There's no video evidence or official measurement of his monumental feat, but Negro League star Josh Gibson allegedly smacked a home run580 feetout of Yankee Stadium on June 3, 1937. "Examination of satellite and ground-based digital photos suggests that the 502-foot figure is an accurate measurement of the horizontal distance to the 'Red Seat,' but since the impact point was approximately 30 feet above field level, the ball would have covered more distance before landing at field level, had its flight not been interrupted.". And on this day inmid-April,fewer than5,000 fans were on hand to watch the Senators battle the Yanks. There should be no doubt about the authentication of these conclusions. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. "The Rockies credited Piazza with a 496-foot home run, but their procedure for measuring home runs at the time did not attempt to include the additional distance the ball would have flown had it not landed on the concourse," ESPN's blurb said in defense of its enhanced projection. This dinger off the bat of The Mick went an estimated 140 feet further than the 15thlongest home run on this list, which makes it that much more impressive. What is the longest home run wall in the MLB? Mickeys Historic Homer On Trial!,Mickey Mantle.com. Ruth, Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell and Adam Dunn have all hit blasts well past 500 feet in their careers. Not bad at all, but ESPN's Home Run Tracker determined that Williams deserves even more credit. Alan Marchese holds a 1956 Sports Illustrated with Mickey Mantle on the cover. Kingman didnt just hit the ball onto Waveland Avenue, he hit it well beyond, bouncing the ball off of a fans front porch. The Yankees lose by one point on Mo Vaughn's single in the tenth. Injuries cause Royals to seek more outfield depth, The Royals could be adding to the outfield, Royals sign Jackie Bradley Jr. to minor league deal, Spring Training game six: Kansas City Royals at Colorado Rockies, Royals Rumblings - News for February 28, 2023, Royals vs. Guardians Tuesday spring training game thread, Making sense of Nicky Lopezs inexplicable 2021 season, The Royals early season schedule is toughmaybe. 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. 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. While I don't doubt his greatness, he most likely could not have hit a ball that far in the air. Although it came nowhere close to 734 feet, ESPN determined an impressive true distance of 503 feet. Over 40 scorching-hot games, Hill hit .333/.378/.735 with 16 homers for the eventual World Series champions. Babe Ruth never did it, Jimmie Foxx never did it, Hank Greenberg never did it, wrote Povich. The Dunn homer is at 6:20 in the video. 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. 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. For Royal fans, George Brett provided plenty of home run drama, most of it against the Yankees. But why argue over semantics when we can watch some of MLB's best sluggers sock a few dingers? His prime years were spent as a fan favourite in Boston, where his big frame and patented swooping, uppercut type of swing produced a lot of dingers. The Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati isnt a classic hitters field, statistically at least, but Adam Dunn sure tamed it. Ruth, Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell and Adam Dunn have all hit blasts well past 500 feet in their careers. Theres considerable debate about who hit the longest home run in Royals/Kauffman Stadium history. The front of the card featured an aerial view of cavernous Griffith Stadium in Washington and showed the purported flight of the ball. MLB Network'sBob Costas credits it above as the Guinness Book of World Records holder for longest home run. He arrived in Kansas City with a reputation of being the next Mickey Mantle. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. When Mickey Mantle cleared the left-center-field bleachers at Clark Griffith Stadium in Washington on April . Frank Gifford, who later made a name for himself with the New York Giants, Monday Night Football and airline stewardesses, was a running back at USC at the time, said no one ever hit a ball onto the football field. 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. In 1987, Joey Meyer, playing for the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs, launched this ball an astonishing 582 FEET! But none of them came close to breaking the record he set in 1953. 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 longest verified home run in American professional baseball history didnt even happen in the majors. That righteous shot, to left-center field carried an estimated 489 feet. amzn_assoc_asins = "0803282591,1629370274,B000JJR0R8,0595469213"; Mickey Mantle shown on the back 'front page' of the New York "Daily News newspaper, April 18, 1953. 