Kight always stopped what he was doing when Killebrew was at the plate, but even he didnt guess where this one would wind up. The founding fathers decided to reward a powerfully hit ball by allowing the batter to circle the bases for an automatic run. Lets take a look at the longest home runs in the history of each MLB stadium. I was at a game when Frank Catalonatto hit a ball onto the RF roof down the line, but the ball rolled back off the roof and fell on the field. The covered upper-deck seats add even more grandeur to Big Cats neck-craner, providing a pad for the ball to thump and trickle down like a golf ball on a putt-putt course. Lynne asked what I was interested in and presented me with a great selection of Tigers caps and T-shirts. On June 2, 2017, Manny Machado hit a 465-foot home run off Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello. It was the 485th home run of his career. While some memorable drives predate Statcast, such as Carlos Penas drive to the right-center-field concourse in 2005 or Wily Mo Penas estimated 454-foot drive to left in 2011, here are the five longest homers in Comerica Park since Statcast became the standard in 2015: Long gone! The big guy came to Detroit in 1990 as a free agent after a season in Japan. This was Bonds, baseballs most fearsome slugger, digging in for a rare Interleague at-bat in iconic Yankee Stadium -- the House that Ruth Built -- and rewarding us with a towering rocket to the right-field nosebleeds. He was an honest, sometimes even self-effacing individual, who was never known to overstate his accomplishments. With the OPEN sign light I though well came all this way just aswell give it a try and am I glad I did. If Mantle had provided the same power or velocity, but had launched the ball at a higher and more efficient angle, it would have passed out of Yankee Stadium at a height of over 200 feet! Hank Greenberg and Willie Horton might also qualify as long time Tigers. His most impressive, though, may have been . Stanton hit a ball in the Coors Field, one of the highest . On September 26, 1997, future Hall of Famer, Mike Piazza of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit a 496-foot home run to left-center off of Colorado Rockies reliever Darren Holmes. When gargantuan Frank Howard hit a mighty home run off Robin Roberts in Philadelphia on September 1, 1958, the next great tape measure home run career was initiated. Order Tracking Glenallen Hill - 500 Feet. Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Hull City and West Brom at the MKM Stadium. According to former Tiger Stadium groundskeeper Frank Feneckit, it took almost a howitzer to send a ball over the left-field grandstand at The Corner. Perhaps the mightiest of all the early sluggers was Big Dan Brouthers, who played for several National League teams before the turn of the century. And, as was the case with Mantle, Allen was one of the few men in the entire history of the game who possessed legitimate 500-foot-plus power. Have Your Own Jersey? Only four players have been confirmed to hit a ball over the left field roof at Tiger Stadium in Detroit: Cecil Fielder, Mark McGwire, Harmon Killebrew, and Frank Howard. Home runs in MLB arent as hard to come by as they used to be. Despite his extraordinary accomplishments, Babe Ruth is not immune. That magnitude of Ruth's accomplishment can be understood with the knowledge that, because home plate had been moved, the distance to the grandstand for Gibson was 341 feet, while for Ruth it was 365 feet. One of the most common question asked here at Baseball Almanac is who hit the longest home run ever. From interviews with the surviving source of the original data, it is readily apparent once again that the all had bounced several times before it reached the estimated distance. ORDER YOURS NOW! Tell us in the comments. What are your home run memories of Tiger Stadium? The trajectory had it coming near me but it just never came down inside the ballpark! J.D. The vast popularity of major league baseball's home run hitting contest before the annual All-Star Game is ample evidence that we remain enamored of the players blessed with unique levels of power. In case you're not familiar with it, Jackson hit what I believe is the longest home run of my lifetime, and I've been around a while. Fewer than one in a million men are capable of powering a ball 450 feet against major league caliber pitching. document.write(update); 460 . Ted Williams' most famous home run was his last, No. Although I'm not one to argue with science and advanced metrics, Cabrera's home run still . When you consider that many baseball stadiums have centerfield fences around 400 feet from home plate, such blasts would be truly spectacular. 