A Mickey Mantle homer was originally estimated to have gone 734 feet. When Adam Dunn strides to the plate, it is usually a 50-50 proposition. If not for hitting a transformer on Tiger Stadium's roof, the baseball would have experienced a further journey. The Royals were locked in a tight pennant race with the hated Oakland As. Without a closer look from ESPN at this Adam Dunn dinger, the lofty 535-foot approximation receives the benefit of the doubt. But why argue over semantics when we can watch some of MLB's best sluggers sock a few dingers? Young Mickey Mantle at spring training, 1954. Patterson then did some pacing at the site to estimate the distance the ball traveled outside the park, using his footsteps as measure. 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. 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. 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. Jorge Soler has stroked some epic home runs in his Royal career. Bo was only in his second full season with the Royals. The noted historian also backed ancient anecdotes of the Sultan of Swat's hitting one over 600 feet atWilkes University'sArtillery Parkin 1926. There really is nothing like getting the head of the bat out on a high fastball. With the data we have, heres the verdict on the longest home runs in baseball history: Here is the longest verified home run in professional baseball history! The best of those bombs occurred June 26, when he smacked one off Shea Stadium's scoreboard. Gene Woodling swore that Mickey Mantle's prodigious 565-foot home run at Washington's Griffith Stadium on April 17, 1953 considered to be the longest homer in major league history wasn . Cleveland, however, commemorated Thome's blast in 2014 by placing a statue of the franchise's all-time homer leader near the landing sight of Progressive Field's longest home run. 1:24. Martinez strikes out 17 batters, the most Yankees ever fanned in a single game. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Sports writer Jane Leavy explains the practice that dates back to Mickey Mantle's historic 565 foot hit in 1953. . He used a tape measure to determine the exact distance of the home run, giving birth to the term tape-measure shot.. As ESPN's Home Run Trackerverifies, one moonshot onMay 11, 2000, went 500 feet with a116.7 mph exit velocity. For Royal fans, George Brett provided plenty of home run drama, most of it against the Yankees. Mickey Mantle was no stranger to long home runs. The ball struck the facade on the right-field roof approximately 370 feet from home plate and 115 feet above field level. When researchers delve into an older home run for a more accurate telling, they typically spoil everyone's party by deflating an embellished tale. "I don't think anyone could ever be comfortable getting a statue, I mean that respectfully," Thome said during the unveiling ceremony, per. Whats most impressive about the moon shot is that McGwire hit it off of Mariners ace Randy Johnson, who would go on to win 20 games that year and nearly capture his second Cy Young. But not so fast. Kingman hit at 13:57. Mr. October was the architect of many classic post-season memories while wearing New York Yankees pinstripes. The Longest Home Run Ever Was So Deep, It Fooled the Camera Man. This would put him in the feasible discussion for the longest round-tripper ever. ESPN's Home Run Tracker docked his true distance down to 487. The shot traveled an estimated 475 feet and took all of six seconds to cover that distance. To maximize our exit velocity, the path of the bat needs to match the path of the oncoming pitch perfectly. The front of the card featured an aerial view of cavernous Griffith Stadium in Washington and showed the purported flight of the ball. The barrel his tipped forward, this mechanic can be seen by the top. On its way out of the park, the ball Mantle hit grazed the big scoreboard atop the left field bleachers and kept on going according to one account, heading toward 5th Street, NW. Few sluggers were stronger in their prime, making him one of baseball's most feared batters despite his strikeout woes. Thats a long way away. He was about to become a national hero. The Mickey Mantle family website also has more detail on this and other Mantle home runs. 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. Mark McGwire made a living socking dingers for the St. Louis Cardinals. 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. After Ruth, several other players hit home runs that have been certified by the Hall of Fame as being at least 600 feet away from the center-field fence. He had yielded just four homers during the first half, but Jackson took him deep for an unofficial fifth. And most of them were absolutely crushed. While ESPN didn't dare to debunk this legend, it studied another home run against the Kansas City Royals onMay 22, 1963. This blast off Glendon Rusch caromed off the center field awning for an estimated 504 feet. Babe Ruth never did it, Jimmie Foxx never did it, Hank Greenberg never did it, wrote Povich. In modern stadiums, we can only estimate where the ball would have landed. Hitting a baseball hundreds of feet is incredibly hard. In 1971, Reggie was representing the Oakland Athletics in the All-Star Game at Tigers Stadium. It was here, on April 4, 1919, in a game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Giants, that Babe Ruth hit his longest home run ever -- 587 feet. On May 31, 