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. Pitching for the Senators that day was Chuck Stobbs, a southpaw. Cleveland, however, commemorated Thome's blast in 2014 by placing a statue of the franchise's all-time homer leader near the landing sight of Progressive Field's longest home run. 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. Meyer made his big league debut the following season with the Milwaukee Brewers. AP photo. 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. The New York Yankees travel coordinator estimated the distance of the home run to equal 565 feet. Canseco and fellow Bash Brother Mark McGwire teamed to hit their share of monstrous homers with the Oakland Athletics, none bigger than this blast. How many home runs has Ted Williams hit at Fenway Park? Before Susman's research, Mantle's longest homer was thought to be the one he hit in 1953 in Washington, a drive measured at 565 feet. Mantle was known for his epic blasts. However, the longest home run in Rockies history came in a road game against the Florida Marlins in May, 1997. Not a long fly ball, a true pop up to the infield is caused by the swing plane slicing too far downward in relation to pitch plane. Young Mickey Mantle at spring training, 1954. There are stories of his 600-foot home runs or treating old Yankee Stadium like it was his own personal Little League field. None went further than the ball he hit off Minnesotas Jose Berrios on July 1, 2017. A Mickey Mantle homer was originally estimated to have gone 734 feet. The legendary hitter tookFred Hutchinson yard onJune 9, 1946, for a dinger deemed to have traveled 502 feet. Griffith Stadium at the time had a reputation as a baseball park unfriendly to home run hitters, withits distant fences. The poor sap who fed the Hall of Fame outfielder a gopher ball: Chuck Stobbs. Decades before these modern advances, historians were left to make questionable estimations or even use an actual tape measure. This is a great example of getting the barrel on plane with the pitch. The poor sap who fed the Hall of Fame outfielder a gopher ball: Chuck Stobbs. That's the longest home run in history. The first baseman ended his MLB career with 18 home runs in 156 games across two seasons, but it was his monstrous minor league homer that etched his name into the history books. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. This study shows that achieving zero offset in swing plane vs. pitch plane is optimal for ball exit velocity. ESPN Home Run Trackermeasured it as the longest shot since providing full data in 2008. Boh logo. Many think the longest home run in Stadium history came off the bat of one Vincent Edward Jackson. When he retired, Mantle was third on the all-time home-run list with 536, and he was the Yankees' all-time leader in games played with 2,401, a record that would be broken by Derek Jeter on August 29, 2011. Mickey Mantle was no stranger to long home runs. The majestic shot actually hit the scoreboard above the centerfield fence. The place:Washington's Griffith Stadium. Brown wasnt known for giving up a lot of home runs, but the Cat sure lit him up. Facing Boston started Bill Spaceman Lee, leading off the Royals half of the fourth, Lee hung one over the plate and McRae teed off. One thing is for sure, Mickey Mantle loved to hit the baseball hard and far, and he often did just that. Jorge Soler has stroked some epic home runs in his Royal career. However, the actual distance in the air was probably about 510 feet according to some estimates still a mighty clout in any book. Joseph M. Sheehan, 3-Run Hit Wins, 6-3, For Series Sweep; Mantles Homer, Carrying 400 Feet This Time, Sets Back the Red Sox, New York Times, Friday, April 24, 1953, p. 31, 982 words. Mr. October was the architect of many classic post-season memories while wearing New York Yankees pinstripes. The Big Donkey, as he is known, hit 270 home runs for his original club, and none longer than the deep, deep bomb he drilled off a high Jose Lima fast ball in 2004. Mickey Mantle holding the ball he hit out of Griffith Park, April 17, 1953. Ive witnessed hundreds of long balls. 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. 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. Babe Ruth was said to have hit a home run over 600 feet. The grandest account of his power? The Yankees defeat the Kansas City Athletics 7-4 in a game that lasts only 95 minutes because of rain delays. 535 Feet: Adam Dunn (Cincinnati Reds, 2004), Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh Pirates . TheBoston Globe's Bob Ryan, viaMLB.com's Mike Bertha, marveled at the power display. Mantle finished his career with 13 walkoff home runs. Tiger Stadium was famous for its low roof and a few players have hit balls completely out of the ballpark, but Jacksons 532-foot home run stands as one of the longest on record. Ronald Acua Jr., ATL, 2020: 495 feet. The longest home run I ever saw - actually didn't see, and I don't think . 