Longest ball ever hit and witnessed

[Frank J. Leigh]

Years ago, reading about Babe Ruth, I read that playing against a Prison Team in upper New York State...
Which Prison, I have forgotten, and whether Ruth was with the Red Sox or Yankees I have forgotten as well, but I never forgot the hit...

They claimed it measured {618 feet}...With the bats and balls of the day, that was phenominal...
If you consider today's equipment, games played, and training methods, no matter how far, steroids or not, these guys hit, or totals they build up, Ruth and some others will never be equaled...
Perhaps records should be kept in the context of their times and different circumstances to prevent a "record setter" exceding records with unequal equipment etc...FJL

[starkeeper]

In the Old Tiger Stadium, in June of 1991, I saw Mickey Tettleton hit a ball over the right field bleachers and out of the stadium. I don't know the measurement of the hit but that ball was sure tattooed. I think they were playing the California Angels.

[the pyromaniac]

In the Old Tiger Stadium, in June of 1991, I saw Mickey Tettleton hit a ball over the right field bleachers and out of the stadium. I don't know the measurement of the hit but that ball was sure tattooed. I think they were playing the California Angels.

Tettleton hit a lot of those after he left Oakland, especially once he got to Tiger-town! :)

[Jake83]

McGwire hit a ball over 500 feet against Randy Johnson in 97 or 98 at the Kingdome

[Outta Here]

Didnt witness it, but what about McGwire vs Livan Hernandez (FLA M), that was BIG :eek:

[Oriolesfan1810]

I think if I can remember, Darryl Strawberry hit the LONGEST homerun in Camden Yards history, it went 495 feet to dead center field.

Juan Gonzalez, I don't know if this is a myth or not, but he apparently hit the Camden Warehouse and that's 472 feet away.

[BaseballHistoryNut]

McGwire hit a ball over 500 feet against Randy Johnson in 97 or 98 at the Kingdome

I saw that ball. It was measured at 538 feet, I believe. It was pretty unreal, but with the number of Ruth bios I've read, I'm sure he hit many which were longer, and perhaps quite a lot longer. And, of course, Mantle hit one which cleared the LF bleachers at Griffith Stadium, and Josh Gibson hit two.

Jake: Specifically, McGwire's ball went over the wall between the deep part of LF and the shorter part of LCF. It totally cleared the first wave of bleachers and almost totally cleared the second wave. The "538 feet" estimate was given pretty quickly, but supposedly they had all of those seats measured or estimated.

What I remember most fondly, other than the barrage of "did you see THAT" phone calls I made, is this:

When McGwire got around third, Johnson tipped his cap to him. THAT showed a lot of class. Not, "Hey, MF, I'm gonna break two ribs next time you're up," or some such atavistic, egomaniacal b.s. from a guy like Clemens, Gibson, etc. Just a real show of respect, from the man who was then the games unquestioned #1 power pitcher to the man who was then the game's #1 power hitter/cheat. Since we/me weren't so cynical (realistic) then, I thought it was a great moment.

BHN

[baseballPAP]

I can claim Adam Dunn's blast that ended up on a piece of driftwood in the Ohio River as the longest I've ever witnessed. The ball had an unnatural flight....it just shouldn't have been able to keep going up that long! I believe it measured 500+, but I can't remember the "exact" figure.

[PopTop]

The two longest balls I ever saw hit in the old Astrodome were by Mike Schmidt and Darryl Strawberry. Schmidt's blast in 1974 off Claude Osteen hit the CF speaker that was hanging a good 100+ feet above the field and, by my estimation, about 375 from the plate. The distance to the centerfield wall then was 408 if my memory is correct. I'd guess that one would have traveled at least 480' if measured out. Not sure that it ever was measured, however, and it was eventually ruled a single :eek:

Strawberry hit his during the home run derby before the 1986 All-Star Game. They still had the old monster scoreboard on the wall beyond the outfield bleacher seats. Strawberry crushed one that hit off the base of that back wall in right down below the scoreboard.

Wasn't on hand at the games when Doug Rader and Jimmy Wynn launched homers into the left field upper deck of the old park (then yellow seats, eventually to be what was called the 'rainbow' level'). Willie Stargell reached that same seating level in right twice, I believe.

[RuthMayBond]

Years ago, reading about Babe Ruth, I read that playing against a Prison Team in upper New York State...
Which Prison, I have forgotten, and whether Ruth was with the Red Sox or Yankees I have forgotten as well, but I never forgot the hit...

They claimed it measured {618 feet}...With the bats and balls of the day, that was phenominal...
If you consider today's equipment, games played, and training methods, no matter how far, steroids or not, these guys hit, or totals they build up, Ruth and some others will never be equaled...
Perhaps records should be kept in the context of their times and different circumstances to prevent a "record setter" exceding records with unequal equipment etc...FJLI have reports of Ruth with
626' at Tiger Stadium
567' in Tampa, preseason

[RuthMayBond]

I saw that ball. It was measured at 538 feet, I believe. It was pretty unreal, but with the number of Ruth bios I've read, I'm sure he hit many which were longer, and perhaps quite a lot longer. And, of course, Mantle hit one which cleared the LF bleachers at Griffith Stadium, and Josh Gibson hit two.McGwire supposedly went 545' on 5/16/1998

[RuthMayBond]

I can claim Adam Dunn's blast that ended up on a piece of driftwood in the Ohio River as the longest I've ever witnessed. The ball had an unnatural flight....it just shouldn't have been able to keep going up that long! I believe it measured 500+, but I can't remember the "exact" figure.Most reports are saying 535'

[skeletor]

Over the life of the corner..formerly known as Navin-Briggs-Tiger stadium, been some monster shots outta the old gal..Ruth hit one that was rumoured to have gone over 600 plus feet..and doing it on a diet of hot dogs, beer, cigars, and lusty women....:rolleyes:

In the 1960's saw both Norman Cash and Frank ' hondo ' Howard smash a
couple of rockets outta the park..Cash over the right field roof..and Howard over the left-center field..Howard's ball was rumoured by NASA, to be in orbit around one of Mars's moons...:eek:

Of course, Mantle hit some shots as well..as well as the one in washington..
in 1953, over 540 plus....jeeez o'petes..the mick was the real deal.

Bonds couldn't carry his score card...in my opinion...:rolleyes:

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Over the life of the corner..formerly known as Navin-Briggs-Tiger stadium, been some monster shots outta the old gal..Ruth hit one that was rumoured to have gone over 600 plus feet..and doing it on a diet of hot dogs, beer, cigars, and lusty women....:rolleyes:

In the 1960's saw both Norman Cash and Frank ' hondo ' Howard smash a
couple of rockets outta the park..Cash over the right field roof..and Howard over the left-center field..Howard's ball was rumoured by NASA, to be in orbit around one of Mars's moons...:eek:

Of course, Mantle hit some shots as well..as well as the one in washington..
in 1953, over 540 plus....jeeez o'petes..the mick was the real deal.

Bonds couldn't carry his score card...in my opinion...:rolleyes:

I've said before that Bonds' sudden explosion into a magnificent long-distance HR hitter is traceable to a specific event: his 493-foot HR off of Seth Etherton in June of 2000--a ball hit with no help from the wind, which exceeded by over 43 feet any other non-wind-aided HR he'd ever hit. He then set about merrily hitting dozens of other such HR's, almost all of them after his 36th birthday, after never having done so before he had his magical encounter with Etherton. No reasonable person could deny what that signifies about his numbers in 2000-2004, but by the same token, it makes him look pretty clean before that. How many guys with huge numbers from 1995-1999 can we comfortably saw that about?

In my belief, there are two reasonable approaches to evaluating Bonds' career:

(1) Consider it over and done with, as of the date of the Etherton HR--or, perhaps, disregard everything from the start of 2000 on; or

(2) Because steroids and HGH obviously do not help one's longevity (note the breakdowns of numerous muscular PED freaks, most notoriously McGwire and Sosa, to say nothing of Caminiti), give Bonds heavily adjusted credit for his years from 2000 on, with far fewer HR's, runs scored and RBI's, enormously fewer walks, a hugely increased number of AB's, etc. I have no proposal for a credible way to adjust, for future historians' confident use, his slugging, on-base and runs created figures. Those will be guesses, which is perhaps ok for one season or so, but it would be hard to place confidence in the ultimate career figures.

IF you advocate giving Bonds zero credit from the start of 2000 on, then by the greatest stroke of providence, you have the fact Bill James rated Bonds the #14 player in MLB history at the end of 1999, and specifically said, "This rating is based on the assumption that his career ends with the 1999 season."

Obviously none of us is bound by James' rating of Bonds. Although quite a few people at this site might agree with James' rating of Honus Wagner, and just about every serious fan of old players gives Wagner more credit than I do, I find James' ranking of Wagner as the #2 player of all time ridiculous. Absolutely, indefensibly ridiculous. To me, it is brutally clear Cobb was better than Wagner. And I see no credible case for Wagner over Ruth. That makes him #3 at best, by my reasoning, and I see no case for him over Mays (or about 8 other guys), either--though I realize reasonable minds can differ on this one. But as I said, I know I give Wagner a lot less credit than other hardcore baseball historians. (I do agree, though, that he goes with Ruth and Gehrig as the 3 players who are indisputably the #1 players ever at their positions.)

Anyway, James would put Bonds at #14 among MLB-only players, through 1999. And he has Mantle at #5. So IF you're going to toss out everything Bonds did from the year he pretty clearly (no pun intended) turned huge and joined those who'd juiced before him, then you're plainly right, Skeletor: Mantle would be way ahead of him. To put it another way, #14 would be a great player, but #5 would be a great, great, great player.

But if you give Bonds "adjusted credit" for 2000-2006, well, you then have a guy with just over 600 HR's (a very reasonable figure), over 700 SB's, huge numbers of runs, RBI's and walks (though not nearly AS huge), etc.

The insoluble problem, I think, is that even if one puts up "reasonably reliable, compromise numbers" for Bonds, one must accept that they're only that. And so how in the world does one posit seasonal and career slugging, on-base, runs created, etc., figures for Bonds?

I believe his career on-base average was better than Mantle's before 2000, but I could be wrong and for sure they were close; both were legitimately GREAT in OBP. His slugging would be ahead of Mantle's, but not by much. Defensively, Bonds was the greatest LF ever; Mantle was a tremendous defensive CF through 1958 or so, but after his arm injury in the late 50's, and especially after the osteomyelitis really kicked in, he was not a good CF, and wound up playing his last 2 years at 1B, at ages 35 and 36. But for several years, the guy WAS a great CF, which is worth more than a great LF. Sid Bream would not have tried to score with Mantle that distance from home plate. Or, if he did, and if Mantle's throw were as accurate as Bonds' was, he'd have been out by 20 feet.

Anyway, I agree with James. I think Bonds was a spectacular, great player and a clear-cut first-round HOF'er, and surely one of the all-time 20 best MLB players, through the end of 1999. Having had the dubious pleasure of watching him every day, I think the conclusion which the long-distance HR evidence compels is right. He was a comparative choirboy through 1999, while vastly lesser players attained evanescent fame with their steroids and HGH. But as great as he was until 2000--and trust me, y'all, you don't dislike him any more than I do--he was NOT as great as Mickey Mantle, as of that point in his career. No way.

Even if James (and I) are wrong about Mantle, and he belongs more like at #10 or #12, Bonds through 1999 had not had a career equal to that of Mantle. Whether he NOW deserves to be rated ahead of Mantle--and, for that matter, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Morgan, Speaker, Musial, Ted Williams, Wagner, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth or Willie Mays--is a matter of how legitimately one regards his 2000-2006 actual or "adjusted" stats, and how one then compares him those other immortals.

Baseball History Nut

[serumgard]

I think if I can remember, Darryl Strawberry hit the LONGEST homerun in Camden Yards history, it went 495 feet to dead center field.

Juan Gonzalez, I don't know if this is a myth or not, but he apparently hit the Camden Warehouse and that's 472 feet away.
That's almost got to be a myth - that would be a 472 foot opposite field home run.

If we're counting the home run derby, I saw Bobby Abreu hit a 519-footer in Comerica Park last year. He hit that someplace I never thought I'd see one hit.

[csh19792001]

That's almost got to be a myth - that would be a 472 foot opposite field home run.

If we're counting the home run derby, I saw Bobby Abreu hit a 519-footer in Comerica Park last year. He hit that someplace I never thought I'd see one hit.

They use different (smaller and more lively) baseballs during the All Star homerun derby. The distances obtained during those contests are not comprable to actual game homeruns.

