Although it came nowhere close to 734 feet, ESPN determined an impressive true distance of 503 feet. On April 17, 1953, in a game against the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium, Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees hit what could have been the most majestic home run in a career filled with them. The ball would have kept going, lending to a final true-distance calculation of 530 feet. Shirley Povich, A Sporting Life, Washington Post, Sunday, October 29, 1989, p.W-22. Dwight Eisen- hower was president, the Korean War was in its third year, and a young baseball player named Mickey Mantle was hitting some monster home run shots for the New York Yankees. But not so fast. In a 5-3 win against the Japan Stars at the Tokyo Dome, Ortiz drove a ball into the lights high above the upper deck in right field. He was Big Papi before Big Papi. What is the longest home run wall in the MLB? Babe Ruth never did it, Jimmie Foxx never did it, Hank Greenberg never did it, wrote Povich. The Thompson home run was so famous in its time, it simply became known as The shot heard round the world. Famed writer Red Smith called it The miracle of Coogans bluff.. Just for reference, the upper deck at Target is the third deck. Old-timers still talk about the April 1953 dinger he hit out of Griffith Stadium in Washington. By holding the barrel forward, the bat must untip and then turn around the hands and into the baseball. After playing a major role in the Red Sox 2004 championship drive, Ortiz joined an all-star team for a tour of Japan. In 1987, Joey Meyer of the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs launched a moonshot into the second deck of Mile High Stadium. This process allows for momentum to be carried into contact. It did not, however, journey 540 feet as have some suggested. He also blasted what may have been the longest home run in Major League . The legendary hitter tookFred Hutchinson yard onJune 9, 1946, for a dinger deemed to have traveled 502 feet. There is a huge difference between a ball that is hit squarely in the air and a ball this has been sliced and resulted in a true pop up. You know anything that travels that far ought to have a damn stewardess on it, dont you think?, Theres something romantic about home runs. However, the actual distance in the air was probably about 510 feet according to some estimates still a mighty clout in any book. The sound of bat meeting ball sounded like a cannon shot. It was hit on August 14, 1953, at Milwaukee County Stadium. 1964 WS Gm3: Mantle hits a walk-off home run MLB 4.05M subscribers Subscribe 2.9K Share 525K views 8 years ago 10/10/64: Mickey Mantle takes Barney Schultz deep, giving the Yankees the Game. There were two outs. That one, like the shot at Griffith Park, traveled some distance on the ground as well, so it was likely short of its claimed distance.Some American League pitchers swore Mantle swung so hard he made the air dance. Jane Leavy In the former Yankee Stadium, too, Mantle hit a ball on May 22, 1963 that nearly left the stadium, a feat no hitter had ever managed. He hit for a career .263 batting average and earned 3 silver slugger awards. If we take a closer look at the swing of Jose Canseco, we can begin to understand why he was able to hit a baseball 540ft. The best of those bombs occurred June 26, when he smacked one off Shea Stadium's scoreboard. . Ill never forget the night, April 8, 1974, my sisters birthday, when Henry Aaron, a black man playing in the Deep South, turned on an Al Downing fastball and with his powerful wrists, sent the ball over the left field fence for career home run 715, breaking Babe Ruths long-standing record. Not a long fly ball, a true pop up to the infield is caused by the swing plane slicing too far downward in relation to pitch plane. Teammate Frank Howard said, Youll never see five balls hit like that in a lifetime. ESPN's Home Run Tracker tells a different story, calculating the final distance of Piazza's slam at 515 feet. Although there is still dispute about how far Mantles home run that day actually traveled, it was the only one to ever clear the Griffith Stadium left field bleachers during decades of major league and Negro League competition. Notice where Canseco holds the barrel as the pitch is being thrown. The left-handed raker quickly set a gaudy benchmark duringGreat American Ball Park's second season on Aug. 10, 2004, when he crushed a Jose Lima offering well beyond the fence in center field, which stands 404 feet out. He doesn't just hit pitchers, he takes away their dignity.. Mantle finishes his career with six games left in the season. The Dunn homer is at 6:20 in the video. Some say it was a dinger hit by Johnny Bench in the 1973 All-Star game. The Yankees defeat the Kansas City Athletics 7-4 in a game that lasts only 95 minutes because of rain delays. Mickey Mantle hit many home runs during his career -- 536 to be exact. Ball hit by Mickey Mantle on April 17, 1953 at Griffith Stadium to set a new distance record for home runs. Brown wasnt known for giving up a lot of home runs, but the Cat sure lit him up. Louis Effrat, Yanks Toppled by Pirates, 10-5, Despite