4. It was a rarity. The second one was Gibbys blast in 1983, when some friends and I got bleacher tickets, and sat dead center, giving us a great view of the ball as it sailed out of the ballpark. On July 21, 1915, as a rookie with the Boston Red Sox, Ruth struck a prodigious drive that sailed far over the rightfield bleachers at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Coincidentally, that was the same ballpark where Mickey Mantle had supplanted Williams as the game's longest hitter seven years earlier. The enigmatic Dick Allen was also one of baseball's greatest long-distance hitters. Stopped by Wed morning 7/6 and had the pleasure of dealing directly with Lynne. This one went over the left field roof, off Oaklands Dave Stewart. Ted Williams hit a 502-foot blast to the right-field bleachers on June 9, 1946. Did the Babes longest homer really challenge 600 feet? No one had hit one that far before. In 1967, he hit the longest home run in the history of Metropolitan Stadium in . Reggie Jackson's 1971 All-Star Game shot at Tiger Stadium would have travelled more than. A blow of 450 feet shows exceptional power, as the majority of major league players are unable to hit a ball that far. As Ruth's talents waned in the early 1930s, Foxx began his ascendancy. Acunas homer had an exit velocity of 112.9 mph and was his 14th homer of the season. On July 7, 2021, Texas Rangers Joey Gallo hit a 462-foot home run off of Detroit Tigers pitcher Casey Mize. So with that in mind, here are to date, in game, the longest home runs ever hit in MLB history. Own This Day - https://thebaseballpage.comSeptember 10, 1960 - Mickey Mantle unloads a cannon shot clearing the RF roof in Detroit and landing in Brooks Lumb. Thome had over 600 home runs in his career. Sammy Sosa famously broke one of the windows on that yellow building, but even Slammin Sammy never hit one out there as far as Hill. On the first strike out , he threw his bat, so the fans were booing loudly, and banging the wood seats each time he came up to bat! Determining the longest homer ever in MLB history is an exercise in myth-busting. Allen was consistent, hitting 17 home runs for the Cardinals at home and 17 on the road. Here is a highlight and a memory . Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. This is dramatized by the fact that Connor's blow was the only home run he would hit that season. Reid, an engineer, estimates the distance in the air as no less than 610 feet, theTampa Bay Times wrote. Dock Ellis was the pitcher, and Jim Palmer is among those who. Mantle hit the facade on two or perhaps three occasions, but never cleared it. By his own admission, during his 18-year career at Yankee Stadium, which included thousands of swing variables, he hit several balls to right field in an optimum manner. On July 18, 1921, Babe Ruth hit what is believed to be the longest verified home run in Major League Baseball history. The Tigers' Kirk Gibson hit a home run onto the street in 1983 but it was less than 600 feet. All Rights Reserved by Baseball Almanac, Inc.Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. The homer was Gallos 23rd of the season. Tiger Stadium was famous for its low roof and a few players have hit balls completely out of the ballpark, but Jackson's 532-foot home run stands as one of the longest on record. No sooner than the last word had left his mouth, he did it again.. Lynn worked with me to swap out to something similar excellent customer service. Here is the full top 8 . ET, 5:00 p.m. MT on Monday, July 12. On June 29, 2018,, Seattle Mariners Mike Zunino hit a 470-foot home run to left field off Kansas City Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy. Reggie Jackson was the player who hit one over the right field roof while playing for the California Angels during the May 15, 1984 game at Tiger Stadium. Giancarlo Stanton, 504 Feet (2016) Since the installment of technology, Giancarlo Stanton's home run is the longest homer ever recorded. 