[csh19792001]

I've said before that Bonds' sudden explosion into a magnificent long-distance HR hitter is traceable to a specific event: his 493-foot HR off of Seth Etherton in June of 2000--a ball hit with no help from the wind, which exceeded by over 43 feet any other non-wind-aided HR he'd ever hit...

Baseball History Nut

Outstanding post. Perhaps your magnum opus thus far.

Just out of curiousity, how long did that take you to compose?

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Well, this one per se took relatively little time to write, because it's a rehashing of things I've said before. But the first time I wrote these things? Probably three hours, and that's after the days I spent thinking my way through them.

I had to get past all of my intensely negative--ok, hateful--feelings toward Bonds. Then I had to try and figure out what the fair options are for dealing with the sui generis player who: (1) is obvoiusly one of the greatest baseball players of all time; but (2) just as obviously cheated in an increasingly big way during his great years, albeit beginning at a pretty clearly definable point in time which was, relative to the myriad other cheats, damn late in time.

I am loath, and I KNOW future historians will be loath, to cast aside everything that's happened in the way of power-related stats, of which there are so many, in the past 15 years. How they manage this, I don't know, but singling out one relative Johnny-come-lately and taking a chain saw to his stats alone is obviously not the answer, no matter how much of a
@##($*@!)!*$&~ the guy is/was. Hell, if they're going to single anyone out, they should do it to McGwire and Sosa (and, of course, Palmeiro).

Anyway, the various concepts in that e-mail took me hours to come up with, and if I'd been writing from scratch, I'd have spent probably 3 hours on it. As it was, I think I spent 90 minutes on it, at least, heavily editing it until I was satisfied with it.

Thank you, Csh. You are a very kind person. And, in resonse to a PM you sent me before, you're a pretty "erudite" person your self. Not that many hardcore baseball fans come up with "magnum opus."

BHN

[JJA]

There is no reliable evidence for a Mantle home run longer than about 506 feet. As Adair talks about in his book, "The Physics of Baseball", the so-called longest home run of Mantle was the ball hit out of the old Griffith Stadium, quoted by numerous people to be 565 feet. Adair shows in his book that based on the dimensions of the park, where the ball cleared the park, that a much better estimate of that actual home run was 506 feet.

Of interest is that the fact that no one - not Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio, Mantle, Reggie Jackson, etc. - ever hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium (though legend has it that Josh Gibson hit 2 balls out). Thus, Mantle's 506 foot blast still appears to be the longest ball ever hit, but not absurdly further than the 475 foot home runs hit from time to time even today.

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

There is some pretty reliable evidence that Babe Ruth hit a large number of home runs over 500 feet, and some over 600 feet... including, amazingly, his final career HR, which was the first ball hit over the roof and out of Forbes Field to RCF. That one, in particular, is quite well-established, and he was a shadow of his former self at the time.

[JJA]

Here is a quote from Dr. Adair's book, The Physics of Baseball, page 100.

Stories of colossal clouts, of ball hit tremendous distances, constitute a part of the apocraphya of baseball. The stories of the longest blows (carries of 550 to 600 are usually reported) always place the ball's landing in some poorly surveyed location, i.e., the street outside the stadium, so that "estimate" might be best translated as "uninformed wild guess".

The rest of his chapter on Batting the Ball describes the reasons why it is virtually impossible to hit a ball measurably past 500 feet. Interestingly, he cites Dan Valenti's book "Clout" that is a book about famous home runs (I haven't read it). From descriptions in that book Adair concluded that the Mantle Griffith Park 506 foot home run is the longest home run that can reliably be estimated. Also of interest is his comment that on that particular home run the wind was blowing out at 20 mph with gusts of 41 mph. If it had been a windless day, Adair estimated that the home run could have been only 430 feet.

Fun stuff for sure.

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Here is a quote from Dr. Adair's book, The Physics of Baseball, page 100.

Stories of colossal clouts, of ball hit tremendous distances, constitute a part of the apocraphya of baseball. The stories of the longest blows (carries of 550 to 600 are usually reported) always place the ball's landing in some poorly surveyed location, i.e., the street outside the stadium, so that "estimate" might be best translated as "uninformed wild guess".

The rest of his chapter on Batting the Ball describes the reasons why it is virtually impossible to hit a ball measurably past 500 feet. Interestingly, he cites Dan Valenti's book "Clout" that is a book about famous home runs (I haven't read it). From descriptions in that book Adair concluded that the Mantle Griffith Park 506 foot home run is the longest home run that can reliably be estimated. Also of interest is his comment that on that particular home run the wind was blowing out at 20 mph with gusts of 41 mph. If it had been a windless day, Adair estimated that the home run could have been only 430 feet.

Fun stuff for sure.

-JJA

But we know for CERTAIN that that's crap. We've all seen lots of HR's hit far over 430 feet in the last 15 years, no matter how bogus they are. Babe Ruth hit most of his farther than that. I couldn't even guess how many I've seen in the last few years. I saw McGwire's 538 foot steroid-blast off The Big Unit in Seattle, in a DOME, and it was just killed. The ball Ruth hit completely out of Forbes Field--and the PART of Forbes where he hit it over the second-story roof--are not subject to dispute, either, though I'll admit I don't know what the wind was like. Would have had to be one helluva wind to blow a baseball over the top of THAT stadium, I'll tell you that. Ditto for the HR's Stargell hit over the RF roof at Forbes, in the 1960's.

Robert Creamer, who must have spent 6 years writing his definitive Ruth bio, talked to a lot of people about #714, the 3rd HR Ruth hit that day, the one that went over the RF roof and out of the park. One of those he talked to was the pitcher who threw the ball (his comment: "I think it's still moving, somewhere"). He concluded it traveled about 600 feet, and if you've read Creamer's book (if you haven't, shame on you), you know it's the exact opposite of that mawkish, maudelin, ridiculous, lugubrious William Bendix movie. It's UNsentimental, erudite and extremely credible.

I can accept the notion one would have to be an extraordinary human being to hit a ball over 550 feet without wind--just as Secretariat had to be a "master horse" (please forgive the term) to set the still-record times he did in the Derby and the Belmont. It's really not subject to dispute that Ruth was such an extraordinary being (unless one wants to call thousands of people liars), and I'm not sure it's reasonable to dispute that Josh Gibson was, either.

BHN

[JJA]

BHN,

For those of you who don't have Adair's book, it's highly recommended. It's less than $10 at Amazon, and it is filled with lots of fun information on the Physics of Baseball. For example, he talks about the various factors that affect the distance a ball is hit. 1000 feet in altitude increases the distance hit by 7%, 1 mph following wind by 3 feet, 10 degrees of air pressure 4 feet, etc.

As he talks about, IBM sponsored the "Tale of the Tape Program" in 1988/1989 where accurate analysis was done to determine how far home runs would have traveled had they not hit the seats. Out of more than 2000 home runs, only two would have carried over 460 feet - a 478 foot blow by Dave Winfield, and a 473 foot home run by Fred McGriff. Only 8, or about one in 250, traveled more than 450 feet. So home runs above 450 feet are exceedingly rare.

That's just what the firmly documented evidence says. On the other hand, if you want some more "apocrypha", which is of course a lot more fun, check out Mantle's longest clouts, championed by a 734 foot shot that almost left Yankee Stadium.

http://www.themick.com/10homers.html

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

You don't need to put "apocrypha" in quotation marks for me, sir. I'll be glad to put my academic bona fides against yours anytime (though admittedly not in Physics), so spare me the superciliousness.

I watched the telecast of the game in which McGwire hit two HR's initially estimated at over 500 feet. Neither left the park and was thereafter a wild stab-in-the-dark estimate someone exaggerated tremendously, though they did later say that one of them was probably just under 500 feet. Yeah, both were asterisk-worthy, but only because of the garbage McGwire took.

I also watched the telecast of the game in which McGwire hit his titanic blast off Randy Johnson, reliably estimated at 538 feet. If you'd seen where it landed in the seats, you'd probably agree that's a reliable estimate, the good Physics Ph.D.'s didactic preachings notwithstanding.

Now, there HAVE been a LOT of "titanic, massive HR's of mindboggling, historic proportions" in baseball history which WERE hit out of old parks into remote locations, and whose ultimate places of arrival could not be identified with any real confidence. Mantle's HR off of Stobbs is one of them. Ruth's final career HR is another, although there's nothing speculative about the breathtaking place where it left the two-story, roofed stadium, soaring above a roof where no ball had gone before. If YOU'RE open to a little learning, Sultan can post a photo for you of the spot where that ball left the stadium. It's more than a little impressive. (Of course, it's always so much more fun to be parochial, doctrinaire and condescending.) And remember: That was the final HR of Ruth's career, hit when he was 40 and washed up, with his eyes, (inter alia), failing.

The learned professor can write all the books he wants to, but they will never alter things which are established facts, much less things like McGwire's HR off of Randy Johnson in Seattle, which I personally saw. It occurred in a domed stadium, where the wind probably was not blowing out with too much vigor.

BHN

[JJA]

BHN,

Part of the problem in determining how far a ball goes is that the longest homers almost always hit something, often high up. Since the arc of a home run is parabolic, it is difficult to determine how far it goes. Here is a picture of the analysis Dr. Adair did to determine how far the Mantle Griffith Park home run actually went:

http://home.att.net/~jlanagnost/adair.jpg

The grayed out block represents the left field bleachers. The ball was seen to glance off a beer sign in left center field as it cleared the 55 foot left bleachers 460 feet from home plate. The spot it hit the beer sign was 60 feet above the playing field level. The square block shows the estimate given by the Yankee publicist at 565 feet, which is clearly nonsense.

Almost all of the long home runs fall into this bucket of people trying to guesstimate distances of a parabola which is not easy to do. Even the Guiness Book of Sports Records lists this Mantle shot as the all-time record of 565 feet, yet Dr. Adair's analysis is pretty convincing it was only 506 feet.

Furthermore, in his chapter on hitting the ball, he estimates one would need a swing speed of 110 mph to hit an 85 mph fastball 600 feet, and 130 mph to hit it 700 feet. I've never heard of a single major leaguer with swing speeds over 100 mph, though some of the behomeths in slow pitch softball have been clocked in the 120 mph range.

Relax. This is all in fun. I love to read the stories of the long home runs as much as anybody, even if most of the stories stretch the truth a tad (or a lot!).

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

And I have NO PROBLEM with limiting Mantle's "legenday" Griffith blast to 506. Any reasonable person has to have been skeptical about the way that one was measured, all along.

But as I've now said 3 times, I SAW Mark McCheat hit the 538-foot blast off of Randy Johnson (yes, VERY fast pitcher, VERY fast swinger), indoors, and it's a FACT Ruth hit some monstrous HR's, including, at age 40, when he was finally spent and completely washed up from his many years of dissolute living, a monster bomb which until the 1940's or 1950's was the ONLY ball hit over the RF roof and out of Forbes Field.

That's not subject to dispute, and that wasn't a 450-footer.

BHN

[JJA]

BHN,

McGwire's 538 foot home run off Randy Johnson is not in dispute? Really? Check out

http://www.slate.com/id/2095/

Doing a similar analysis of what Adair did for the Mantle shot (it used the 1976 Kingdome blueprints along with later laser surveys), that famous McGwire home run was estimated to be 474 feet, a titanic shot by any measure but well short of the 538 feet claimed at the time. Almost all of these legendary home runs are much less than the publicity agents put out.

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

I will say this about that HR:

It is my recollection it was well on its way down when it came to its resting place. That is, it was not a missile which smashed into a seat or a fan's glove, and left the impression it had 100 more feet to go. It was an epic, incredible blast, but it left an educated eye with the impression it had traveled most of the distance it was meant to travel.

BHN

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Well, that article presupposes the ball landed only 439 feet from home. As I recall, the ball went over the LCF sign, or, at least, closer to LCF than LF. AND IT WAS 389 FEET, by my recollection, TO LCF IN THE KINGDOME.

If I am correct that it went out closer to LCF than to LF, then there is no way in hell that ball landed only 439' from home, because it came down a LOT farther than 50 feet beyond the fence. Like the announcer suggested, it was a breathtaking, oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-I'm-seeing-this HR, and you KNOW that he, like myself, had seen a ton of them.

Immediately after it, I telephoned a fellow baseball maniac and said, "You know how, ever since you started watching baseball, there have periodically been confrontations between a legendary fastballer and a legendary slugger, and the announcer would say something like, `Boy, you just wonder, if [Name of Slugger] got hold of [Name of Pitcher's] best fastball, how far would it go?" My friend said, "Yes?" I told him what I'd just seen, how unbelievably far the ball had gone, and that the apparent answer, give or take a few feet, was 538 feet... according to a very rapid measurement.

