Canseco ripped an inside pitch from Torontos Mike Flanagan about 10 rows into the upper deck at the Sky Dome(now the Rogers Center). The blast came with two outs in the top of the 12th, and it took more than 50 years for anyone to come close to hitting a ball this far again. Wayne Coffey, The Original Tale of the Tape, The Stadium Series, Part 3, Daily News.com, 2007, p. 1. Mark McGwire's monster home run on May 16, 1998, probably didn't travel 545 feet, as initially estimated. The actual distance was 480 feet 10 inches, which is one of the great tragedies of sports history. Neither of them really needs it.\" September 10, 1999, The Red Sox trip the Yankees, 3 - 1, as Pedro Martinez hurls an impressive one-hitter for his 21st victory of the year. With no concrete numbers for anything before 2006, evaluating all-time distances remains an inexact science. Dwight Eisen- hower was president, the Korean War was in its third year, and a young baseball player named Mickey Mantle was hitting some monster home run shots for the New York Yankees. Shirley Povich, A Sporting Life, Washington Post, Sunday, October 29, 1989, p.W-22. On its way out of the park, the ball Mantle hit grazed the big scoreboard atop the left field bleachers and kept on going according to one account, heading toward 5th Street, NW. The ball would have kept going, lending to a final true-distance calculation of 530 feet. Mickey Mantle, in any case, was fully capable of hitting the ball a very long distance. In his penultimate 2000 season, Glenallen Hill registered a career-high 27 home runs for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. These days, there is a new tool that should make this an easier debate moving forward. The majestic shot actually hit the scoreboard above the centerfield fence. Slate's John Pastiercalculated a similar distance of roughly 479 feet. There were two outs. Ted Williams introduced this concept in his book "The Science of Hitting" published in 1971. As you see in the clip above, Longoria drops his shoulder a significant amount just to hit a ball that is at the top of the strike zone. Over 40 scorching-hot games, Hill hit .333/.378/.735 with 16 homers for the eventual World Series champions. The New York Yankees travel coordinator estimated the distance of the home run to equal 565 feet. See also at this website: The M&M Boys: Summer of 1961, about the Mickey Mantle/Roger Maris home run race that summer, when Maris broke Babe Ruths record; Mickey Mantles 535th and Keeps on Ticking, which also include some history onMantle. Pitching for the Senators that day was Chuck Stobbs, a southpaw. June 3, 1987, which reportedly went a staggering. Younger fans will recall Joe Carters 1993 series-ending blast, which broke the hearts of Philadelphia fans. Nobody ever dreams of a statue, I certainly didn't.". The optimal launch angle for a home run distance is 28 degrees. Affectionately known to Red Sox fans as Big Papi, Ortiz unloaded on many a hapless pitcher, sending home runs rocketing past Peskys pole at Fenway. One of the most exciting home runs I witnessed in Royals Stadium came in a late-season September game in 1977. For what it's worth, it passes the "Wow, he sure hit that ball a long way" eye test. Chuck Stobbs Faces Mickey Mantle With . It was here, on April 4, 1919, in a game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Giants, that Babe Ruth hit his longest home run ever -- 587 feet. Most are forgotten the next day, but many become things of lore. In 1987, Joey Meyer, playing for the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs, launched this ball an astonishing 582 FEET! Babe Ruth was said to have hit a home run over 600 feet. When researchers delve into an older home run for a more accurate telling, they typically spoil everyone's party by deflating an embellished tale. The Royals were locked in a tight pennant race with the hated Oakland As. Longest Home Run Ever Hit, Baseball Almanac .com. A record six balls have been thrown into the stands at Fenway Park during Red Sox games. Share this article with everyone you know. As popular a player who ever donned a Cleveland Indians uniform, Thome victimized Kansas City Royals hurler Don Wengert for a homer that made it right out of Jacobs Field, to the amazement of the fans, TV commentators, coaches and teammates alike. But Mickey Mantle would soongive them something to remember. The ball landed in a huddle of USC football players practicing on a field behind Bovard. There was no doubt when Bo hit one. A player with a steeper swing plane will be able to hit a low pitch 500 ft. A player who practices swinging down and hitting ground balls will have a hard time hitting the ball both high enough AND hard enough to go 500 ft. Famer was made to look like a minor leaguer, at least one... Man, that ball a very long distance the Milwaukee Brewers drafted his son Prince. 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