He used a tape measure to determine the exact distance of the home run, giving birth to the term tape-measure shot.. Mickey Mantle was no stranger to long home runs. Jorge Soler has stroked some epic home runs in his Royal career. "Yet again, we have an example of a genuinely epic home run that has been grievously overstated.". While ESPN didn't dare to debunk this legend, it studied another home run against the Kansas City Royals onMay 22, 1963. The surefire Hall of Famer was made to look like a minor leaguer, at least for one at bat. Mantle finishes his career with six games left in the season. One day we will get true metrics on the longest home run ever. On a ball that sped 124 mph off the bat, ESPN's Home Run Tracker estimated a distance of 539 feet if unhindered. Had the ball not hit a light standard on the way out, it would have cleared the right field roof and landed on Trumbull Avenue. ESPN's Home Run Tracker yielded a projected true distance of 443 feet. It was hit by Dustin Pedroia with two outs in the ninth inning. Want to know whats up with Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Tom Brady and more? Oh yeah, that's not even Fielder's entry. 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. Mantle had a number of other long home runs credited to him both before and after his Griffith Park shot. Despite the scarcity of film on. 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? There are stories of his 600-foot home runs or treating old Yankee Stadium like it was his own personal Little League field. "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.". So take any urban legends about someone's 600-foot homer with a grain of salt. Teammate Frank Howard said, Youll never see five balls hit like that in a lifetime. But not so fast. 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. By holding the barrel forward, the bat must untip and then turn around the hands and into the baseball. 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. 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. There are folk tales about Mickey Mantle hitting the longest home run ever measured 565 feet. The bat tip allows for more bat speed to be carried into the baseball. Bo to us. The longest shot I have seen in person in Royals Stadium came in August of 1973. This one traveled 493 feet (147 m) but it was not measured so there is no confirmation that it went out of Fenway. Babe Ruth (1921): 575 feet There should be no doubt about the authentication of these conclusions. Estimates vary with some pegging the blast at 636 feet. This process allows for momentum to be carried into contact. In his penultimate 2000 season, Glenallen Hill registered a career-high 27 home runs for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. Ball hit by Mickey Mantle on April 17, 1953 at Griffith Stadium to set a new distance record for home runs. But why argue over semantics when we can watch some of MLB's best sluggers sock a few dingers? ESPN's Home Run Tracker has also studied long balls since 2006, giving fans a better sense of how homers travel. "I was sitting on a changeup, because he only threw like 88," Dunn recalled to Cincinnati Enquirer's C. Trent Rosecrans a year later. A ball landing on the plaza might have bounced clear to I-70. Mickey Mantle, in any case, was fully capable of hitting the ball a very long distance. Manage Settings Amazingly Aaron only won one MVP award, in 1957. But experts say the flight of the ball observed by fans that day was an optical illusion and that the ball Mantle hit was already on its way down when it hit the roof, though still a singular accomplishment and memorable home run. Amazingly, many of those records remain unequaled, which is to say that, is a true athletic anachronism. The date:April 17, 1953. A familiar feat for power hitters at venerable Wrigley Field is to hit a home run onto Waveland Avenue. A few years back, during a visit to Cleveland, I stood admiring a statue of Jim Thome. Canseco and fellow Bash Brother Mark McGwire teamed to hit their share of monstrous homers with the Oakland Athletics, none bigger than this blast. Continue with Recommended Cookies. In 565 feet, Mickey Mantle (1953). 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. 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. Maybe Mantle didn't quite hit it 565 feetWilliam Jenkinson suggested 510 feet as a better approximation. Bo rarely hit fence scrapers. It was hit on August 14, 1953, at Milwaukee County Stadium. According toWilliam Jenkinson, researchers estimated the fabled fly ball at 573 feet, and the New York Times originally reported a 630-foot flight. In the bottom of the 3rdinning, Jackson crushed an outside fastball that eventually rang off of a transformer at the top of the stadium. 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. ESPN Home Run Trackermeasured it as the longest shot since providing full data in 2008. The legendary hitter tookFred Hutchinson yard onJune 9, 1946, for a dinger deemed to have traveled 502 feet. However, for much of MLB history, there wasnt even an exact way to determine the length of tape-measure home runs. Yogi Berra was next, and Dobbs walked him. Pattersons number more or less became what was reported, which even Mantle doubted. Lets take a look at some of the longest home runs ever hit. They back off, however, when told they will appear greedy while their countrymen are fighting a war. 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. September 10, 1918 - Players on both sides of the World Series threaten to strike unless they are guaranteed $2,500 to the winners and $1,000 each for the losers. Mickey Mantle & Sports Illustrated covers, SportsIllustrated.CNN.com. Bo hit this ball harder than Brian Bosworth. Mantle gets his batting title back from Carl Yastrzemski with a.356 average. While those feats would shatter Meyers mark, there was no technology or tool that could give an exact measure of those distances. According to ESPN's findings, the ball landed on a fan's straw hat deep in the right field bleachers. That's the longest home run in history. That '63 season, Dave slugged 22 home runs, walked 63 times and drove in 70 runs for a White Sox team that won 94 games. In his first five seasons in New York, Mickey averaged 144 hits, 24 home runs and 89 RBI and starting in 1952, earned his first of 20 All-Star selections. Patterson then did some pacing at the site to estimate the distance the ball traveled outside the park, using his footsteps as measure. Initial estimates credited him with hitting a 656-foot bomb in college, a mark outlandish even for an MLB star using performance-enhancing drugs. Facing Seattles Mike Moore in a game on September 14, 1986, Bo hit his first major league home run, a titanic blast that landed high on the grassy knoll of left-center field. in 1926. Brandon Moss only spent one season in Kansas City, but he did produce 22 home runs. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. In those days, the plazas behind the left and right field seats housed a circular concrete building of restrooms and a concession stand. Youll never hit a bigger home run in your life! In fact, the announcer's calls of each of those home runs, Thompson, Mazeroski and Aaron are classic moments in baseball history. Hitting a home run to straight away center field off of a 90-mile-an-hour fastball is difficult to do. Many coaches are against hitting the ball in the air because of the perceived "easy out.". The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. Mickey Mantle Blasts 480 Foot Homer in St. Louis, Washington Post, April 30, 1953, Sports, p. 25. MLB Statcast was introduced in 2015 and gave fans a more accurate indicator of home run distance. For Royal fans, George Brett provided plenty of home run drama, most of it against the Yankees. Keep up with all the important NBA updates, including news on LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and more:http://po.st/PlaylistSI-NBAFrom Bryce Harper and Mike Trout to Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner, Sports Illustrated brings you the smartest commentary and inside stories on the latest MLB news:http://po.st/PlaylistSI-MLBCheck out the most recent clips and highlights from episodes of SI Now, Sports Illustrateds daily talk show. Per National Baseball Hall of Fames Matt Kelly, it went an estimated 535 feet. The poor sap who fed the Hall of Fame outfielder a gopher ball: Chuck Stobbs. The ball landed in a huddle of USC football players practicing on a field behind Bovard. It said, "Barney, you're still the greatest." Schultz finished the Series with an 18.00 ERA. The Dunn homer is at 6:20 in the video. He was Big Papi before Big Papi. "An inning or so later, they told us it was charted at 484 feet. 19-year-old Mickey Mantle had just hit the longest home run in baseball history! This would put him in the feasible discussion for the longest round-tripper ever. Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson built their legacy by hitting home runs. In 565 feet, Mickey Mantle (1953). Besides Dunn, only Mickey Mantle and Mark McGwire appear twice on this list, proving Dunn swings a mean bat. Sitting in the first row behind home plate, I had a great view of the ball's flight. Mickey Mantle holding the ball he hit out of Griffith Park, April 17, 1953. If you know of any other epic shots in Royals history, feel free to share. But Lemon gives up four runs without recording an out before being replaced by Joe Pepitone. 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). Hitting a baseball hundreds of feet is incredibly hard. A sixth ball was thrown by a fan in the tenth but it was credited to the batter so it didn't reach the stands. 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. After Giancarlo Stanton decimated a baseball during the World Baseball Classic, MLB Network informed viewers that the hulking outfielder torpedoed the ball 424 feet at an exit velocity of 117.3 miles per hour. "I know if he throws that changeup, he'll make me look like an ass, because he had such a good one, if you don't sell out to it. The poor sap who fed the Hall of Fame outfielder a gopher ball: Chuck Stobbs. 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. 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.. That shot, off the Angels Bill Singer, landed about five rows shy of the left field plaza. 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. "It looks like beer's coming down.". The record is now held by Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels. 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). To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. "I don't think anyone could ever be comfortable getting a statue, I mean that respectfully," Thome said during the unveiling ceremony, per. Story appeared on page 25. After playing a major role in the Red Sox 2004 championship drive, Ortiz joined an all-star team for a tour of Japan. Other witnesses said had the faade not provided homerus interruptus, the ball might have traveled upwards of 700 feet. City of Denver engineer Jerry Tennyson was able to verify the distance of the home run at 582 feet. I had to squint to see home plate. Notice where Canseco holds the barrel as the pitch is being thrown. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Others claim the longest jack was hit by the Angels Mike Trout in June of 2014 off Jason Vargas. Most are forgotten the next day, but many become things of lore. It was quite the shot, something that had never been seen at the Big O. Strawberry even stopped at second base after the ball hit the roof of the stadium, unsure whether to complete his home run trot, until the umpire gave him the go-ahead to touch them all. 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 1956, Mantle had a career year led the AL in batting average (.353), home runs (52) and RBI (130) to win the elusive Triple Crown as well as the American League Most Valuable Player award. Hurdle, drafted in 1975, made quick work of the Royals minor league system. It was as no doubt about it a home run as could possibly be. "The Longest Home Runs Ever Hit" But not so fast. The As McGwire hit the ball so hard off of Clevelands Orel Hershiser that it caused the veteran pitcher to mouth the word wow as the ball sailed into the left field bleachers. The ball soared out of Wrigley Field and landed on the rooftop of a building across the street. In September 2008, Dunn crushed a fastball from Colorado lefty Glendon Rusch that hit the Jumbotron at Chase Field. 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. 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. There's a lesson for all the kids hoping to leave behind a lasting legacy: Stay humble, work hard and hit dingers. "He is an icon and mentor to three generations of customers from all corners of Oklahoma and surrounding states . Who hit the longest home run ever and how far did they estimate it to have Travelled? This was a historic 565-foot homer that helped fuel the Mantle legend. 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