That ball did NOT land 50 feet past the LCF fence, I promise you that. I've watched the game maniacally for almost half a century. I was 5 when the Giants came west with Mays and got Cepeda, and I was 6 when they added McCovey. I remember when they had the monster HR hitting Giant of them all, Dave Kingman. I've seen a TON of long HR's.

That ball did not land only 50 feet past the 389' sign. It DID, however, come down in the manner you describe. As I conceded elsewhere, it did NOT smash into that seat on a line drive.

If I'd seen all kinds of Ruth's HR's, I might not remember that one as vividly as I do. But I was born 4.5 years after baseball's greatest player drew his last breath, so I never got to see any of his monster blasts.

BHN

[JJA]

I wasn't there, have absolutely no direct knowledge, so I'm not describing what happened. I wasn't the author of that article. All I'm saying is that virtually all the legendary blasts past 500 feet are suspect, and that detailed analysis often yields very different answers than what was originally stated by team publicists (who have motivations to sell the game).

That's why I agree with the author that equipment should be installed in all MLB parks that allow accurate measurements to be made of how far balls are hit. As it stands right now, it's just really hard to estimate accurately with balls hitting things high above the playing field with varying trajectories.

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

For purposes of our discussion, it would be good to get a few more people who watched that game (not likely), OR a few who distinctly recall seeing it on SportsCenter that night (likely). I'm pretty sure about the distance to LCF in the Kingdome, but I cannot say I'm certain--as opposed to fairly confident--that the ball sailed over the LCF sign. I may be wrong and it may, in truth, have gone closer to straightaway LF.

That is a key point here. If it did go over the LCF sign, then I'm telling you as fact that the ball landed in a space much farther than 439 feet from home plate. BUT IF THE BALL WENT OUT CLOSER TO PURE LEFT FIELD THAN TO PURE LEFT CENTER FIELD, AND ESPECIALLY IF IT WENT DIRECTLY OUT TO LEFT FIELD, then your author could be correct after all. We're talking about a difference of something like 50 feet to the wall, I believe.

The only other thing I can say about this is that I saw several balls hit over the "440 feet" sign in dead CF in Detroit, and several hit over the "430 feet" sign in post-renovation Yankee Stadium. I also once saw Dave Kingman hit one not only over the "430 feet" sign, but also over the fence behind it, which was the old "461 feet" fence. McGwire's HR off Johnson in the Kingdome looked, from the second McGwire hit it, like it was hit harder than any of them, except perhaps Kingman's ball.

And almost every HR I ever saw Kingman hit was just annihilated, so I cannot say McGwire's alleged 538 ft. HR in Seattle was any longer than the roughly 468 ft. HR I saw Kingman hit in Yankee Stadium in the mid-80's. (And no, I know nothing about the wind conditions that day in New York. Kingman hit enormously high HR's, so IF there was a strong wind, it could have added a lot of feet. He hit a 630-foot HR when he was a Chicago Cub, and that measurement is pretty reliable, but he had a zillion-mile-an-hour wind behind him, when he did it.)

Does anyone here remember if McGwire's monster HR off of Randy Johnson went out to LCF, LF, or somewhere in between? This is real important, in light of the attachment-article JJA sent me and the conversation we're having about how far the ball could have gone.

I certainly agree with you about measuring equipment. And in a place like Wrigley or Fenway, they need to have exit points measured carefully, so they can go from there to the place where the ball came down, because that location is now almost always caught on camera, as was the case with Kingman's unbelievable wind-blast.

BHN

[JJA]

Again, I have no direct knowledge of the homer but if it were hit to left center rather than left, that makes it even more impressive. It turns out very unintuitively (see Dr. Adair's book again) that a pulled ball will go further than a ball hit to center even for the same bat speed. (He estimated a difference of 11 feet or so.) So if McGwire's ball was hit to LCF rather than LF, that makes it even more impressive than it already is.

-JJA

[JJA]

One more thing. I found this map of the Kingdome seating.

http://home.att.net/~jlanagnost/kingdose.gif

According to the article, the ball landed in the left portion of section 240. This map makes it look like it is in left center. Does this make any sense? I've never been to the Kingdome so it's meaningless to me.

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

PLEASE DELETE. (Computer screwed up)

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Well, this is terrific. I spent 90 minutes writing up a big, long reply full of information and thoughts. Then it didn't post.

WTF?!!!

Well, in an effort to salvage what I can....

It looks, from your info and diagram, like the ball went out closer to pure LCF than pure LF, but like it went out somewhere in between the two, at about the 376' sign, not the 389' sign. For it to have been a 538' HR, it would have to have gone--or been destined to go, if unobstructed--162' more.

That ball was annihilated. I've seen all kinds of monster HR hitters in my life, and have watched baseball for 48 years prior to this season. Being a Giant fan, I've seen Mays, McCovey, Cepeda and, biggest of all for long-distance HR's prior to steroid ball, Dave Kingman. I saw Kingman hit the previously-mentioned monster just barely over the old fence behind the monuments at Yankee Stadium. Can I say with confidence that McGwire's ball was hit farther than that one? No, of course I'm not sure of that. If McGwire's ball was 470 feet, that would make it 94 feet beyond the fence it went over.

Now, I think was going farther than that, and by another 20 feet at least, but I cannot say that for certain. A ball which goes over an LCF fence by 94 feet has really been clobbered and will make an experienced viewer and an experienced play-by-play man bolt upright, as happened that night.

So, could that ball have been hit 470 feet, instead of 538 feet? Yes, given those stadium measurements and the 376' sign it went over. I'd like to hear from someone familiar with the Kingdome in general, and with that portion in particular, but I cannot say that a 470' measurement for that HR is ludicrous. A 430' projection... now, THAT is ludicrous. But I saw the way that Kingman HR at Yankee Stadium came rocketing off his bat, and I cannot say with strong confidence that McGwire's ball had 73 feet more in it, given the depictions in the stadium layout JJA has presented.

BHN

[danman90]

What about reggies homer at tiger stadium in the all star game

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Does Nobody Here Remember The Kingdome Well Enough To Recall About How Far From The Lf/lcf Fence The Deeper Part Of Section 240, As Shown In Jja's Stadium Diagram, Was?

[BaseballHistoryNut]

BHN,

For those of you who don't have Adair's book, it's highly recommended. It's less than $10 at Amazon, and it is filled with lots of fun information on the Physics of Baseball. For example, he talks about the various factors that affect the distance a ball is hit. 1000 feet in altitude increases the distance hit by 7%, 1 mph following wind by 3 feet, 10 degrees of air pressure 4 feet, etc.

As he talks about, IBM sponsored the "Tale of the Tape Program" in 1988/1989 where accurate analysis was done to determine how far home runs would have traveled had they not hit the seats. Out of more than 2000 home runs, only two would have carried over 460 feet - a 478 foot blow by Dave Winfield, and a 473 foot home run by Fred McGriff. Only 8, or about one in 250, traveled more than 450 feet. So home runs above 450 feet are exceedingly rare.

That's just what the firmly documented evidence says. On the other hand, if you want some more "apocrypha", which is of course a lot more fun, check out Mantle's longest clouts, championed by a 734 foot shot that almost left Yankee Stadium.

http://www.themick.com/10homers.html

-JJA

Dear JJA,

I have a question about this post. It appears you are saying that for every one mile per hour of wind that's blowing, the ball can go 3 feet farther. But shouldn't that depend greatly on how high the ball is hit?

Dave Kingman is either the longest HR hitter of my lifetime or the second longest, behind only Frank Howard. He played for about 3 years with the Chicago Cubs, in the ultimate windy ballpark, Wrigley Field. And he hit some unbelievably long HR's there, because Kingman's HR's generally were toweringly high fly balls which, despite their height, went a long way.

On one of the windiest days ever at Wrigley, Kingman hit what has been estimated--pretty reliably, I believe--as a 630-foot HR there. Now, if the wind was blowing at 40 miles per hour, and if wind is only worth 3 mph no matter how high the ball is hit, and how hard the ball is hit, does that mean Kingman's HR had to be a 510-foot HR on its own merits to go 630 feet that day?

I followed Kingman's career very closely (I'm in Nor Cal, and he began in SF and ended in Oakland), and I can tell you a lot of his HR's were MURDERED. Still, for a guy who hit the ball so high in the air to hit it 510 feet on his own merits strains my credulity. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I saw him hit one 465-470 in Yankee Stadium, but I've no idea what the wind was like that day, and that was more of a line drive home run. I did not see the 630' shot, but I HAVE seen the house where it came down (across the street and down the block), and for him to have hit a HIGH FLY BALL that went THAT far... well, I don't care how strong he was, or if it was Babe Ruth Himself, he'd need more than 120' of help from the wind, IMO.

Or do I just not know about Chicago? Being a California boy, I'm used to moderate temps. Could they have been playing with a 50-55 mph wind? That gets you up to a 165' boost, right? That would take it down to a 465' shot au naturel, which, with Kingman, is believable. And I believe that one was more to LF than CF.

Your further enlightenment re Physics and baseball would be appreciated.

BHN

[BaseballHistoryNut]

What about reggies homer at tiger stadium in the all star game

Did anyone outside the stadium--i.e., stadium personnel or police officers--happen to be standing nearby? Was it announced they could pinpoint, within a few feet, where that MISSILE you're referring to (who could forget that one?) came down?

The Kingman HR I'm talking about has the advantage of being a Wrigley HR, and of having come down in the neighborhood, in front of a specific house, where measurement was a lot easier. But the Kingman HR--even if it did go 630 feet--is really bogus, because we've all seen Wrigley on a super windy day, when you could just about BUNT a home run, and if you ever saw Kong, you can just imagine what one of his towering, massively struck HR's would do with a massively-blowing Wrigley wind behind it. Hell, when he went there, everyone said, "There goes the HR record." Actually, the closest he got was "only" 48.

That's why I'm asking our physicist about it. The speed he gave would suggest Kingman got no more than 120 feet from the wind, leaving him with 510 feet on his own. He was a TREMENDOUS long-distance HR hitter, but I don't know if I believe he could have hit 510' on his own. And so I want to know if (A) the wind could have been significantly over 40 MPH in Wrigley, with the game still being played in such conditions; and (B) if not, if the HEIGHT of a powerfully struck HR affects how many added feet per MPH you can get from the wind, because nobody ever hit long-distance HR's as HIGH as Kong did.

Of course, I saw a ton of Reggie's career, too, because he played even more Bay Area years than Kong, I think. He did not hit the ball as far as Kingman, and he didn't have as good a HR/AB ratio. Having said that, I've about run out of things to say against him as a long-distance HR hitter. Reggie hit TREMENDOUSLY long HR's, and unlike Kong's, they weren't in the air for 20 seconds. They were rockets that hung in the air, for sure, but zoomed off his bat and broke pitchers' hearts. And as unpleasant and obnoxious as he could be--I sure didn't like him, and wanted to shake Nettles' hand when he decked Reggie in that restaurant--he was a GREAT power hitter who won the 1977 World Series. Kong put the Giants in the 1971 playoffs, where they lost 3 games to 1, and he never made it back again--something I believe to have had a cause-and-effect correlation.

Last, Reggie was no more clutch a HR hitter than Kong was, and by the end, he was just about as terrible a fielder as Kong had been, but he would take walks and could hit a lot better than Kong. That All-Star Game HR, and those 3 HR's in Game 6 of the 1977 Series, plus that pathetic and disastrous fly ball in Game 3 of the 1981 World Series that hit him in the chest, defined him as a one-dimensional player with an iron glove.

No argument about the glove from me, but Reggie, however obnoxious and narcissistic he was, knew a lot about baseball and played it right. Yes, he struck out a record 2,597 times, but he also walked 1,375 times; Kingman's numbers were 1,816 and 608. Considering he retired as the #6 all-time HR hitter, Reggie's slugging and on-base were modest, at .490 and .356; Kingman's were an unreal .302 and .236--this from the man who was, pre-Steroid Ball, the #5 HR/AB man of all time. Reggie scored 650 more runs than Kingman, and drove in 492 more runs.

And yet, when retired, the two men were very often compared to one another, largely because Reggie's fielding got so appalling in the end of his career. Reggie was pained by these comparisons--seriously--and clearly didn't want to be remembered as THAT kind of player, even if everyone agreed he was much the better of the two. And, with Kingman having a clear edge in HR/AB, grand slams, etc., that was no foregone conclusions.

Well, look at the above numbers. Reggie was no Willie Mays. As a right fielder, he was no threat to challenge Al Kaline, Roberto Clemente or Hank Aaron for defensive greatness, and by the end he was dreadful, though never as bad as SF's Jack Clark, much less as bad as Kong was in LF.