Mantles Towering Homer; Drive Over Right-Field Roof [ in Pittsburgh] Equals Feat Achieved Only by Ruth and Beard, New York Times, Friday, April 10, 1953, Sports, P. 27. Domo Arigato, Big Papi. Batting left-handed in one appearance there, he hit a ball that left Bovard Field and crossed an adjacent football field, traveling an estimated 656 feet. Not bad at all, but ESPN's Home Run Tracker determined that Williams deserves even more credit. With two outs in the ninth, Bob Lemon comes on to relieve Johnny Allen with the score 4-4. On a ball that sped 124 mph off the bat, ESPN's Home Run Tracker estimated a distance of 539 feet if unhindered. And, the fact that this bomb came in the post-season makes it even more impressive. What about Mickey Mantle? His blasts were more like laser beams. "The ball assumed what can only be called a majestic arc and landed on the left-field roof in Tiger Stadium," Ryan wrote. The optimal launch angle for a home run distance is 28 degrees. Notice where Canseco holds the barrel as the pitch is being thrown. Mickey Mantle & Sports Illustrated covers, SportsIllustrated.CNN.com. Patterson returned some time later with a scuffed-up ball claiming it had traveled 565 feet, a distance that would make it the longest home run ever measured. Seven years before Mickey Mantle hit the longest home run ever recorded in a baseball game, he hit what was then the longest tape measure shot. This blast off Glendon Rusch caromed off the center field awning for an estimated 504 feet. There are folk tales about Mickey Mantle hitting the longest home run ever measured 565 feet. Instead, let's look back to September 14, 1991, when the Detroit Tigers slugger pounded a ball beyondMilwaukee County Stadium's bleachers. On Sept. 27, 2008, the slugger secured his fifth season with 40 deep flies. The roof might have stopped it from clearing Detroit altogether. One big advantage of being a slugger for the Colorado Rockies are the friendly confines and thin air of Coors Field. The front of the card featured an aerial view of cavernous Griffith Stadium in Washington and showed the purported flight of the ball. In 565 feet, Mickey Mantle (1953). It's also not the last time the three-true-outcomes prototype appears on this list. src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=674090812743125&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>. The longest verified home run in American professional baseball history didnt even happen in the majors. A ball landing on the plaza might have bounced clear to I-70. The legends about Mickey Mantle are many - and he was a great player. In September 2008, Dunn crushed a fastball from Colorado lefty Glendon Rusch that hit the Jumbotron at Chase Field. A Mickey Mantle homer was originally estimated to have gone 734 feet. Who hit the longest home run ever and how far did they estimate it to have Travelled? Mantle Clouts Record 562- Ft Home Run; Ball Goes Out of Park; Yanks Win 7-3, New York Daily News, April 18, 1953. As MLB.com's Ben Weinribnoted, the blast marked the longest homer since MLB installed Statcast in all stadiums in 2015. Who hit the longest home run ever and how far did they estimate it to have Travelled? Before getting benched for Homer Simpson, Darryl Strawberry tested Olympic Stadium's limits by sending a souvenir into the lights. Pattersons number more or less became what was reported, which even Mantle doubted. He was 38 years old in his 16th season, but he still went yard 28 times over 450 plate appearances and earned a .567 slugging percentage. In his penultimate 2000 season, Glenallen Hill registered a career-high 27 home runs for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. But which player hit the longest home run of all time? But Lemon gives up four runs without recording an out before being replaced by Joe Pepitone. Oh yeah, that's not even Fielder's entry. The Yankees lose by one point on Mo Vaughn's single in the tenth. The new system pinpointed a 115.8-mph exit velocity with a launch angle of 18.3 degrees. Hal McRae, acquired the previous winter, had gotten off to a slow start, but by the time this game, against the Boston Red Sox rolled around, Mac was heating up. In his first five seasons in New York, Mickey averaged 144 hits, 24 home runs and 89 RBI and starting in 1952, earned his first of 20 All-Star selections. Brian Brady is a professional sports agent. Joe Dimaggio Hails Mantle, Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1953, p. C-1. Sitting in the first row behind home plate, I had a great view of the ball's flight. Bob Moore said the ball would have carried 525 feet if not for hitting the lights. That's the longest home run in history. "An inning or so later, they told us it was charted at 484 feet. The path of the alleged 565-foot home run that Mickey Mantle was reported to have hit in a game against the Washington Senators on April 17,1953 in Washington, D.C.s former Griffith Stadium. Had the ball not hit a light standard on the way out, it would have cleared the right field roof and landed on Trumbull Avenue. When he retired, Mantle was third on the all-time home-run list with 536, and he was the