5. Certainly, this drive was propelled somewhere around 500 feet in the air, which makes it legitimately historic, but proof that it traveled 600 feet cannot be found. The longest home run in the seven-year history of Montreal's Olympic Stadium came off the bat of retired Pittsburgh slugger Willie Stargell. That ball is measured at. But there are others. Fifteen writers from New York, Chicago, and other places emphatically stated that Ruth's fifth-inning drive cleared the 52-foot-wide grandstand roof by a considerable margin. Miguel Cabrera, June 29, 2016 (459 feet)Cabrera hit two tape-measure home runs to left-center field at Comerica Park in a nine-day span. . Customer Service The massive slugger connected with a hanging breaking ball from Ivan Nova and crushed it, sending it nearly onto the concourse beyond center field. And then, wouldnt you know it, big Cecil did just that. It may be appropriate to cite another example of this same optical illusion. But where was Ruths longest homer? I think the Tigers won that game in the bottom of the 9th, when they were losing but then Jim Northrup hit a grand slam to win the game. 3. They represent a fraction of those who have applied their ability to the act of hitting a baseball. Machados home run had an exit velocity of 114.3 mph. I grew up in Bridgeport Michigan. Thankfully, we gathered the information for you. I'm here to drive home runs. The home run had an exit velocity of 116 mph and was Zuninos 12 homer of the season. Foxx never quite measured up to Ruth, but it is remarkable that no once since Foxx has measured up to him. Simply clearing the first row of shrubs beyond the center-field fence is a big deal. 5. The Babe cranked an exhibition game dinger there that traveled over the left-center field fence and into a moving train. That homeric deed was performed by the powerful Jimmie Foxx on June 16, 1936. Again, the vast talents of Herculean Mickey Mantle have been comprised by individuals who have unwittingly perpetrated a hoax. . Detroit's Tiger Stadium (the name was changed from Briggs Stadium) was a favorite Mantle hunting ground for legendary home run blasts. This dinger off Torontos Giovanni Carrara was pretty much that scene come to life. Broxton, naturally, was . The best distance guess at the time: 538 feet. The distance of the home run has been estimated at up to 575 feet (175 m). If Bo Jackson had not been forced into early retirement, he might have challenged Fielder for modern supremacy. I saw Frank Howard hit his homer over the left field wall in Tiger stadium. A-Gon Goes a-Golfing 19 of 20 Just when we thought we had seen everything from Adrian Gonzalez, here he is hitting the longest home run in the history of PetCo Park, a ridiculous pitcher's. Barry Bonds holds the all-time home run record in Major League Baseball Sadaharu Oh, pictured here in 2006, holds the officially verified all-time world home run record in professional baseball. Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Willie Stargell hit a 507-foot home run to right field on August 5, 1969. The ball eventually landed in the left-field upper deck, where no man had gone before. It should be noted that those regular references over the years to 500- and 600-foot home runs were born out of scientific ignorance, misinformation, or even deliberate exaggeration. The Mets were quick to flash a 505-foot distance up on the scoreboard, but broadcaster Keith Hernandez might have put it better when he said, It looks like theres beer coming off that sign.. Here, in no particular order, are 12 absolutely massive homers we wish came under Statcast tracking. Although other sluggers occasionally reached the rooftops during Comiskey's long lifetime, the only other left-handed batter known to have flown the right-field roof was Detroit's Kirk Gibson in 1985. Ruth later claimed this was the longest home run he ever hit, the News-Sentinel reported. Before he retired after the 1973 season, he had performed even more extraordinary feats of long-distance hitting in the junior circuit. Since 2015, Nomar Mazara owns the longest homer distance at 505 feet. I put the location into google maps off I went. Houston Astros Jake Marisnick hit a 469-foot home run to center field off Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price on June 18, 2017. However, the actual distance in the air was probably about 510 feet. A 34-mph wind blew toward the bleachers that day, which is why Mee thinks Killebrews second upper-deck shot may actually have been hit harder. That was the start of modern long-distance hitting, and it is a testimony to Ruth's uniqueness that he was able to set objective standards of performance that have never been surpassed. With the guidance of our scientific brethren, we know that once a batted ball has reached its highest point and lost most of its velocity, it falls in a rapidly declining trajectory. A suitable example can be identified in Ruth's classic Comiskey Park rooftopper on August 16, 1927. On May 4, 2018, Washington Nationals Bryce Harper hit a 473-foot home run to center field off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta. As a kid in May 1967? Shoutout is also due to Dave Kingman, who knocked one into a front yard on Kenmore Avenue