And he was a VERY GOOD hitter and, FOR SEVERAL YEARS, a GREAT HR hitter. Also, he avoided team suspensions, sitting down to pout, etc., so he played all the time--something which, in Kong's case, would have gotten him to 500 HR's before he was excised from baseball after 1986.

He was a very hard worker; he had immense NATURAL muscles, like Jimmie Foxx, and while he obviously did not have Foxx's talent, he got everything he could out of the talent he was born with. I disliked him tremendously when he was playing, but now that I can look at his career objectively, I think he's a badly underrated player. If I sit down to do a Top 10 RF's list, it will begin with Ruth, Aaron, Robinson and probably Ott, Jackson will vie with Rose and 2 or 3 others for spots 5-9, with Clemente probably getting #10.

And all of this, mind you, is coming from a guy who HATED him, as a player and a person. If you're not a Giants fan, you cannot imagine how much we hate the Dodgers, but I rooted for them in the 1977, 1978 and 1981 Series because of Steinbrenner and Reggie, in no particular order. But he wasn't nearly as bad a guy as I'd thought (unlike Steinbrenner), and he was a MUCH better player than I credited him with being.

BHN

[JJA]

BHN,

Yes, Adair claims you get as much as 3 extra feet for each 1 mph following wind. And yes, you're right, how high the ball is hit affects how much the wind affects it. However, in all of his calculations, Adair assumes that the ball is hit at the optimal launch angle. For all you non-physics types out there, there is actually an optimal angle to hit the ball to get maximum distance. Adair estimated the optimal launch angle is about 35 degrees, and with a strong following wind, about 40 degrees. This is a good assumption, because distance the ball is hit is very strongly affected by launch angle (high pop fly = too high a launch angle versus hard chopper = too low a launch angle versus colossal home run = optimal launch angle).

(Brief digression. Why is there an optimal launch angle? Well, take a ball and throw it as far as you can. Anyone who has played baseball knows that to get maximal distance you need to arc your throws. If you throw it too straight, it doesn't go as far as a good arc. On the other hand, too much arc (i.e., straight up in the air) produces a shorter throw as well. There is a perfect angle, the so-called optimal launch angle, which is the angle that maximizes the distance a ball is thrown or a ball is hit. That is what I'm talking about above.)

So, yes, presumably a 30 mph following wind would add 90 feet or so to the hit ball. To end this post, here is Adair's description of what he views as the maximum length home run that could be hit. Note that his 450 feet estimate below is certainly not correct, 480 for bulked up guys like McGwire with faster swing speeds (near 100 mph) than Adair assumed. Still, it's a decent starting point to show how it is basically impossible to hit a 600 foot home run.

'Although 450 feet may be the maximum distance a ball can be hit under normal conditions in Old New York, baseball is played under other conditions and other places. Let us say that a pitcher is very fast and that his ball velocity is 95 mph. This increase the distance the ball would be hit from 450 to 455 feet. If the ball is pulled towards that foul lines, it will go as much as 15 feet farther, and we are up to 470 feet. Let us assume further that we are discussing a game played on a 100 degree day in July; then the ball could go 10 feet further because the hot air is thinner, and another 10 feet becuase the hot ball is livelier, to land 490 feet from home plate. If a 10 mph following wind aids the flight, the ball could go another 40 feet, so we now have a 530 foot blow. (We exclude meteorological freaks; the tornado that wafted Dorothy from Kansas to Oz could well have taken a baseball along.) In the thinner air of Atlanta - perhaps as the barometer is falling, with lightning on the horizon - the ball could go another 10 feet, to give us 540 feet. And in Denver, this distance (due to the altitude - JJA add) could reach 570 feet.

In summary, if someone tells me that a ball was hit 550 feet anywhere in the majors but Denver, I won't believe it - but I won't bet the farm against it. And if the ball is hit in Denver, all bets are off - it might nearly reach Kansas, or even Oz.'

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Well, Kingman's ball was hit on an enormously windy day. I don't know the number of mph, but it was a lot more than 10, and everyone under the sun was hitting HR's that day, as often happens in such a game at Wrigley.

As you may or may not know, Philly and the Cubs once played a 10-inning game there which ended in a 23-22 score. Kingman hit 3 HR's in that one. I have cassette tapes of the official broadcast of that game, and it sounds like two of his HR's were hit half way to Venus. It's possible one of those two was the alleged 630-footer. It's known, to a certainty, which house down the block that ball landed in front of, as I understand it.

Anyway, it was an extremely windy day, and not being from Chicago, I can't tell you how many mph it gets to on an extremely windy day there. I HAVE sat in Candlestick hundreds of times on extremely windy games, and I can tell you the winds there got extremely high, but they also blew in multiple directions most of the time. A few times they blew out to right, and what started out looking like a popup to shallow right became a home run--really absurd, and obviously a ton of feet added, though RF and even RCF were not deep there.

So, let's assume 50 MPH winds. And let's assume it was NOT one of Kingman's "high pop ups" that somehow became a HR, because he was so strong he could hit pop flies for HR's--and often did. If he hit a HR of normal height, but hit the hell out of it--say, a normal 475 footer, which he for sure was capable of--how far could it go with a 50 mph, summertime Chicago wind behind it?

(Something of note here: Although he possessed more than enough strength, Kingman almost never hit an opposite-field HR. He basically had one swing, and you had to avoid putting the ball in the range of that swing. SO... the ball has to have been hit to left field or left-center field. AND, left center field is ridiculously shallow at Wrigley Field. Everyone has seen that "368" sign on TV, but it's closer to center than it is to LCF, and the "400" sign is as close to RCF as it is to CF. So both LF and LCF are very shallow. I don't know how far it is from that fence to the stadium's outside fence, but it's not all that far, given the way homers leave the ballpark with ease. So, as far as that house--and I've seen it pointed out--looks like it would be from home, it doesn't HAVE to be 630 feet.)

Second question: If he hit a towering fly ball that was nonetheless destined to go 440 feet WITHOUT wind--and I saw him do it plenty of times--how far would it have gone with that wind behind him? And please understand, in calculating what I mean by a "towering fly ball," that this is a guy who once lost a fly ball into a hole in the ROOF of the Minnesota Metrodome, and who another time lost a HR because it was still so high, as it prepared to go over the fence in Seattle, that it hit a wire or speaker or something up high in the dome, and dropped straight into the left fielder's glove, as he stood by the fence. So, when I'm talking about a towering fly ball that's meant to go 440 ft. au naturel, I mean TOWERING.

You've said before that MLB should measure various places in these stadia. Since all the games at Wrigley are televised, and since the neighborhood is so well-known, they ought to measure the distances to the periphery of the stadium, and from there to various points outside it. Someone who knew what he/she was doing could go to Wrigley RIGHT NOW and measure the distance from home plate to where that ball landed, so this is not like any of Ruth's famous HR's that were hit out of no-longer-extant parks and down two blocks and so forth. It might be something which your physics expert--and I'm not using that term derisively, because it seems apparent that's what he is--would be interested to learn.

Anyway, I eagerly await your answers and estimates about that HR. I think the tapes I have of that game are un-dubbable (to coin a word), and I have no idea if the alleged 630-footer was hit during the 23-22 game, anyway. It is very obvious, however, that anyone could have hit a HR that day, that a great many people did, and that 2 of Kingman's 3 HR's were absolutely murdered.

BHN

[JJA]

BHN,

If you believe Adair's 3 feet for every 1 mph of wind, a 50 mile per hour wind would add 150 feet to make the 440 foot shot actually a mind boggling 590 feet. 50 mph winds are extremely strong (Category 1 hurricane force winds start at 75 mph), but even 40 mph winds could make it 560 feet. That's why I wonder why Adair says he wouldn't believe a 550 foot home run. All it would take is a 440 foot home run with a 40 mph tailwind to exceed that if his formulas are correct.

That's why I'm a bit skeptical of his formula. If Mantle hit it only 506 feet out of Griffith Stadium that Adair estimates would have been only a 430 foot shot in still air, why didn't more people hit it out? Surely someone hit it 450 feet during all the years that the stadium was open, and even more surely the wind had to be blowing out more than once, so it sure seems like lots of guys should have hit it out, yet no one Mantle is reported to have done so (though it is rumored that Josh Gibson hit it out twice).

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Conspicuously absent from your reply is any belief in the notion of a 630-foot HR on a super-windy day at Wrigley. I take it you just don't buy that?

I wish someone would simply measure that one off. They know where the house is.

BHN

[nosoupforyou]

Cecil Fielder has hit a couple of 500+ footers. I witnessed one over the left field wall at Tiger Stadium when I was about 12 years old. And the one in the all star game also at Tiger Stadium from Reggie Jackson has to be up there too. There's no way to tell who has hit the farthest ball ever, just like many other stats we will never know the answer to such as the fastest pitch ever.

[JJA]

BHN,

Let's put it this way. I'm extremely skeptical on any ball claimed to be hit that far. Anyone who has seen a ball hit 440 foot knows what a tremendous home run that is. Hitting a ball 200 more feet, almost half again as far, is unfathomable, at least to me

That said, the physics does say it is possible under the perfect conditions including 40 mph winds, and with 100+ years of baseball, it sure seems likely someone should have done it if the physics is right (which again seems a bit shaky on the effect of wind). Yes, yes, yes! I wish there was some real measurements. Otherwise, we're all just speculating.

-JJA

[RuthMayBond]

Well, Kingman's ball was hit on an enormously windy day. I don't know the number of mph, but it was a lot more than 10, and everyone under the sun was hitting HR's that day.

Anyway, it was an extremely windy day.

So, let's assume 50 MPH winds.My information says that Kingman hit the HR in THIS game

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04140CHN1976.htm

There was exactly one other HR hit that day.

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Thanks, RMB, I read the attachment. So, by your reading, the HR I'm talking about was before he was a Cub, while with the Mets. Their estimate is 530-550 Ft. I know, as I said, that two of the three he hit in the 23-22 game, when he WAS a Cub, were also murdered. But from your post, I gather perhaps you have information THIS is the HR I'm talking about which is now being estimated at a grand 630 feet, but manifestly was THEN estimated at 80 to 100 feet less.

I want someone with the right equipment simply to measure the distance from home plate to the wall, then the wall to the stadium's outer wall, then the outer wall to that house. How long could it take? Obviously it will be an asterisked HR in any event, because it got a ton of help, but it would be nice to know for sure how far it went, and this is one which doesn't need to be guesswork.

BHN

[RuthMayBond]

In the 23-22 game?No, when Kingman supposedly hit the 630 footer. I have the link for it

[SHOELESSJOE3]

For sure we will never know who hit the longest but Ruth has to among the longest.

Just a few.
In 1927 Fenway Park over the wall in CF at the 488 foot marker.The ball came to rest after striking the wall of a garage operated by an auto mechanic. That was home run number 24.

Again 1927 home run number 45 same location over the wall in CF at the 488 foot marker.

1927 at Comiskey Park the very first season of the altered park. In the winter of 1926 a roof had been added to the park. Owner Charles Comiskey in the Sporting News, "No one will be hitting balls out of this park now". In August of the 1927 season Ruth belted his famous "roof topper". The ball cleared the 52 foot wide roof with room to spare and came down in a parking lot across Wentworth Avenue. At that time the distance down the RF foul line was 360 feet.

1927 at Yankee Stadium Ruth hit two monster shots in one game, one of them to Cf at that time it was 487 feet to CF. After the second home run Cleveland catcher Luke Sewell declares "no one can hit one that far, not with out a loaded bat." Sewell demands that the ump look at the bat, he does and finds nothing. Sewell takes back the bat looks it over again, pounds it on the plate, then gives it the smell test. Shakes his head and tosses the bat aside. After the game he claims he smelled the bat to see if he could detect the smell of an adhesive, believing the bat may have been laminated.

In the case of the two at Fenway it can easily be determined that the two home runs had to be around 500 feet since they struck nothing and cleared the wall at 488 feet. Same with the Yankee Stadium home run, struck no object and cleared the fence at the 487 foot mark, had to be around 500 feet.

[BaseballHistoryNut]

I did not know Ruth had hit a HR out of Comiskey Park. Shame on me.

[flash143817]

Ruth almost certainly it a few 500 footers because CF in a lot of those stadiums were near 500 feet in those days and he hit some out to CF. Yankee Stadium had a 487 ft CF wall in Ruth's time and was near 500 ft to Death Valley when Ruth played. Also there was the documented shot over the 487 ft wall in Navin Stadium.



Longest looking ball I've ever seen hit was Adam Dunn's off of Jose Lima. Absolutely crushed to dead CF and had to have cleared the CF wall by over 100 feet before bouncing into the river. CF at Great American Ballpark is listed at 404 feet so I have no problem believing that Dunn hit it over 500 feet.

