"An inning or so later, they told us it was charted at 484 feet. 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. The kid couldnt do that. "Yet again, we have an example of a genuinely epic home run that has been grievously overstated.". The legends about Mickey Mantle are many - and he was a great player. 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. It was hit by Dustin Pedroia with two outs in the ninth inning. There really is nothing like getting the head of the bat out on a high fastball. 535 Feet: Adam Dunn (Cincinnati Reds, 2004), Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh Pirates . On its return to earth, the ball struck the back wall of the left field bullpen. Mickey Mantle's home run in 1953 landed in a housing development beyond the left-field wall. Although there aremultiple talesof Babe Ruth's hitting his mythical home run beyond 600 feet, no accurate measuring tools existed during his playing days. Mr. October receives the benefit of the doubt for his July feat, but watch the ball rocket off his bat. Man, that ball got out of here in a hurry! In 1987, Joey Meyer of the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs launched a moonshot into the second deck of Mile High Stadium. This process allows for momentum to be carried into contact. According to Allied News Jim Sankey, via MLB.coms Matt Monagan, the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder submitted seven of 18 balls to clear Forbes Fields 86-foot high roof in right field. Hitting a baseball hundreds of feet is incredibly hard. 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. For everyone's entertainment, Miami should loan Stanton to Colorado and see how much damage he could inflict during a full season at Coors. For guys with a flatter swing path, they will need a pitch that is high in the strike zone. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; Despite the scarcity of film on. These days, there is a new tool that should make this an easier debate moving forward. Facing Boston started Bill Spaceman Lee, leading off the Royals half of the fourth, Lee hung one over the plate and McRae teed off. His blasts were more like laser beams. The exact distance, however, remains disputed. Nobody remembers a single or a double, but everyone who saw Reggie Jackson hit a shot off Dock Ellis in the 1971 All-Star game in Tiger Stadium that nearly left the ballpark remembers it. 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. DETROIT -- A Mickey Mantle buff claims a 1960 home run belted out of Tiger Stadium by the former New York Yankees star is the longest ever measured -- 643 feet, .0069 inches. That righteous shot, to left-center field carried an estimated 489 feet. Will the Golden State Warriors make history again? Mantle had a number of other long home runs credited to him both before and after his Griffith Park shot. It did not, however, journey 540 feet as have some suggested. 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. Initial estimates credited him with hitting a 656-foot bomb in college, a mark outlandish even for an MLB star using performance-enhancing drugs. Such was the National League during those days, when a demi-god like Aaron had to share the stage with other baseball demi-gods with names like Mays, Clemente, Musial, Banks, Robinson, and Koufax. A hearty hack on May 20, 1978 which went further than any ball ever hit at Montreal Stadium. "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. The tater in this video caused a ripple in the giant right field Jumbotron at Shea Stadium. Theres considerable debate about who hit the longest home run in Royals/Kauffman Stadium history. We were are all taught to "keep our shoulders level.". The place:Washington's Griffith Stadium. For what it's worth, it passes the "Wow, he sure hit that ball a long way" eye test. If the home run is the most exciting play in baseball, than here are the most awesome. I had to squint to see home plate. Instead, let's look back to September 14, 1991, when the Detroit Tigers slugger pounded a ball beyondMilwaukee County Stadium's bleachers. 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. Who hit the longest home run ever and how far did they estimate it to have Travelled? Gambling problem? Mr. Wengert was reportedly so traumatized by the long fly that he refuses to discuss it with reporters. The longest shot I have seen in person in Royals Stadium came in August of 1973. There's still no doubting Mantle's standing as one of the greatest, strongest hitters to ever live. After retiring, Mantle signs a minor league contract with the New York Mets but was released after appearing in only three games due to knee problems again. As a fan of the game, I love to see the ball exit speed and launch angles displayed while watching games. 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. The Yankees lose by one point on Mo Vaughn's single in the tenth. Mickey Mantle was a much loved baseball player, typically humble about his hitting abilities and notthe boastful type when it came to claiming records or distance. 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). 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. Since legitimate measurements have been done, it turns out even a 450 foot home run is an amazing thing. 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. Hitting a home run to straight away center field off of a 90-mile-an-hour fastball is difficult to do. 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.Subscribe to http://po.st/SubscribeSIFollow the latest NFL news and highlights, with updates on your favorite team and players. A Mickey Mantle homer was originally estimated to have gone 734 feet. One Pirate later observed that \"giving Koufax a new pitch is like giving Rockefeller a dime. If not for hitting a transformer on Tiger Stadium's roof, the baseball would have experienced a further journey. Skeptics will certainly be forgiven for doubting that distance, but others will prefer to simply believe. Koufax shelved the slider for the rest of the night. Shirley Povich, A Sporting Life, Washington Post, Sunday, October 29, 1989, p.W-22. All home runs give the batter a trip around the bases, but why merely hit the ball over the fence when you can send it into orbit? The game has become one of the most memorable in baseball history, because in the fifth inning, Mickey Mantle hit one of the longest home runs ever recorded. Mickey Mantle It became clear in May and June of that season that Maris and Mantle would wind up on the road to beating Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a single season. Mantle's homer was part of an offensive outburst by the Yankees that day: New York beat Washington, 4-3, in 11 innings. amzn_assoc_linkid = "a21f09e861185b9fce4ae88cc0fe0a70"; Bo hit this ball harder than Brian Bosworth. What about Mickey Mantle? Have you flown to or from the new KCI yet? 