Yankees' all-time leader in games played with 2,401, a record that would be broken by Derek Jeter on August 29, 2011. Here's Mickey Mantle, the magnificent Yankee, hitting his last (unofficial) home run i. ESPN's Home Run. The stadiums dimensions, though varying over the years with changes to its structure, were roughly 400 feet down the left field line, 420 to center, and just under 330 to right. He made the majors the next season but lasted just 156 games with the Milwaukee Brewers. To maximize our exit velocity, the path of the bat needs to match the path of the oncoming pitch perfectly. Willie Stargell scorched plenty of moonshots over his career. He hit for a career .266 batting average and earned 4 silver slugger awards. Modern baseball includes countless tools for measuring exit velocity, launch angle and projected distance on home runs. Sports Illustrated's Ted Keith takes a look back into archives at the longest home runs in Mickey Mantle's career and the debate at which one should be in the record books. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; The actual distance was 480 feet 10 inches, which is one of the great tragedies of sports history. The date:April 17, 1953. Griffiths answer: I dont care about that, he said. And just because he bats from the left side, doesnt mean its a good idea to strategize by putting a southpaw on the mound. In 2019 Jorge rewrote the Royals home run record book, blasting 48 long flys. Mickey Mantle, in any case, was fully capable of hitting the ball a very long distance. ESPN had a Home Run Tracker that was able to estimate the distance of certain dingers, but there is still no conclusive list of the longest homers throughout MLB history. The bat tip allows for more bat speed to be carried into the baseball. Adam Dunn played in the Major Leagues from 2001 to 2014, over that time span he hit 462 home runs. 535 Feet: Adam Dunn (Cincinnati Reds, 2004), Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh Pirates . "Examination of satellite and ground-based digital photos suggests that the 502-foot figure is an accurate measurement of the horizontal distance to the 'Red Seat,' but since the impact point was approximately 30 feet above field level, the ball would have covered more distance before landing at field level, had its flight not been interrupted.". Ive spoken to a few fans who say that the Royals John Mayberry hit a gargantuan home run that bounced off the top of the concession stand in the right field plaza. Joseph M. Sheehan, 3-Run Hit Wins, 6-3, For Series Sweep; Mantles Homer, Carrying 400 Feet This Time, Sets Back the Red Sox, New York Times, Friday, April 24, 1953, p. 31, 982 words. The ball actually sailed right over the right field roof of the ballpark, which is mind-boggling to contemplate. Injuries cause Royals to seek more outfield depth, The Royals could be adding to the outfield, Royals sign Jackie Bradley Jr. to minor league deal, Spring Training game six: Kansas City Royals at Colorado Rockies, Royals Rumblings - News for February 28, 2023, Royals vs. Guardians Tuesday spring training game thread, Making sense of Nicky Lopezs inexplicable 2021 season, The Royals early season schedule is toughmaybe. In October, Mantle announces his retirement due to chronic knee problems. Jenkinson's findings serve as the basis for the used mark of 530 feet. Mantle, a switch-hitter, batted right against Stobbs. The noted historian also backed ancient anecdotes of the Sultan of Swat's hitting one. Enough to belt 612 big flies in his 22-year career and enough to get him into the Hall of Fame when hes eligible. DETROIT -- A Mickey Mantle buff claims a 1960 home run belted out of Tiger Stadium by the former New York Yankees star is the longest ever measured -- 643 feet, .0069 inches. Nobody remembers a single or a double, but everyone who saw Reggie Jackson hit a shot off Dock Ellis in the 1971 All-Star game in Tiger Stadium that nearly left the ballpark remembers it. In 1956, Mantle had a career year led the AL in batting average (.353), home runs (52) and RBI (130) to win the elusive Triple Crown as well as the American League Most Valuable Player award. For everyone's entertainment, Miami should loan Stanton to Colorado and see how much damage he could inflict during a full season at Coors. Skeptics will certainly be forgiven for doubting that distance, but others will prefer to simply believe. Yogi Berra was next, and Dobbs walked him. He was truly the Royals' daddy in those years. But did it really travel 565 feet? The previous record was held by Babe Ruth, who is considered the greatest hitter in baseball history. The game has become one of the most memorable in baseball history, because in the fifth inning, Mickey Mantle hit one of the longest home runs ever recorded. Want to know whats up with Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Tom Brady and more? Player profile Power hitting. June 9, 1946, for a dinger deemed to have traveled 502 feet. According to Statcast, someone soon to follow topped Mike Piazza's 496-foot homer from Sept. 26, 1997, as the longest home run in Coors Field history. 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