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. With apologies to those whose over-reported shots were downgraded or removed, bumping up a career .344/.482/.634 legend feels warranted. Notice how long the barrel stays tight to the back shoulder. The slugger will either strike out or mash a hanging curve ball into the bleachers. You know anything that travels that far ought to have a damn stewardess on it, dont you think?, Theres something romantic about home runs. He could just have easily struck out, given his penchant for swinging freely, but the gamble paid off in a big way. Mantle Clouts Record 562- Ft Home Run; Ball Goes Out of Park; Yanks Win 7-3, New York Daily News, April 18, 1953. Dunn finished the season with a career-high 46 long balls. Will the Golden State Warriors make history again? How is the pitching distance measured in Little League? The roof might have stopped it from clearing Detroit altogether. 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. Richard Keiber, a collector who obtained Kingman's moonshot outside of Wrigley Field, insisted to theChicago Tribune's Rick Talley in 2003 that 600 feet was a more accurate tally. There should be no doubt about the authentication of these conclusions. The new system pinpointed a 115.8-mph exit velocity with a launch angle of 18.3 degrees. I never saw anything like it, Sutton said, per Kelly. Thats right, Mantle actually topped himself. 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. After playing a major role in the Red Sox 2004 championship drive, Ortiz joined an all-star team for a tour of Japan. The noted historian also backed ancient anecdotes of the Sultan of Swat's hitting one over 600 feet atWilkes University'sArtillery Parkin 1926. amzn_assoc_region = "US"; Thanks for visiting and if you like what you find here, please make a donation to help support the research and writing at this website. Maris hit 26. ESPN's Home Run Tracker has also studied long balls since 2006, giving fans a better sense of how homers travel. Longest home run for every MLB team Mr. Wengert was reportedly so traumatized by the long fly that he refuses to discuss it with reporters. Hurdle, drafted in 1975, made quick work of the Royals minor league system. Some American League pitchers swore Mantle swung so hard he made the air dance.. He used a tape measure to determine the exact distance of the home run, giving birth to the term tape-measure shot.. 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. He hits them a long way.". 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. 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. Share this article with everyone you know. Babe Ruth was said to have hit a home run over 600 feet. The kid couldnt do that. Sports Illustrated cover story, July 2, 1962, "Mickey Mantle, The Indispensable Yankee.". Sitting in the first row behind home plate, I had a great view of the ball's flight. The Royals won 102 games that summer and this game marked the debut of their highly acclaimed rookie, Clint Hurdle. amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; Acquired from the then-Anaheim Angels in 2001, the 1995 American League MVP spent his entire first season with the Mets sidelined before returning a shell of himself in 2002. Now, more than ever, we are able to accurately estimate where a ball hit at a certain velocity, at a certain angle, might land. Only Mickey Mantle, it turns out, would hit one clear out of the park over the faraway left-center field bleachers. PopHistoryDig.com, February 12, 2010. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; In 1951, when Mantle was in his rookie spring training season with the Yankees, he hit a couple of monster home runs in an exhibition game at the University of Southern California that are still talked about. "You can feel the wind blowing," Expos right fielder Hubie Brooks said, per Durso's report. While those feats would shatter Meyer's mark, there was no technology or tool that could give an exact measure of those distances. The path of the alleged 565-foot home run that Mickey Mantle was reported to have hit in a game against the Washington Senators on April 17,1953 in Washington, D.C.s former Griffith Stadium. Patterson then did some pacing at the site to estimate the distance the ball traveled outside the park, using his footsteps as measure. In virtually every other field of endeavor in which physical performance can be measured, there are no Ruthian equivalents. In addition to the five that reached the stands, another ball was hit by Boston's Dave Nelson against San Diego in an 11-9 Red Sox win on May 30, 1976. The Yankee's PR director measured it at 565 feet using a tape measure, while later researchers have suggested it travelled a somewhat shorter distance. Giancarlo Stanton, MIA, 2016: 504 feet, T-8. Who hit the longest home run ever and how far did they estimate it to have Travelled? Yet near the top sits a journeyman who belted 186 home runs over a career devoid of regular playing time. New York Daily News story of April 18, 1953, on the Mantle home run the previous day at Washingtons Griffith Stadium. 