Prodigous home runs

[Archive]

Posted By: PASJD

This steroid talk reminds me of the two longest I have ever seen in person, both by Kingman. First was in Wrigley, late 70s, he hit one that still seemed to be rising as it cleared the park in dead center field, in the car on the way back to my gf's dorm they were saying it hit some building across the street and they estimated it at 500 feet or something like that. Second was in my hometown Fenway, he was playing for the A's at the tail end of his career, first Canseco hits a half-ass home run to right (steroid aided? hehe), the Kingman comes up and hits just a mammoth, towering blast to left that couldn't have taken no more than two seconds to clear everything, in the papers the next day one of the columns said it was last seen paying the toll on the Mass. Pike and heading west, it was quite remarkable. He may not have been much of a hitter from an overall standpoint, but wow.

[Archive]

Posted By: Marc S.

Was receiving a handwritten letter from Joe Brovia in response to a fan letter I sent him when I was twelve or so. Although he only played sixteen games or so in the Show, legend would have it that in the minor leagues he once smashed a home run 560 feet - often compared to the one Mantle hit in the same era.

More a random fluke thing than anything else - but I thought it was the neatest thing to receive an actual handwritten letter from a former MLBer...

~ms

[Archive]

Posted By: Geno

The longest one I ever saw was hit by Glenallen Hill at Wrigley. It actually landed on top of one of the rooftops at Wrigley! Many guys have hit the buildings on the fly, but to put one on top was utterly amazing...

[Archive]

Posted By: Trae R.

That is pretty darned cool. I sent out a bunch of letters when I was younger, and the best reply was a paragraph or so from Jim Abbots wife, along with a signed card I mailed away with my letter. I was so excited I could barely contain myself... wait I was like 8 so I probably didn't contain myself.

[Archive]

Posted By: qualitycards.com

The biggest blast that I personally witnessed was at the Home Run derby in Baltimore the day before the All Star game a decade ago. Griffey's blast cleared the stands and hit the adjacent warehouse. I believe it was the 1st and only time that anyone has hit the building. Juiced ball, juiced players or not.

[Archive]

Posted By: dennis

home run was the best,maybe not for distance but it was so high to land accross the street on the rooftop!tremendous. i also saw the kingmans blast posted earliar and that went down the street a longway. also,i remember clemente hitting a line drive out of wrigley just a little left of the scoreboard in center.that was something(circa 1966?)--sosa hit the board if i remember correctly a few years ago.

[Archive]

Posted By: Kevin O

I was working at Wrigley when Hill hit the homer into the rooftop bleachers. It wasn't dropping when it hit the roof; it was gliding downward on an angle. I can't imagine how far it might have gone if there had been nothing to block it.

The most incredible shots I've ever seen live were any number of Greg Luzinski's BP blasts at the Vet. I remember a guy in the upper deck who used to scream "stop, drop and roll" when the Bull came up for his cuts. They seemed almost mythical when he stepped in after Bowa.

The most prodigious blast I've ever seen on television has to have been Reggie Jackson's shot off the Tiger Stadium light tower in the 1971 All Star Game. Pure Roy Hobbs.

[Archive]

Posted By: three25hits

The longest/hardest homer I ever saw was Albert Pujols in the 2000 Arizona Fall league. Those fields in Arizona are huge, with power allies at 400 feet in some cases. I don't remember the specific field, but beyond the power ally was a small hill. On top of the hill was a 50 foot tall scoreboard. Pujols' shot hit the top of the scoreboard (about 2 feet from clearing it). I have no idea the actual distance, but it was an amazing sight. The stands, bullpens, and players on the field immediately froze when he hit the ball. Many people shuttered at the sound of the ball hitting the scoreboard.

An interesting side note, the opposition's shortstop in that game was Alfonso Soriano.

[Archive]

Posted By: Gary B.

is there some kind of official record of the longest hit ball(s) ever? If so, how far and by whom?

[Archive]

Posted By: three25hits

My guess to the longest ever (unverified) would be either Luke Easter or Josh Gibson.

As for an officially recognized "longest home run," I have no idea...

[Archive]

Posted By: Robert A

I also remember that glenallen hill shot! wow.

Sexson's shot last year that broke the scoreboard at the BOB was fun.

[Archive]

Posted By: Pcelli60

I saw that Kingman shot at Wrigley on TV. Being a long time Met fan I saw him hit many monster shots. Also on the tube saw Strawberrys shot at Olympic Stadium.
Jacksons shot at Tiger Stadium was also unforgetable..
But the shot I most remember in person was at Shea. In 1974 Ted Simmons blasted a shot into the leftcenter section of the parking lot! Today that would have cleared the pavilion..