1997, Andres Galarraga cleared the full bases by sending a souvenir into Pro Player Stadium's empty upper deck. On April 17, 1953, when Mickey Mantle cleared the left-center-field bleachers at Clark Griffith Stadium in Washington, the whole baseball world assumed the ball had gone 565 feet from home plate to the place where it landed. Canseco later admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. He doesn't just hit pitchers, he takes away their dignity.. The grandest account of his power? Ruth, Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell and Adam Dunn have all hit blasts well past 500 feet in their careers. To maximize our exit velocity, the path of the bat needs to match the path of the oncoming pitch perfectly. Mantle is holding the home run ball he hit out of Washington, D.C.'s Griffith Stadium, estimated to have gone a distance of some 562 feet. In 565 feet, Mickey Mantle (1953). I have been unable to confirm this, but if that is accurate, that blast would have more mileage that either Benchs or Trouts. Brandon Moss only spent one season in Kansas City, but he did produce 22 home runs. Manage Settings Louis Effrat, Mantle Homer Hit Into Hall of Fame; Cooperstown Shrine Will Get Ball and Bat Used by Yank in Wallop at Capital, New York Times, Sunday, April 19, 1953, p. S-1. 6/21/2019 Nomar Mazara- 505 feet pic.twitter.com/xRgKESrJTs. Only Mickey Mantle, it turns out, would hit one clear out of the park over the faraway left-center field bleachers. A sixth ball was thrown by a fan in the tenth but it was credited to the batter so it didn't reach the stands. Using the best information available, let's take a stab at locating the longest recorded home runs ever. Yogi Berra was next, and Dobbs walked him. But experts say the flight of the ball observed by fans that day was an optical illusion and that the ball Mantle hit was already on its way down when it hit the roof, though still a singular accomplishment and memorable home run. This measurement is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest home run ever measured. Determining the longest homer ever in MLB history is an exercise in myth-busting. Longest home run for every MLB team Babe Ruth was said to have hit a home run over 600 feet. Notice where Canseco holds the barrel as the pitch is being thrown. That's the longest home run in history. Off-field problems derailed his path to superstardom, but his Montreal moonshot serves as a reminder of his off-the-charts power. . The exact distance, however, remains disputed. That wouldnt have been out of a lot of parks., Jake Taylor to Ricky Vaughn in Major League. 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. What is the distance between home plate and the mound? The distance: 656 feet to the point where it first landed! That '63 season, Dave slugged 22 home runs, walked 63 times and drove in 70 runs for a White Sox team that won 94 games. Many think the longest home run in Stadium history came off the bat of one Vincent Edward Jackson. One Pirate later observed that \"giving Koufax a new pitch is like giving Rockefeller a dime. The radio call of Carters home run by Tom Cheek was a classic, touch em all Joe! , we can still make definitive evaluations of the approximate landing points of all of his 714 career home runs. "ESPN's Stats & Info Group marks the landing point at 496 feet from home plate and 26 feet above field level.". What is the longest home run in MLB history. Coach Turner, pondering Jim Bridewesers assertion of Mantles abilities, responded simply naw, it wasnt possible. Nobody ever dreams of a statue, I certainly didn't.". YanksAtShea finds another archival goodie (some video-audio problems). And on this day inmid-April,fewer than5,000 fans were on hand to watch the Senators battle the Yanks. Royals Rumblings - News for March 1, 2023. Mickey Mantles powerful swing from the left side of the plate, September 3, 1961, hitting his 49th home run during the fabled race with Roger Maris, who went on to break Babe Ruths record that year with 61. I never saw anything like it, Sutton said, per Kelly. In virtually every other field of endeavor in which physical performance can be measured, there are no Ruthian equivalents. amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; Mcgwire later admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. Richard Keiber, a collector who obtained Kingman's moonshot outside of Wrigley Field, insisted to theChicago Tribune's Rick Talley in 2003 that 600 feet was a more accurate tally. Next time you visit Target Field, take a seat behind home plate and that will give you some appreciation on how far these balls traveled. This particular homer came courtesy of The Big Cat Andres Galarraga, who absolutely smoked an inside pitch from Marlins ace Kevin Brown into the top deck of the old Pro Players Stadium. Now, more than ever, we are able to accurately estimate where a ball hit at a certain velocity, at a certain angle, might land. 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. He finished his career with 256 homers and 994 RBIs while playing in 1,946 games over 16 seasons. The tater in this video caused a ripple in the giant right field Jumbotron at Shea Stadium. Washington's Griffith Stadium. Jack Doyle, Date Posted: 12 February 2010 April 14, 1976. Joe Dimaggio Hails Mantle, Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1953, p. C-1. 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.