I believe it because it was hit to CF. A lot of these other balls look farther than they really are because they are hit to left or right where the fences are shorter to begin with. Any ball that goes as far over the wall as the one Dunn hit to CF is absolutely hammered.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I did not know Ruth had hit a HR out of Comiskey Park. Shame on me.

That was on August 16, 1927 and was home run #37. As stated in my earlier post the ball cleared the 52 foot wide, 75 foot high roof and came down in a parking lot across Wentworth Avenue.

The home run's description can be found in a number of books, two of which, Murderers Row page 309 and The Home Run Encyclopedia page 26.

Ruth never lost his home run swing. In a long distance hitting contest with Dolph Camilli, Joe Medwick and Johnny Mize Ruth came out the winner.
The contest was held at Sportsmans Park in St. Louis. Ruth hit the longest drive that was estimated at around 440 to 460 feet. The ball was hit over the pavillion across Grand Boulevard and came down on the second set of trolley car tracks.

Certainly he hit some longer drives than this in his career. What made this one more impressive is that it took place in 1938 when Ruth was 42, out of shape and a coach for the Dodgers and competing with hitters who were still active. His prize, he won 50 dollars.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

This was a fair tape measure job hit by The Babe. Not his longest but one we have discussed and debated for years. We've heard quite a bit about his home run at Wrigley in the 1932 World Series and I thought it might be interesting to some, to get more of a feel a visual effect. With no intent to debate did he call it or not, just enjoy the pic.

[JJA]

The other interesting thing that Adair points out in his book The Physics of Baseball is the effect of bat weight on home run distance. These days the norm is to swing very light bats (relatively speaking) in the 32 ounce range in order to maximize swing speed. In yesteryear of course nearly all hitters swung much heavier bats (even Cobb swung a 42 ouncer), and the Babe reportedly swung the biggest of all (in the 56 ounce range). Even after accounting for the faster swing speed of a lighter bat, heavier bats still hit the ball further. For example, Adair points out that in an exhibition around 1961, Maris tried all different weight bats, up to a replica of Ruth's 48 oz bat. He hit the ball furthest with Ruth's bat, but went back to his normal 34 ounce bat anyway. A case of the quickness of the light bat being more important to Maris than raw distance.

So this helps makes at least some partial sense of why a guy like Ruth could hit the ball at least as far as a chemical filled, weightlifter guy like Mark McGwire. The heavier bat definitely makes a difference. I don't have my copy of Adair in front of me, but Monday I'll post the numbers that he estimated for how much difference bat weight makes on distance.

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Interesting. Thanks.

[CanadianKid]

I heard Ruth hit one completely out of Tiger Stadium and down a few blocks, don't know if its true or a myth.

[Texas Rangers]

I heard Ruth hit one completely out of Tiger Stadium and down a few blocks, don't know if its true or a myth.

I heard about that too. Out of Tiger Stadium, which is very nice itself, then down 3 or 4 blocks. Incredible.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I heard Ruth hit one completely out of Tiger Stadium and down a few blocks, don't know if its true or a myth.

It was never claimed that Ruth hit the ball that far on a fly but did roll down either Cherry or Plum street for a couple of blocks.

Not sure if that was number 700 which was hit at Detroit. The Washinton Post described it as a "typical Ruthian drive" landing far beyond the right field wall. As Ruth ran the bases he shouted to his first and third base coaches, "I want that ball, I want that ball." The ball was returned and Ruth gave the youth who returned it 20.00.

[HondoHR33]

You're right about Yankee Stadium, but in the late 60s Frank Howard hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium that the umpires called foul. To this day, Bobby Murcer, who was playing in the outfield that day, swears the ball was fair.

I saw Hondo hit some monster blasts!! Of course, Ted Williams managed Howard for a bit in Washington and about 15 years ago I saw Williams at a card show and asked him who hit the longest homers he'd ever witnessed. His response, in no particular order: Howard, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Jimmy Foxx. Williams told Howard one day that he hit the ball harder, more consistently, than any hitter he'd ever seen. If Hondo had had Ted Williams as a hitting coach early in his career, he'd be in the Hall of Fame today.

There is no reliable evidence for a Mantle home run longer than about 506 feet. As Adair talks about in his book, "The Physics of Baseball", the so-called longest home run of Mantle was the ball hit out of the old Griffith Stadium, quoted by numerous people to be 565 feet. Adair shows in his book that based on the dimensions of the park, where the ball cleared the park, that a much better estimate of that actual home run was 506 feet.

Of interest is that the fact that no one - not Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio, Mantle, Reggie Jackson, etc. - ever hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium (though legend has it that Josh Gibson hit 2 balls out). Thus, Mantle's 506 foot blast still appears to be the longest ball ever hit, but not absurdly further than the 475 foot home runs hit from time to time even today.

-JJA

[BaseballHistoryNut]

It is my understanding Ted Williams did not see Babe Ruth until Ruth was retired.

Sultan, am I misinformed about this?

I have a pretty clear recollection of Williams, on camera, saying he'd seen Ruth after he was all washed and couldn't hit any more (Ruth's eyes were gone by then, I think). Williams added, however, that you still could see how Ruth had a one-of-a-kind swing, a magnificent gift he was born with (MY ADDENDUM: like Secretariat was born with a healthy heart twice the size of an ordinary horse's heart, enabling him to set a record in the Belmont which, to this day, 33 years later, no horse has come within 2 seconds of--and unfathomable feat for a racing record.)

BHN

[SHOELESSJOE3]

It is my understanding Ted Williams did not see Babe Ruth until Ruth was retired.

Sultan, am I misinformed about this?

I have a pretty clear recollection of Williams, on camera, saying he'd seen Ruth after he was all washed and couldn't hit any more (Ruth's eyes were gone by then, I think). Williams added, however, that you still could see how Ruth had a one-of-a-kind swing, a magnificent gift he was born with (MY ADDENDUM: like Secretariat was born with a healthy heart twice the size of an ordinary horse's heart, enabling him to set a record in the Belmont which, to this day, 33 years later, no horse has come within 2 seconds of--and unfathomable feat for a racing record.)

BHN

Well Ted was born in 1918 might have sen Babe play near the end of his career. Don't know if he actually saw Ruth live but he did once comment that he did see newsreels of Ruth at bat more than a few times. He also commented on the fact that he lived 3000 miles from New York and had he lived closer he certainly would have attended some games in N.Y.

[bluezebra]

I did not know Ruth had hit a HR out of Comiskey Park. Shame on me.

My Dad told me about being there when the Babe hit that one.

Bob

[bluezebra]

I have a book from the Mid-20s with a picture depicting a 560' home run Babe hit at the Polo Grounds.

I was watching on TV when Glenallen Hill hit the roof of an apartment building across Waveland (left field). There was no estimation of the distance. I also saw (in person) Hill hit the upper right corner of the Dodger Stadium Diamondvision during batting practice. It put a hole in it, and put it out of commission.

Bob

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I have a book from the Mid-20s with a picture depicting a 560' home run Babe hit at the Polo Grounds.

I was watching on TV when Glenallen Hill hit the roof of an apartment building across Waveland (left field). There was no estimation of the distance. I also saw (in person) Hill hit the upper right corner of the Dodger Stadium Diamondvision during batting practice. It put a hole in it, and put it out of commission.

Bob

I also saw that home run on TV. What impressed me the most was the height of the ball, where it struck the building. From what I recall it hit high on that building and appeared to be still going, not coming down on much of an angle.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

My Dad told me about being there when the Babe hit that one.

Bob

That was number 37 for Ruth in 1927. The roof had just been added in the winter of 1926. Owner Charles Comiskey in an article in the Sporting News remarked, I don't think you will see any more balls hit out of this park."

Not sure but I believe that in that same year a bit later Gehrig put one on top of the roof. The ball Ruth hit cleared the 52 foot roof and came down in a parking lot on the far side of Grand Boulevard.

[BOBA25]

I saw Cecil Fielder hit one over the roof, off Dave Stewart of Oakland, at Tiger Stadium

[BaseballHistoryNut]

He was the third right-handed MLB hitter known to have done that. The other two, perhaps not surprisingly, were Frank Howard and Harmon Killebrew. I would like to know when the roof was put on and, if it was pre-Greenberg, why the hell Greenberg never did it.

If you've ever seen Bill's picture of him at that All-Star Game, absolutely towering over Gehrig, Foxx, Cochrane, DiMaggio, Cronin and one or two others, you'll know that he was about 6'7" or 6'8", and you'll wonder how he never managed to do it. I've wondered for a long time.

BHN

[HondoHR33]

Cecil also hit one out of old County Stadium in Milwaukee ... cleared the left-field bleachers ... anyone know how many times that's been done in that old ballpark?

I saw Cecil Fielder hit one over the roof, off Dave Stewart of Oakland, at Tiger Stadium

[BaseballHistoryNut]

I saw that. I think someone discovered it had been done once before. But I could be mistaken.

[BigJohn]

That's almost got to be a myth - that would be a 472 foot opposite field home run.

If we're counting the home run derby, I saw Bobby Abreu hit a 519-footer in Comerica Park last year. He hit that someplace I never thought I'd see one hit.


I was there, he totally caught all of the ball it was on a rope and hit the top of the wall behind where the pitchers do there warmups. Totally insane..

John

[Charger567]

Don't they juice up the derby balls?

[elmer]

//http://web.mac.com/orser/iWeb/MickeyMantle/Homeruns.html[/IMG]I would like to offer a few comments on this discussion:

for info on Dunn and Ruth's Sing Sing homers.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/cin/ballpark/longest_hr.jsp
Click on "How Far did that go"
http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/singsing/sonsearching/html/gold08.html

Re: Mantle's home run in '53 at Griffith.
Fronting 5th street, across from opposite the scoreboard to deep left center field were 6 row houses. These houses ran from Oakdale (the street perpendicular to Griffith), to Elm Street just south also running perpendicular to Griffith. In Front of these row houses were trees between the walk and road. The space from the stadium wall to the inside edge of the walk was 50'. The space from the inside edge of the walk to the back of the houses was 40 feet
Mickey's ball impeded by the scoreboard and aided by some wind if not the strongest blowing that day was unlikely to have flown the 565' attributed by patterson's measurement where he states a 10 year old boy picked it up.
To the that point it is only 17' behind the last row house where the ball would have to have been found. If it had flown that far it would have bounced and rolled more than 17 feet behind the row house landing on grass, one bounce would carry it farther than that.

If the ball landed in the road it would still have to find its way through the
branches and what leaf growth there would be on an April 17th day in Washington DC. and then land on the roof to continue over the back of the
last house. It is most likely that with the help of some wind the ball landed on the front of the third house from Oakdale and from there found its way bouncing across other houses diagonally to its final rest behind the
last row house. A Baseball Digest article relates the testimony of either 4 or 5 people who were there that say there was little or no wind at the time
he hit the home run. Given some wind a good estimate would be 510' to 515' including the carom impediment.

"Kroxquo
Jeopardy Champ

Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Goldsboro NC
Posts: 1,163
RE: Long Long Homeruns
I heard a funny Mantle-related story one time. The Yankees were playing the Dogers in an exhibition game and Mantle hit a monster home run. Ron Fairly was on the Dodger bench and said, "Heck, I hit one that far once." Fairly took some razzing until he added, "Of course I was using a two-wood at the time."

Don Demeter told me he saw this home run when he was playing CF that
day. He said it cleared some trees beyond RC. He made a dot where the ball landed behind the trees on a terraserver image of Holman Stadium. Using field dimensions as a scale, that dot measured 512' 514' from home plate.
trees are next to a cart path.

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=17&X=2782&Y=15289&W=3&qs=4001+26th+street%7cvero+beach+++++%7cflorida%7c&Addr=4001+26th+St%2c+Vero+Beach%2c+FL+32960-1930&ALon=-80.4266190&ALat=27.6460000
see field that has bleachers.

One can do the same with any ballpark's home runs where the landing spot is known using Google maps, Earth, Terraserver and others.

Insurance maps and aerial photos of Bovard field at USC give indication Mickey's left-handed, March 26th home run, that is said to have gone 656', actually went much closer to 550'. Est. 448'-552'.

With a modest 7-9 mile per hour breeze blowing, Mickey hit 2 home runs on opening day in Griffith that went over the center field corner. The first a high line drive that landed on the last house over at the corner of U & 5th streets.
Using an insurance map with these houses delineated accurately, and the accounts of the game saying it went JUST left of the 408' corner, the ball had to land near the front of the roof of this house. The distance to that area is 520' a few feet back of the front and to the near side.
The other home run was hit on a lower line and unfortunately hit the upper branches of the tree falling down into U street and rolling out into the 5th street intersection. This one went out not far from the 438' mark. Mickey stated he hit the second one harder than the first.