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. That much is known. AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, (select parishes), MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY, CA-ONT only.Eligibility restrictions apply. In 1921 alone, which was, best tape measure season, he hit at least one 500 foot home run in all eight American League cities. Koufax shelved the slider for the rest of the night. Great American Ball Park's second season on Aug. 10, 2004, when he crushed a Jose Lima offering well beyond the fence in center field, which stands 404 feet out. 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. A significant factor is that Mantle had 1,733 walks and 1,710 strikeouts. "You play the game as a kid, you progress through high school, you get drafted, you go through the minor leagues. The ball will still rising when it struck the upper right-hand corner of a sign atop the Green Monster, which temporarily deflected the laser. He was 38 years old in his 16th season, but he still went yard 28 times over 450 plate appearances and earned a .567 slugging percentage. Soler Power blasted two home runs into the upper deck of Target Field that summer. On May 31, 1997, Andres Galarraga cleared the full bases by sending a souvenir into Pro Player Stadium's empty upper deck. 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. amzn_assoc_title = "Related Books & DVD"; Patterson returned some time later with a scuffed-up ball claiming it had traveled 565 feet, a distance that would make it the longest home run ever measured. This list includes icons, Hall and Famers and rakers who wielded unquestionably elite power. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. The following year, his five postseason home runs led the Pirates to a World Series championship. The left-handed raker quickly set a gaudy benchmark duringGreat American Ball Park's second season on Aug. 10, 2004, when he crushed a Jose Lima offering well beyond the fence in center field, which stands 404 feet out. On Sept. 27, 2008, the slugger secured his fifth season with 40 deep flies. The ball would have kept going, lending to a final true-distance calculation of 530 feet. In 565 feet, Mickey Mantle (1953). This blast off Glendon Rusch caromed off the center field awning for an estimated 504 feet. 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. He hit for a career .263 batting average and earned 3 silver slugger awards. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. One of his greatest moments, however, came in a game that didnt mean anything. Player profile Power hitting. With the technology available today, we are able to better understand the metrics that go into the longest home runs. Teammate Frank Howard said, Youll never see five balls hit like that in a lifetime. What is the distance between home plate and third base? 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 . The angle of incoming pitch will effect our ability to optimize both exit speed and launch angle. The tater in this video caused a ripple in the giant right field Jumbotron at Shea Stadium. The Oakland Athletics outfielder stepped up to the plate against Pittsburgh Pirates hurler Dock Ellis, who according to Baseball-Reference.com entered the Midsummer Classic sporting a 2.11 ERA. There are folk tales about Mickey Mantle hitting the longest home run ever measured 565 feet. src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=674090812743125&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>. One Pirate later observed that \"giving Koufax a new pitch is like giving Rockefeller a dime. ESPN's Home Run. The noted historian also backed ancient anecdotes of the Sultan of Swat's hitting one. One day we will get true metrics on the longest home run ever. What about Mickey Mantle? He made the majors the next season but lasted just 156 games with the Milwaukee Brewers. Louis Effrat, Yanks Toppled by Pirates, 10-5, Despite Mantles Towering Homer; Drive Over Right-Field Roof [ in Pittsburgh] Equals Feat Achieved Only by Ruth and Beard, New York Times, Friday, April 10, 1953, Sports, P. 27. There was no doubt when Bo hit one. Smarter,Every,Day,Science,Physics,Destin,Sandlin,Education,Math,Smarter Every Day,experiment,nature,demonstration,slow,motion,slow motion,education,math,science . Next stop would have been the Mass Turnpike. Adam Dunn played just 44 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but one of his eight home runs stands as the longest witnessed at Chase Field. Some say it was a dinger hit by Johnny Bench in the 1973 All-Star game. Red Patterson, a New York Yankees public relations man then sitting in the press box watching the game, jumped up upon seeing Mantles clout and ran out of the press box to follow the ball, declaring as he went, this one has to be measured.. From household names to the lesser known, SI Films features and series explore the most powerful stories in sports:http://po.st/PlaylistSI-FilmsCONNECT WITH Website: http://www.si.comFacebook: http://po.st/FacebookSITwitter: http://po.st/TwitterSIGoogle+: http://po.st/GoogleSIInstagram:http://po.st/InstagramSIMagazine:http://po.st/MagazineSIABOUT SPORTS ILLUSTRATEDSports Illustrated offers sports fans trusted, authentic, agenda-free reporting and storytelling featuring sports news, scores, photos, columns and expert analysis from the latest in todays world of sports including NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, college basketball, college football, golf, soccer, tennis, and fantasy.