[Archive]

Posted By: PASJD

I think is one Mantle hit in DC that they measured at 565 feet. That said, of course, legends abound about shots that were longer.

[Archive]

Posted By: dennis

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/art_hr.shtml i believe that mantle 565 foot homerun was measured by the team (pr guy)with a tape measure thus the term tape measure.

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw

at Dodgers Stadium. My recollection is that it hit the roof in the pavilion, which is a really terrific shot. I also saw Beltre nearly clear the stadium at BP last summer.

[Archive]

Posted By: Peter Thomas

In 67 I saw Killebrew hit a home run into the top row of lights in left center, by the 379' marker in left center, must have been 150 feet in the air and just starting to come down - it bore no resemblance to any other home run shot I have seen. It was the last serries of the season and the sox and twins were battling for penant and Yaz was trying for triple crown. Fans gave him a standing ovation. Sox won serries and Yaz and Killebrew ended tied with, I think, 44 homers giving Yaz triple crown.

[Archive]

Posted By: Matt Goebel

The longest I have seen in person were a moonshot by Sam Horn at the old Toronto Ballpark sometime in the late 1980's and a blast to dead center at Mile High Stadium in 1994 by Sammy Sosa before he was "Slammin' Sammy". The longest I have ever seen at all was Andres Galarraga's titanic blow into the upper deck of Joe Robbie Stadium in the mid to late 1990's.

[Archive]

Posted By: Mark

Didn't anyone else learn this story as a kid? Bob Montag of the Southern Association's Atlanta Crackers hit a home run out of the park that landed in a coal train and traveled for 518 miles (not feet).

http://www.hillstreetpress.com/CrackersQuiz.html (question 8)

[Archive]

Posted By: PASJD

I only saw it on TV, but I recall Canseco hitting one into the deepest recesses of Toronto's Skydome, back near the hotel or something, leaving Tony Kubek (who of course had played with Mantle) speechless and just saying Oh my over and over again.

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

I've seen a few huge blasts in my day. The only game I attended at the Kingdome, I saw Gary Matthews hit only the second ball ever into the upperdeck of right centerfield. I also saw the only homerun, at the time, to be hit beyond bleachers and hit the concession stand behind it in Oakland. Probably the most impressive homer I ever saw in 1986 at Wrigley. It was a game against the Astros and the wind was blowing in at about 20mph, so me and my buddy figured we weren't gonna see any HRs that day. The first pitch of the game, Steve Finely hit ball into the teeth off the wind and out of the park. No one else came close to getting the ball half out of the outfield that day.

On a side note about HR distance, this posted on the SABR-l list:

Jay's suspicions are well founded.
HRs are not measured consistently or accurately, so that statements like Stats' should be taken with a ton of salt. Stats typically takes the various suspect in-park guesstimates and then rounds them off to the nearest 10', introducing a bit more error into the process.

Even if the Stats contention were accurate, we would have to ask how changes in ball resiliency affected the situation.
Finally, given the sloppy way the statement is worded, every one of Bonds pre-2000 HRs could have been 450' on the nose, and if none of his later HRs could have exceeded that figure, and the statement would be true.

Is Stats turning into another Elias in terms of its reliability and
relevance to understanding the game of baseball?

-- John Pastier

end quote

Jay

The difference between genius and insanity is acceptance.

[Archive]

Posted By: Scott

But three home runs in particular amazed me because of how hard they were hit and how quickly they left the park:

1 - I was sitting about half-way up the outfield in the 'dome (that's "Astrodome" for you younger people), watching the Reds hammer the Astros. Tony Perez hit a line drive OVER our heads that was still rising. It was truly amazing to see the "Perez/Bench"-era Reds when they were loaded with power.

2 - Sitting equally far away from home plate, at Cleveland Municipal, when Sandy Alomar Jr. hit one very similar to the Perez shot. Made me wonder why he wasn't hitting 50 a year.

3 - Frank Thomas hit a liner to left-field in the new Comiskey, that I watched from high up behind home plate. It looked like anyone standing along it's path could have reached up and caught it - pure line drive, got out in a hurry.

[Archive]

Posted By: Mike McGrail

As an 8 year old, I saw Willie Stargell launch one into the right field upper deck at 3 Rivers Stadium. It was his 2nd of 4 that he launched there during his career. No idea how far it is or where it ranks on the all time list, but it sure looked like it traveled a mile!

Ciao for now,

Mike