In the New York Times is the account of Mantle's facade home run hit in '56. Also is an account quoting Lefty Gomez on the Foxx home run he states was hit to the third row from the top of the third deck near the end of the Left field GS. He related how he went up there the next day and observed the damaged seat.

Mantle has done the same landing his to the 3rd row from the top 450' from home plate. There were 23 rows in the YS Grandstand in both left and right field. Mantle also hit one to the 20th row in right field about Sep 13th 1951.
If a ball hit by either of these two men can reach that height with the roof
and the 15' foot deep facade as obstructions it confounds the theories put forth by Robert Adair AND others. These home runs had to be climbing at a point farther than he would give credit for in order to hit the 20th row. The 20th row in both fields is very near 92' above the playing field. The last row is 10 feet below the back edge of the roof which is 105' above the playing field. The FRONT edges is 111'

The national climatic data center can give wind info for any day for at least 3/4's of a century past including the 1920's.

Mantle hit one against 2nd story of the Yellow cab co. in Detroit down the line against what The NCDC information states was a 20-27 mile per hour wind. If hit in the following hour it was hit against an 18 mile per hour wind. The wind was approximately 170 degrees against the home run. The roof 82 feet high with 10' press box atop the roof.

elmer

[jgangstahippie]

http://www.themick.com/10homers.html
This shows the Micks top 10 Home Runs
*NOTE* He never hit a homerun 734 Feet. That is just an estimation if he didn't hit the stadium facade.

The longest homeruns I eversaw were:
A-Rod's monster blast to Left field this year.
Jose Canceso hit a long homerun to the upperdeck in left feild at the stadium in 2000 as a Yankee

[milladrive]

The longest home run I've ever seen personally is that Kingman homer discussed above in April '76. I can still see it in my memory to this day.

:atthepc

[The Kid]

I think there was a 700 ft blast jimmie foxx hit in spring training

[JordanDL3891]

how about the shortest distance ever hit for a (outside the park) homerun? (no counting bouncing off players)

[gator92]

http://www.themick.com/10homers.html
This shows the Micks top 10 Home Runs
*NOTE* He never hit a homerun 734 Feet. That is just an estimation if he didn't hit the stadium facade.

The longest homeruns I eversaw were:
A-Rod's monster blast to Left field this year.
Jose Canceso hit a long homerun to the upperdeck in left feild at the stadium in 2000 as a Yankee

A-Rod's homer was 488 ft by my reckoning, the third longest of the season.

For anyone interested in home run info with a definite physics-based point of view, check out my site, Hit Tracker (http://www.hittrackeronline.com). I've done some analysis of some historic homers which can be seen in the "Highlight Homers" section, including Mantle's facade homer, Ted Williams' Red Seat homer, Reggie's '71 ASG blast and Glenallen Hill's rooftop homer at Wrigley.

I stick to those homers where the landing point can be pinpointed, trying to stay out of the hype game. Just so my position is clear from the start, I've been arguing for some time now against the whole "600 foot blast, went through the pitcher's legs and cleared the CF roof while still rising" thing. Hit Tracker can tell how fast a ball comes off the bat, using ONLY the rules of aerodynamics of a regulation baseball flying through the same 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen mixture that Ruth and Mantle breathed when they were playing, and it generally tells that to go 600 feet, a ball has to be hit about 160 mph, where the average homer last year went a bit more than 107 mph, and the hardest hit of the 5,386 homers was 127 mph. So, I'm not buying the overblown numbers that get thrown around. Ruth was amazing, maybe the best ever at hitting them long, but the numbers are exaggerated...

[LGehrigFan]

Mickey Mantle's 10 Longest Home Runs (http://www.themick.com/10homers.html)

Insane:
http://www.themick.com/Hardestballhr.gif

Measure it Mick:
http://www.themick.com/Mmtapemeas.jpg

[elmer]

xxxxxxxxxxx

[SHOELESSJOE3]

In 1959 I saw two games in Aug. at Municipal in Cleveland.
In One game Mantle hit one 30 feet over the fence in dead center and in another,
Colovito hit one into the LF 2nd deck, a rare feat. Couldn't see where it landed due where I was sitting.

elmer

I wonder if thats the same one I saw in Cleveland, Mantle's. I did see him hit one far over that CF fence some time around that time period. It may have been a Sunday double header. Very exciting Ryne Duren striking out Woodie Held with the bases loaded late in the game, may have been the 9th inning.If I recall there was the fence and then a wall behind that fence. I think at times there was even some fans standing in an area behind that fence. Saw many Yankee games up in Cleveland back then. I was quite young then but I recall my dad telling me it was about 25.00 for the train ride and a Sunday doubleheader, from Buffalo N.Y..

[RuthMayBond]

In 1959 I saw two games in Aug. at Municipal in Cleveland.
In One game Mantle hit one 30 feet over the fence in dead center

You must mean

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08260CLE1959.htm

<and in another, Colovito hit one into the LF 2nd deck, a rare feat. Couldn't see where it landed due where I was sitting.>

and

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08250CLE1959.htm

[elmer]

In 1959 I saw two games in Aug. at Municipal in Cleveland.
In One game Mantle hit one 30 feet over the fence in dead center

You must mean

those were the games!

elmer

[Cubsfan97]

http://www.themick.com/10homers.html
This shows the Micks top 10 Home Runs
*NOTE* He never hit a homerun 734 Feet. That is just an estimation if he didn't hit the stadium facade.

The longest homeruns I eversaw were:
A-Rod's monster blast to Left field this year.
Jose Canceso hit a long homerun to the upperdeck in left feild at the stadium in 2000 as a Yankee

Thanks for the link, I came in here remembering being told Mantle hit a 660 footer one, and I didnt see anything about it in here, then I saw that. Also, anothe rlong home run (wasnt the longets, just unbelieveable) in the 2003 playoffs, Sammy hit a home run that hit the camera booth in center field near the scoreborad. I remember watching Kenny Loftons reaction to it after he was watching it, rounding 2nd. lol, his face was priceless. Also, I remember hearing somewhere (dont know if it is a myth or true) but I heard that Glenallen Hill hit one that went into the roof top bleachers across the street on Waveland Ave., I also heard of one where Andre Dawson hit one that broke one of the windows across the street from Wrigley.

[elmer]

[QUOTE=Cubsfan97] I came in here remembering being told Mantle hit a 660 footer
See-- http://baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=755&page=3

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Thanks for the link, I came in here remembering being told Mantle hit a 660 footer one, and I didnt see anything about it in here, then I saw that. Also, anothe rlong home run (wasnt the longets, just unbelieveable) in the 2003 playoffs, Sammy hit a home run that hit the camera booth in center field near the scoreborad. I remember watching Kenny Loftons reaction to it after he was watching it, rounding 2nd. lol, his face was priceless. Also, I remember hearing somewhere (dont know if it is a myth or true) but I heard that Glenallen Hill hit one that went into the roof top bleachers across the street on Waveland Ave., I also heard of one where Andre Dawson hit one that broke one of the windows across the street from Wrigley.

Tha one I did see on TV. Not only was it hit far but it had great height when it struck the building. I don't recall it being on the down flight, well maybe a bit but appears it would have gone a good number of feet if not for striking that building.

[Williamsburg2599]

Tha one I did see on TV. Not only was it hit far but it had great height when it struck the building. I don't recall it being on the down flight, well maybe a bit but appears it would have gone a good number of feet if not for striking that building.
Hit Tracker says it would of went 500ft:http://www.hittrackeronline.com/historic.php?id=2000_1

[Dodgerfan1]

No ball I've ever seen hit was any longer than the others. They were all regulation MLB baseballs and were all the same size. :D

[StanTheMan]

how about the shortest distance ever hit for a (outside the park) homerun? (no counting bouncing off players)

Definitely down the left field line at the Polo Grounds. The upper deck hung out a whopping 21 FEET onto the field, and the foul pole was 271 or something like that.

Stew Thornley's book "The Land of the Giants" said that a 251 foot pop up right down the line, if hit at the proper trajetory, could hit the facade of the upper deck, while the poor lef fielder was camping under it ready to catch it.

I could have hit one out at the PG.

[RuthMayBond]

I could have hit one out at the PG.I could almost . . .
. . . but then I'd have to hide my titanium two-wood and Top-Flites

[punker268]

Well the longest one hit in a PRO game was hit by Mickey Mantle (inventor of the tape-measure home run)

[deadcenter~440]

Here's a link to the Reggie Jackson Blast at the 71' ASG in Detroit.......

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/det/fan_forum/asg/multimedia.jsp#multimedia

Unfortunately, it doesn't follow the ball in flight, but gives you a good idea. Also, great commentary and video of the other home runs hit in that game, including shots by Bench and Clemente to the CF Upper Deck!

[umpiredice]

It was game 4 of the AL divisional series between Oakland and the Blue Jays. He hit it and the crowd just fell silent. I'm not sure, but I think it went through some of the support beams in the roof. It landed near the back of the fifth deck, near the hotel in left centre. I believe the estimate was something like 511 feet.

But the absolute longest home run I've ever seen came in a game I umpired in 1985. The British Columbia Senior Babe Ruth Championships were held in Duncan BC that year. Duncan's park is a little odd - most of centre field was removed when the Trans Canada Highway was expanded from two to four lanes. So it's only 308 to dead centre, as opposed to 330 down the lines. This kid named Mike House (who later won a triple crown in AA) was playing for the Victoria team. He hit a ball to dead centre field that was measured at approximately 525 feet. It was 308 feet to the fence, 26 feet from the fence to the highway, the highway was 84 feet wide, 31 feet to the farmer's fence on the other side, and the ball was found 76 feet into the farmer's field. Not much of a bounce, because the ground was wet. True, it was hit with an aluminum bat, before there were restrictions on exit velocity from metal bats, but my oh my, what a shot that was! If you could cut it into singles, it would have lasted a season.

[hellborn]

It was game 4 of the AL divisional series between Oakland and the Blue Jays. He hit it and the crowd just fell silent. I'm not sure, but I think it went through some of the support beams in the roof. It landed near the back of the fifth deck, near the hotel in left centre. I believe the estimate was something like 511 feet.

But the absolute longest home run I've ever seen came in a game I umpired in 1985. The British Columbia Senior Babe Ruth Championships were held in Duncan BC that year. Duncan's park is a little odd - most of centre field was removed when the Trans Canada Highway was expanded from two to four lanes. So it's only 308 to dead centre, as opposed to 330 down the lines. This kid named Mike House (who later won a triple crown in AA) was playing for the Victoria team. He hit a ball to dead centre field that was measured at approximately 525 feet. It was 308 feet to the fence, 26 feet from the fence to the highway, the highway was 84 feet wide, 31 feet to the farmer's fence on the other side, and the ball was found 76 feet into the farmer's field. Not much of a bounce, because the ground was wet. True, it was hit with an aluminum bat, before there were restrictions on exit velocity from metal bats, but my oh my, what a shot that was! If you could cut it into singles, it would have lasted a season.
Wow! Can't imagine that it would have bounced/rolled much in a farm field, even if it had been dry.
I assume the hitter must have been in his late teens? Was he huge for his age?
I have what was a good aluminum bat from the era, and it is nice and lively, but nothing like the technical marvels that were coming out before the recent restrictions.

[stadiumkid]

I was at the game on May 22, 1963 sitting right behind home plate up against the protective screen when Mickey Mantle hit the greatest homerun in history off Bill Fischer. There have been numerous attempts to calculate the distance of this monster homerun by physicists, mathematicians and fans. While I know little about math, I do know what I personally saw and will never forget. The main issue in this greatest of all homeruns, which hit the upper edge of the old Yankee Stadium facade is whether the ball was still rising upon impact, or rather descending. No scientist or mathematician that has written about this was at the game, so even though their calculations may be correct based on false assumptions, (that the ball was descending) they are wrong about this homerun. I saw it. The key to the whole issue is that the ball "clipped" the facade about 6 inches from the top while still rising. How do I know? Because of where the ball landed, which is never mentioned in the dozens of articles I have seen about this homerun. The ball floated down (took several seconds) after hitting the facade and disappearing from view into the huge night lights on top of the Stadium. Most fans in the Stadium thought it had sailed out of the Stadium when it got lost in the glare of the night lights and screamed "it's out...it's out!" But it came back down to the field. It landed not in the lower box seats in right field, as it would have if the ball had been descending when it hit the facade but in mid right-center field, about 350 feet from the plate. The centerfielder had to run in to pick up the ball and get it off the field. The only way that could occur is by the ball hitting the facade with sufficient force, while still rising to ricochet at an angle and land hundreds of feet away into mid center field. Don't ask me how that could be, but I witnessed it firsthand. I have seen most of the great homeruns hit at Yankee Stadium from 1955-1963. This was the greatest not because of hitting the facade, but because of where the ball floated down after hitting it, which was plainly observable. I have never seen this fact addressed anywhere. That's how you can tell. If there is a competent scientist or mathematician who would care to recalculate how far this homerun would have traveled based on where it landed on the field, I would love to know the number. I won't venture even a guess, but this was the greatest homerun I personally ever witnessed in my life, and I am 61 years old. Thanks!