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. Off-field problems derailed his path to superstardom, but his Montreal moonshot serves as a reminder of his off-the-charts power. Maris hit 26. June 3, 1987, which reportedly went a staggering. According toWilliam Jenkinson, researchers estimated the fabled fly ball at 573 feet, and the New York Times originally reported a 630-foot flight. Babe Ruth (1921): 575 feet The sound of bat meeting ball sounded like a cannon shot. 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. Yet near the top sits a journeyman who belted 186 home runs over a career devoid of regular playing time. amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; As a result, no assortment of baseball's longest blasts can be considered 100 percent credible. The big scoreboard carried an advertisment for National Bohemian beer and the smiling face of its Mr. Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson built their legacy by hitting home runs. 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. . Chuck Stobbs Faces Mickey Mantle With . Thats right, Mantle actually topped himself. Urban legends of Mickey Mantle's power prowess have run wild. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Jack Doyle, Date Posted: 12 February 2010 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. "You play the game as a kid, you progress through high school, you get drafted, you go through the minor leagues. The legendary hitter tookFred Hutchinson yard onJune 9, 1946, for a dinger deemed to have traveled 502 feet. Here are the 12 longest dingers in the Statcast era: T-2. Strawberry hit another dinger during New York's Opening Day victory and matched his previous season's career high with 39 homers that year. The ball would have kept going, lending to a final true-distance calculation of 530 feet. Manage Settings 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. Joe Dimaggio Hails Mantle, Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1953, p. C-1. Old-timers still talk about the April 1953 dinger he hit out of Griffith Stadium in Washington. 19-year-old Mickey Mantle had just hit the longest home run in baseball history! It has yet to be topped in today's modern game. 565 ft may be where the ball stopped rolling, which is certainly possible, but home runs are typically measured by where they land. With apologies to those whose over-reported shots were downgraded or removed, bumping up a career .344/.482/.634 legend feels warranted. Some estimated it might have gone 600 feet plus had its flight been unimpeded. 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). Canseco later admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. amzn_assoc_linkid = "2133531abc20bf49c266f610b6f2270d"; So baseball historians agree that it is generally deserving of recognition. 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. 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. 1956 would be a record-breaking season: the golden summer fans would remember forever . But Mickey wasn't finished. But not so fast. The barrel his tipped forward, this mechanic can be seen by the top. With two outs in the ninth, Bob Lemon comes on to relieve Johnny Allen with the score 4-4. amzn_assoc_region = "US"; 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. 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. Yet the story of his 565-foot moonshot still lives strong. 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. Mickey Mantle hit many home runs during his career -- 536 to be exact. As ESPN's Home Run Trackerverifies, one moonshot onMay 11, 2000, went 500 feet with a116.7 mph exit velocity. That's the longest home run in history. . The record is now held by Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels. How many home runs has Ted Williams hit at Fenway Park? Without a closer look from ESPN at this Adam Dunn dinger, the lofty 535-foot approximation receives the benefit of the doubt. In this game, the Yankees lose 1-0 but it doesn't matter since Boston has already secured its spot in the playoffs. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. However, for much of MLB history, there wasnt even an exact way to determine the length of tape-measure home runs. Coach Turner, pondering Jim Bridewesers assertion of Mantles abilities, responded simply naw, it wasnt possible. What was the distance of a home run in 1927. 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. Brian Brady is a professional sports agent. It was hit on August 14, 1953, at Milwaukee County Stadium. Free shipping for many products! The following year, his five postseason home runs led the Pirates to a World Series championship. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. The distance of his home runs was not recorded at the time, but it's estimated that he hit ones farther than 565 feet once out of every four times he stepped up to the plate. 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. Ruth, Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell and Adam Dunn have all hit blasts well past 500 feet in their careers. I would have believed 1,484 feet.". According to Greg Maddox, chicks dig the long ball. Mark McGwire played in the Major Leagues from 1986 to 2001, over that time span he hit 583 home runs. Jose Canseco played in the Major Leagues from 1985 to 2001, over that time span he hit 462 home runs. Yogi Berra was next, and Dobbs walked him. How far was Mickey Mantles farthest home run? 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 . 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. 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. Adam Dunn played in the Major Leagues from 2001 to 2014, over that time span he hit 462 home runs. However, sluggers in this list make 400 feet seem like childs play as all of them have hit the ball at least 503 feet. Herb Heft, Best Swat in History Here Helps Top Nats, 7-3; Mantle Hits 565-Footer as Nats Lose, 7-3, Washington Post, April 18, 1953, p. 13. He narrowly missed a home run in his first at bat, slamming a ball off the top of the right-center wall for a standup triple. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; No Wind, Declares Judge, Helped Mantle Homer, New York Times, Tuesday, April 21, 1953, Sports, p. 34. What is the longest home run wall in the MLB? 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. 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