#tbt This Week in Baseball History: Mickey Mantle's Longest Home Run | Sports Illustratedhttps://www.youtube.com/user/SportsIllustrated "An inning or so later, they told us it was charted at 484 feet. What was the distance of a home run in 1927. Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson built their legacy by hitting home runs. Mcgwire later admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Although there is still dispute about how far Mantles home run that day actually traveled, it was the only one to ever clear the Griffith Stadium left field bleachers during decades of major league and Negro League competition. Mickey Mantle hit 298 solo homers, 162 with a single runner on base, 67 with two men on base, and 9 grand slams. So take any urban legends about someone's 600-foot homer with a grain of salt. , we can still make definitive evaluations of the approximate landing points of all of his 714 career home runs. There's still no doubting Mantle's standing as one of the greatest, strongest hitters to ever live. ESPN's Home Run Tracker docked his true distance down to 487. Mickey Mantle, 1953, 565 Feet Seven years before Mickey Mantle hit the longest home run ever recorded in a baseball game, he hit what was then the longest tape measure shot. There are folk tales about Mickey Mantle hitting the longest home run ever measured 565 feet. amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; 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. Stobbs had broken into the majors with Boston in 1947,was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1952, and then to the Senators. Oh yeah, that's not even Fielder's entry. 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. The distance: 656 feet to the point where it first landed! 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. Although there aremultiple talesof Babe Ruth's hitting his mythical home run beyond 600 feet, no accurate measuring tools existed during his playing days. 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. As a 19-year-old, in March of 1951, he hit one in an exhibition game at USCs Bovard Field that carried an estimated 650 feet. The record has since been beaten three times, most recently by Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros in 1997. It may not have been the only home run ever to leave Jacobs Field, but it was memorable. Jose Canseco's upper-deck blast helped the Oakland Athletics defeat the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1989 American League Championship Series. Thinking "swing down" will create a bat path that will chop through the plane of the pitch and slice the bottom half of the ball resulting in.A POP UP! Statcast data, however, is still a relatively new tool. Mickey Mantle 1967 - 500th Home Run as aired on WPIX-TV, 5/14/1967 YanksAtShea 6.23K subscribers Subscribe 12K 2.4M views 10 years ago YanksAtShea is very proud to present on its 45th. Amazingly, many of those records remain unequaled, which is to say that, is a true athletic anachronism. Maybe Mantle didn't quite hit it 565 feetWilliam Jenkinson suggested 510 feet as a better approximation. No Wind, Declares Judge, Helped Mantle Homer, New York Times, Tuesday, April 21, 1953, Sports, p. 34. Aaron never hit 60 in a season but was a model of consistency. April 14, 1976. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; I was sufficiently impressed. July 3, 1999, the Cleveland Indians star sent a ball screaming an estimated 511 feet. 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 surefire Hall of Famer was made to look like a minor leaguer, at least for one at bat. Not bad at all, but. Shirley Povich, To Whom It May Concern, Washington Post, April 26, 1953, p. C-1. Then Phil Rizzuto came to bat and grounded out to short. These days, there is a new tool that should make this an easier debate moving forward. However, for much of MLB history, there wasnt even an exact way to determine the length of tape-measure home runs. Nobody ever dreams of a statue, I certainly didn't.". A Mickey Mantle homer was originally estimated to have gone 734 feet. 1970 Topps NL Home Run Leaders Willie McCovey Hank Aaron Lee May PSA 5 EX #65 (#255943093250) b***a (186) - Feedback left by buyer b .