[RuthMayBond]

The key to the whole issue is that the ball "clipped" the facade about 6 inches from the top while still rising. How do I know? Because of where the ball landed, which is never mentioned in the dozens of articles I have seen about this homerun. The ball floated down (took several seconds) after hitting the facade and disappearing from view into the huge night lights on top of the Stadium. Most fans in the Stadium thought it had sailed out of the Stadium when it got lost in the glare of the night lights and screamed "it's out...it's out!" But it came back down to the field. It landed not in the lower box seats in right field, as it would have if the ball had been descending when it hit the facade but in mid right-center field, about 350 feet from the plate. The centerfielder had to run in to pick up the ball and get it off the field. The only way that could occur is by the ball hitting the facade with sufficient force, while still rising to ricochet at an angle and land hundreds of feet away into mid center field.I'd still like to see a diagram of this. Just because you say it's the only way doesn't mean it's the case

<If there is a competent scientist or mathematician who would care to recalculate how far this homerun would have traveled based on where it landed on the field>

I thought you didn't believe them

[stadiumkid]

This is a crude diagram of what I saw at Yankee Stadium on May 22, 1963. The asterisks show the point of impact on the facade as I saw it, and the path of descent. This shows that the ball actually went UP a good ways after hitting the facade prior to bouncing backwards and onto the field. This is the way it happened. If any others actually saw this homerun as I did, love to hear your comments.
* *
* XXXXX*XXXXXXXXX (Lights)
XXXXXXXXXXXX
* *
__________________________________________
(Impact) * (Facade)
* __________________________________________

[RuthMayBond]

This is a crude diagram of what I saw at Yankee Stadium on May 22, 1963. The asterisks show the point of impact on the facade as I saw it, and the path of descent. This shows that the ball actually went UP a good ways after hitting the facade prior to bouncing backwards and onto the field. This is the way it happened. If any others actually saw this homerun as I did, love to hear your comments.
* *
* XXXXX*XXXXXXXXX (Lights)
XXXXXXXXXXXX
* *
__________________________________________
(Impact) * (Facade)
* __________________________________________Thanks for you efforts but I don't get what's going on

[stadiumkid]

Sorry I couldn't figure out how to insert a diagram or photo. See post #78 of this thread for the photo of the Stadium. Actually the ball hit the facade about 8 feet to left of where shown in this picture. The ball went up higher than the facade and then fell in right center behind the second baseman and in between the outfielders.

[RuthMayBond]

Sorry I couldn't figure out how to insert a diagram or photo. See post #78 of this thread for the photo of the Stadium. Actually the ball hit the facade about 8 feet to left of where shown in this picture. The ball went up higher than the facade and then fell in right center behind the second baseman and in between the outfielders.You actually know it was 8 ft? How high up were you sitting?

[Matt1901]

how about the shortest distance ever hit for a (outside the park) homerun? (no counting bouncing off players)Definitely down the left field line at the Polo Grounds. The upper deck hung out a whopping 21 FEET onto the field, and the foul pole was 271 or something like that.

Stew Thornley's book "The Land of the Giants" said that a 251 foot pop up right down the line, if hit at the proper trajetory, could hit the facade of the upper deck, while the poor lef fielder was camping under it ready to catch it.

I could have hit one out at the PG.Lake Front Park II in Chicago, the home of the Chicago NL club from 1883 and 1884, had the following dimensions:

LFP: 186 in 1883 and 180 in 1884
LC: 280
CF: 300
RC: 252
RFP: 196


Chicago hit 44% of all home runs in the National League in 1884. Here's the top ten N.L. HR leaders for 1884,

Williamson Chicago 27
Pfeffer Chicago 25
Dalrymple Chicago 22
Anson Chicago 21
Brouthers Buffalo 14
Kelly Chicago 13
Flint Chicago 9
Wood Detroit 8
Burns Chicago 7
Hornung Boston 7

Park dimensions courtesy of Green Cathbedrals by Philip J. Lowry.

[Stumanji]

http://mariner25.tripod.com/bonewallpaper.jpg

Jay Buhner is credited with a 479-ft blast at Yankee Stadium.

I was present for the longest homerun at Safeco Field (if it still stands), also hit by Bone. He rocketed a near line-drive homerun into the centerfield landing at the Safe.

The distance was given as 470 feet, which seems fair.

[The Monument]

At a game in Yankee Stadium in the early 90's, I saw Bo Jackson hit three HR's in one game. The third went halfway up the RC bleachers, a shot around 430-440 feet. The incredible part is that he had ONE hand on the bat when he hit it. On another note, Bo left the game later with an injury he suffered diving for a line drive off the bat of Deion Sanders, the OTHER two-sport player in that game.

[Xavier&Trin...]

Greg Milichap, left hand hitter at U of Hawaii hit one out to right center that hit the electrical transformer across the street. I also saw Bonds hit 2 into the bay off of Brad Penny.

[west coast orange and black]

^ I also saw Bonds hit 2 into the bay off of Brad Penny.

i got penny giving up a wet one to bonds on 18 may 2002.
do you know the date of the other one?

(i'm not counting foul balls and hope that you are not, either.)

[piratefan33]

I can claim Adam Dunn's blast that ended up on a piece of driftwood in the Ohio River as the longest I've ever witnessed. The ball had an unnatural flight....it just shouldn't have been able to keep going up that long! I believe it measured 500+, but I can't remember the "exact" figure.

i was at that game. i'm pretty sure it was the first home run hit out of pnc park. i remember i didnt even get a chance to be bummed he hit it because i was just in total awe of how far it went. i go to a lot of games and all the ones hit that way and hit out of the park are short line drive shots, but that ball was just smashed. that ball had the longest path and total distance i ever saw.

i hear honus wagner used to really crush the ball when he wanted to and would hit it out of the park almost on command, further enforcing my argument for him as the greatest player ever

[Xavier&Trin...]

^ I also saw Bonds hit 2 into the bay off of Brad Penny.

i got penny giving up a wet one to bonds on 18 may 2002.
do you know the date of the other one?

(i'm not counting foul balls and hope that you are not, either.)

May 18th 2002 was the day I was there as well, the second homer he hit was off of a reliever. I should have clarified. late.

[Beefstew2011]

Mickey Mantle hit a 565 foot home run that landed (no bounce) 565 feet from home plate after clearing the Left Center Field bleacher seats at Clark Griffith Stadium. Which is officially the longest home run.

However, I was witness to a blasphamatic "Dome Single" by David Ortiz.

What I mean by "Dome Single" is that it would have definitely been a home run but he was ripped off because of one of the stupid features of a domed stadium, in this case the speaker.

It was by far the longest hit ball ive ever seen in my life. I was in nosebleed seats in the highest part of dead center field in the Metrodome. When Ortiz nails a fat pitch up into the most unlikely place in the stadium: toward the upper deck in dead center feild. It came at me at a very fast pace, probably about 3 seconds. It was rocketing upward when it hit the side of a speaker and reflected barely back onto the feild. Torii Hunter grabbed it quickly and threw it in before Ortiz could start for second. I have little doubt that if there wasnt a dome, that it would have surprassed the dead center field bleachers. (about 105 feet from ground)

Im not sure if it was the longest ever, but an epic blast indeed.

[Gregory Pratt]

Do men always exaggerate the length of their long balls?

On June 24, fans at Seattle's Kingdome witnessed one of the most dramatic pitcher-hitter confrontations since Walter Johnson faced Babe Ruth. On the mound, the Mariner's Big Unit, 6'-10" Randy Johnson, the tallest man ever to play in the majors, and the most proficient strikeout pitcher in history. At the plate, Oakland's Mark McGwire, the best and strongest home-run hitter since Ruth.

Although Johnson whiffed McGwire twice on the way to a record-breaking total of 19 strikeouts, McGwire hit what was estimated as the longest home run in at least a decade. He got all of a 97-mph fastball, and launched it at 105 mph in the general direction of Canada.

On the radio, Mariner announcer Dave Niehaus marveled, "A high fly ball, belted, and I mean belted, deep to left field, into the upper deck! My, oh my, what a shot by Mark McGwire! That is probably the longest home run ever hit here. ... It will be interesting to see how far that ball will be guesstimated. ... We have often wondered if McGwire got ahold of a Randy Johnson fastball how far he could hit it, and I think we just saw it."

Shortly after, Niehaus gave the estimated distance: "538 feet--unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. The longest home run ever hit here in Seattle ... the longest home run I think I have ever seen hit." Not only that, it seems to be the longest ball hit since 1988, when the distance of major-league home runs was first estimated on a wide scale. Sports pages and broadcasters across the country are still heralding McGwire's homer as one of the great feats in slugging history.

But there's a catch: The 538-feet figure, announced by the Mariners about 40 seconds after the ball landed, was an overstatement worthy of P.T. Barnum. According to three physicists who have worked independently and have written extensively on the science of baseball, the human limit for hitting a baseball at sea level, under normal temperatures and with no wind, is somewhere between 450 feet and 470 feet.

Curious that anyone could hit a ball 538 feet in an indoor park near sea level, I called the Mariners to see how they devised such a spectacular number. The team repeatedly refused to explain how they arrived at the figure or to allow me to speak to whoever made the estimate. Mariners PR Director Dave Aust stresses that the figure is "a guesstimate." "We don't really believe in the process," Aust says, distancing the team from the McGwire number.

That "process" has evolved over time. In 1988, IBM established the "Tale of the Tape" program, devising a system by which home-run distances could be estimated. Sponsorship of the Major League Baseball-licensed program was assumed by telecom giant MCI in 1992 and redubbed the "MCI Home Run Program." The program's Web site lists the 10 longest home runs of the year and provides a searchable database of the home runs of the previous two years.

"We do not measure the home runs," says MCI spokesman Cal Jackson. The distances are estimated by the individual clubs and then provided to MCI. "We act as a warehouse for the numbers that Major League Baseball sends us."

Unsatisfied with the 538-feet number, I did my own figuring. I consulted the 1976 Kingdome blueprints, a more recent laser-survey diagram of the stadium, and the Seattle Times game story, and visited the park twice. Here are the facts: McGwire's homer landed in the eighth row of the left side of section 240 in the second deck--439 feet (measured horizontally) from home plate and 59 feet above the playing field.

How much further could the ball have gone? Based on a review of the trajectory charts in The Physics of Baseball and Keep Your Eye on the Ball: The Science and Folklore of Baseball, conversations with University of Puget Sound physicist Andrew Rex, and correspondence with aerospace engineer and baseball researcher Roger Hawks, I determined that the McGwire home run would have traveled about 474 feet. A mighty home run, yes, but still 64 feet short of the length claimed.

Rex and Hawks agree that any home run hit that far must approximate the "maximum-distance trajectory"--that is it can only be a high fly or a normal fly, not a line drive. McGwire's homer was a high fly, as Niehaus attested, and as was confirmed by his broadcast partner Rick Rizzs, who marveled at the ball's hang time. According to the Major League Baseball system, a high fly will descend at an angle whose cotangent is 0.6. In trigonometry-for-dummies terms, what that means is that for every foot the ball would have continued to drop vertically, it would have traveled another 0.6 feet horizontally. Here's the math: 439 feet + (59 feet x 0.6) = 474 feet.

McGwire's "538-footer" isn't the only questionable long ball of the season. The MCI Web site claims six 500-footers in 1997, five by McGwire and one by Colorado Rockies star Andres Galarraga, hit in Miami. Galarraga's home run, originally announced as 573 feet, then revised at the park to 529 feet, is listed at 529 feet by MCI. By my calculations, it probably went about 479 feet. And yet another reason to doubt the 1997 numbers: Apparently, the IBM/MCI program recorded no 500-footers from 1988 to 1996.

Don't get me wrong--all the homers listed on the MCI top-ten list were remarkable shots. And I'm not arguing that 500-footers are impossible. A few have been hit, but all were aided by altitude, the elements, or both. The best-known of these, Mickey Mantle's mythical 565-foot blast on a windy day at Washington's Griffith Stadium, probably traveled about 506 feet, according to The Physics of Baseball author Robert K. Adair.

The MCI Web site spells out the intended method of measuring these home runs. "Distances are measured using a grid system matched to each ballpark's unique parameters and configuration. Each home run is estimated based on how far it would have traveled from home plate on a horizontal line had it not been obstructed by something (seats, fence, roof, foul pole, other stadium parts, etc.)."

If every team worked according to the MCI plan, each stadium would be accurately diagramed with a fine-grained grid related to its seating sections, level by level. This would tell the estimator how far the ball was from home plate when it landed in the seats, bullpen, or other stadium area, and how high it was above field level when it landed. (In today's stadiums, very few home runs touch the ground before hitting something higher first.)

Working with the distance and height, the estimator would assess the ball's trajectory--was it a liner? a normal fly? a high fly?--and use a formula to determine the ultimate distance the ball would have traveled. Click here for the formula.

In theory this is not a bad system, but in practice it's not always fully observed. Some teams work from arcs rather than grids, making the estimators' jobs more difficult. Some teams measure only to the point of impact, rather than to the likely field-level landing point. The Rockies don't have height data, and must estimate that dimension. The Red Sox can't see where balls, hit beyond "The Monster" into the street, land. If McGwire had hit his home run in Baltimore, for example, it would have been measured at about 448 feet under the Orioles' point-of-impact house rules. Such departures make the various major-league home-run distances inconsistent, and usually make them less accurate as well.

Major League spokesman Patrick Courtney acknowledges that there have been questions about the MCI program, and says that the measurement issue will be discussed at league PR meetings next month "so everyone will be on the same page for next year."

Let's hope so. Baseball, a game of inches and meticulous record-keeping, deserves accurate and consistent data, and these awful numbers have already tainted one set of record books. Click here for the story. The pity is that the home-run-measurement program, as conceived by IBM in 1988, was never uniformly implemented. Now is the time for scientists to review and refine the system and for Major League Baseball to ensure compliance and train the estimators.

After a period of adjustment, during which many long home runs will seem puny, we'll slowly reacclimate ourselves to reality. Weaned off the inflated estimates, numbers that add 60 feet to big home runs, we'll finally appreciate the majesty of a 440-footer.

From Slate Magazine.

[Williamsburg2599]

Mickey Mantle hit a 565 foot home run that landed (no bounce) 565 feet from home plate after clearing the Left Center Field bleacher seats at Clark Griffith Stadium. Which is officially the longest home run.

However, I was witness to a blasphamatic "Dome Single" by David Ortiz.

What I mean by "Dome Single" is that it would have definitely been a home run but he was ripped off because of one of the stupid features of a domed stadium, in this case the speaker.

It was by far the longest hit ball ive ever seen in my life. I was in nosebleed seats in the highest part of dead center field in the Metrodome. When Ortiz nails a fat pitch up into the most unlikely place in the stadium: toward the upper deck in dead center feild. It came at me at a very fast pace, probably about 3 seconds. It was rocketing upward when it hit the side of a speaker and reflected barely back onto the feild. Torii Hunter grabbed it quickly and threw it in before Ortiz could start for second. I have little doubt that if there wasnt a dome, that it would have surprassed the dead center field bleachers. (about 105 feet from ground)

Im not sure if it was the longest ever, but an epic blast indeed.

Mike Schmidt did that at the Astrodome too.:
On June 10, 1974, Schmidt hit what many felt should have been a home run when the ball hit the public address speaker that hung 117 feet above and 329 feet away from home plate at the Astrodome in Houston. The ball hit the speaker, fell to the field, and, by the Astrodome's ground rules, remained in play. Since Schmidt had already started his slow home-run trot, he was held to a single. (There were runners on 1st and 2nd when the ball was hit, and they each advanced only one base.) Many experts agree this ball would have traveled in excess of 500 feet.

[elmer]

520' to building Foxx hit, 540' to the window Ruth broke

http://www.efqreview.com/NewFiles/v17n3/dustofthefieldsbehindus.html

"Babe Ruth was the ultimate left-handed power-hitter. Many of his homers cleared the fence by such a margin that they landed on the rooftops. One behemoth blast may have been the longest ball every hit. It sailed high over our roofs, over our backyard, over the roofs of our Opal Street neighbors, and smashed the upstairs window of Russell Frain's house on the far side of Opal Street.

Jimmie Foxx hit one that might rival it. The papers said it cleared the high roof of the left field stands by a wide margin and then crossed Somerset Street, sailing over the houses and the parking lot in back before dropping down into the lot to be retrieved by a Somerset Street urchin. That's when I learned what my father meant when he said not to believe everything you read in the newspapers. I was one of the Somerset Street urchins and I knew it hadn't dropped suddenly; it had hit high on the side of the building beyond the parking lot and bounced back.

We stood with the ball outside the stands trying to get a response from one of the fans by the open screen in the upper deck. "Hey Mister, who hit it? Hey, Mister, who hit it?" After we hollered this over and over, a man finally gave in and shouted in a disgusted voice, "Jimmie Foxx." We just looked at one another and nodded knowingly, "Who else?"

[oldschoolpics]

I have heard more then one account of the famous Mantle shot that hit the facade in Right field of Yankee Stadium while still rising from baseball fans growing up in New York. The Mick was a god to these people but all of them can't have embellished and one of them was a best friend of my grandmother who was a rabid baseball fan. I would hope the little old lady didn't BS! From all reported accounts that has to be the one.

However I urge those of you who haven't read Bill Jenkinson's book "The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs" to do so (Carroll & Graff - 2007 - Amazon used it's about $5). This Jenkinson guy literally researched EVERY AT BAT of the Babe's career. No kidding every one. The Babe hit more mega shots than anyone - some weren't even counted as homers back then because of different rules and also because some of his most momentous sky shots were in exhibition games that weren't "official". Seriously this book is fascinating and absolutely led me to firmly believe the Babe was the greatest ballplayer to ever lace 'em up. No offense to Hank Aaron and Mr. Bonds but the Babe would have had over 1000 homers just by counting what he would have done in identical Ballparks under identical rules (not even taking into account technology and a million other things). And Jenkinson notes every foul ball that would have been a homer, every 420 foot blast at the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium that was caught or was a double that Aaron and Bonds would have counted as a homer, every exhibition bomb (often against amazing Negro League pitching and more than a few off the great Satchel Page). Check it out! The Babe was a freak of nature truly. Unbelievable!

[brose3312]

I am not sure how this could be measured but I remember back in 2000 (or 01) Carl "Dinosaurs Do Not Exist" Everett hit a mammoth shot that hit the window of the restaurant in center field. The ball was a rocket. Manny has also hit a few blasts over the Monster that have still been rising when it has left the park. I do not think these measure Mantle's blast or anywhere close but just some thoughts from Boston.

[elmer]

However I urge those of you who haven't read Bill Jenkinson's book "The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs" to do so (Carroll & Graff - 2007 - Amazon used it's about $5). This Jenkinson guy literally researched EVERY AT BAT of the Babe's career. No kidding every one. The Babe hit more mega shots than anyone - some weren't even counted as homers back then because of different rules and also because some of his most momentous sky shots were in exhibition games that weren't "official". Seriously this book is fascinating and absolutely led me to firmly believe the Babe was the greatest ballplayer to ever lace 'em up. No offense to Hank Aaron and Mr. Bonds but the Babe would have had over 1000 homers just by counting what he would have done in identical Ballparks under identical rules (not even taking into account technology and a million other things). And Jenkinson notes every foul ball that would have been a homer, every 420 foot blast at the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium that was caught or was a double that Aaron and Bonds would have counted as a homer, every exhibition bomb (often against amazing Negro League pitching and more than a few off the great Satchel Page). Check it out! The Babe was a freak of nature truly. Unbelievable!

Well said!!

This book will never be equaled, In it's way only Creamer's book comes near it in truth and content. It will always be the definitive book on Ruth's power. The publisher erred with the less permanent soft cover.

[dbacksfan01]

Adam Dunn is a beast :bowdown:

[LRC]

If you have not yet read Bill Jenkinson's excellent book "The Year that Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs", I highly recommend it. While he is a definite Ruth-o-phile, Jenkinson seems to be an objective evaluator of long distance home runs, and he includes a review of historic home runs and home hitters. His research indicates that Ruth remains the unchallenged king of long distance hitters, all other exaggerations not with standing.

[EdTarbusz]

I am not sure how this could be measured but I remember back in 2000 (or 01) Carl "Dinosaurs Do Not Exist" Everett hit a mammoth shot that hit the window of the restaurant in center field. The ball was a rocket. Manny has also hit a few blasts over the Monster that have still been rising when it has left the park. I do not think these measure Mantle's blast or anywhere close but just some thoughts from Boston.

I was at a game in Toronto in 1998 or 1999, and saw Jim Thome hit a home run that went into the Hard Rock Cafe.

[Zito75]

McGwire hit a ball over 500 feet against Randy Johnson in 97 or 98 at the Kingdome

I was there... Ball was hit into the second deck in center field. That thing had some height to it, it was just a monster shot!

[Reds41]

I saw Jose Canseco hit one into the upper most deck of the SkyDome in '89, I believe.

It was the highest I had ever seen a ball land in the seats. I was in the Hard Rock Cafe and it landed way above there, down the line.

[Milwaukee T]

HA! Sos hit a ball at Miller Park that hit near the top of the video screen as it was still heading up. He crushed that ball. That was the only time I was ever in a ball park where the entire place went silent. I t was a collective whispered wow.

Too bad it was during the heigthof his "questionable" power and during the All-Star break and during the home run derby. It was still amazing to see that kind of power.

The longest legit hit was Cecil Fielder crushing the ball over our heads as we sat in the bleachers at County Stadium and watched it clear the entire park. It gave us all the sensastion of what it must have been like to be Mike "Boom-Boom" Fetters with all the homers that he saw blasted over his head.

[jackmcmanus21]

I remember hearing that Josh Gibson hit a few 500 footers....dont know if anyone witnessed them though

[RuthMayBond]

I remember hearing that Josh Gibson hit a few 500 footers....dont know if anyone witnessed them thoughI've hit a LOT of 500 footers that no one's ever witnessed :rofl:

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Here is a quote from Dr. Adair's book, The Physics of Baseball, page 100.

From descriptions in that book Adair concluded that the Mantle Griffith Park 506 foot home run is the longest home run that can reliably be estimated. Also of interest is his comment that on that particular home run the wind was blowing out at 20 mph with gusts of 41 mph. If it had been a windless day, Adair estimated that the home run could have been only 430 feet.

Fun stuff for sure.

-JJA

How can Adair single out one home run of the dozens and dozens hit over the years and conclude that one in particular home run can be called the longest with reliability. What did he do with all the other long clouts, many that went out of parks unobstructed and we know where they struck ground or buildings.

This is not to diminish Mick who I would think hit some of the longest ever and quite a number of long ones.
I would dispute Adair laying that claim on anyone not just Mick. Had he said the same about Ruth, Foxx, McGwire, Bonds or any other I still ask, how can you pick just one of many.

[Go get em Tigers]

The longest ball I've ever seen hit was by Mark McGwire during batting practice at the new Tiger stadium a few years back. He crushed it. The ball cleared the centerfield wall (420 feet) sailed past the center fountain area, past the statues near the fence in left centerfield, and bounced down the ramp, coming just short of clearing the outer fence. Must have been about 500 feet.

[oddsox1]

I saw this myself; it was a night game at Angel Stadium in '67, before they closed in the stadium.
Harmon Killebrew pulled one to left on a line and the backspin caused the ball to rise, it was still gaining altitude as it went beyond the lights and into the darkness.
At the rate it was traveling and climbing, it should have reached Portland, Oregon, about 6 hours later. About 920 miles away.

[soberdennis]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this one. I don't feel like reading through 2 years of posts. But one I saw on tv sticks in my mind forever.
It was the all star game in Detroit in 1971. Reggie Jackson decided he did not like a transformer on the right field roof. If the transformer wasn't there, who knows where that one would have ended up? If I recall correctly the ball was still on its upward flight.

[Reds41]

How can Adair single out one home run of the dozens and dozens hit over the years and conclude that one in particular home run can be called the longest with reliability. What did he do with all the other long clouts, many that went out of parks unobstructed and we know where they struck ground or buildings.

This is not to diminish Mick who I would think hit some of the longest ever and quite a number of long ones.
I would dispute Adair laying that claim on anyone not just Mick. Had he said the same about Ruth, Foxx, McGwire, Bonds or any other I still ask, how can you pick just one of many.

I don't see where it should be noted that the ball the The Mick hit the edge of the scoreboard on its flight out of Griffith Stadium. When the baseball nicked the scoreboard, it would have slowed the ball down, even a little bit. So the ball could have, at least in theory, traveled further than it did.

[elmer]

the experts never mention whether or not they take this into consideration
in their estimates