in a 23-22 loss to the Phillies on May 17, 1979. Not since Hank Greenberg in the 1940s, had Tiger fans seen a power hitter like Cecil Fielder. Mike Piazza at Coors Field (Sept 26, 1997), skyscraper in Game 2 of the 2002 World Series, Cecil Fielder at Tiger Stadium (Aug. 25, 1990), physicist from Montreals McGill University. By 1995, the sponsorship had changed, but the program had been expanded to include every big league ballpark. Detroit Tigers pitchers and catchers went through drills and a bullpen session during Spring Training Tuesday, February 14, 2023. As late as 1960, Teddy Ballgame was still going strong, when he opened the season in Washington with a 475-foot bolt to right-center field. New York Met Michael Conforto hit a 469-foot home run on September 29, 2021, off of Miami Marlins pitcher Elieser Hernandez. The 2021 Home Run Derby begins at 7:00 p.m. Its remarkable, and comforting, that, despite their conspicuous increase in muscle mass, todays sluggers dont really hit the ball any farther than their predecessors. In 1921, major league teams averaged 59 home runs. He is also the author of"Root for the Home Team: Minor League Baseball's Most Off-the-Wall Team Names.". If confirmed, it would be the longest home run in 2018 by a long shot. Brubaker. Whether it skips across the top of the railing into the first row of bleachers, or completely passes out of the stadium, the batter is award four bases - no more, no less. There was never anyone like the Babe, said teammate Herb Pennock, and to have seen him was to see a legend.. I swear one of the Angels hit one either on or over the roof in 84 or 85. It was one of the longest home runs anybody has ever seen, reportedly up to 539 feet from home plate. There have been claims . ESPN's Home Run. Longest home run in the history of every single MLB stadium BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - SEPTEMBER 26: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees at bat during the top of the first inning of the. Like other home runs mentioned on this list, Thome's blast bounced through the streets after leaving the stadium by flying over the center field fence. This ball might have evaporated into the clouds if the Big O roof wasnt in its path. Yes, Killebrew stroked titanic blasts on consecutive days in June 1967. None other than Darren Holmes, the Rockies pitcher who coughed it up, estimates that this ball went probably 560 feet -- off a changeup, no less. But not so fast. The greatest confirmed home run distance in Major League Baseball is about 575 feet (175 m), by Babe Ruth, to straightaway center field at Tiger Stadium (then called Navin Field and prior to the double-deck), which landed nearly across the junction of Trumbull and Cherry. In truth, that figure derived from the distance from home plate to the place where a neighborhood child retrieved the ball. As long ago as opening day 1883, there is information describing the excitement generated by Hall of Famer Roger Connor, who struck an unusually long home run at the original Polo Grounds in New York. There were some very big hitters in the American League, but that was unbelievable.. Bobby Allison called me from the dugout and said, How can you measure that at 435 feet? In virtually every other field of endeavor in which physical performance can be measured, there are no Ruthian equivalents. J.P. Arencibia, Sept. 7, 2015 (464 feet)Sadly, there is no video archive of this launch by the then-Rays catcher off Tigers starter Randy Wolf. It is only fair to also mention the great distance sluggers of the old Negro Leagues. On April 4, 2001, Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Vinny Castilla hit a 478-foot home run to left field off of Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Joey Hamilton. This one hit the second-deck facade in left-center. With each passing year, others will join the long list of true tape measure champions. The longest home runs hit at Tiger Stadium in Detroit by Dan Holmes on January 24, 2022 I could hit for average, but that's not my job. The term tape measure is especially relevant in this instance, since it was popularized on this occasion for the first time. Fort Wayne, Ind. The ball kept carrying as JaCoby Jones ran towards the wall, eventually clearing both rows of shrubs in straightaway center before bouncing back onto the field. * Click on a player to see more information about their specific events including videos of plays if available. They did not or could not find a way to further reward the batter who hit a ball significantly farther than the established home run distance. This home run was hit at Tiger Stadium in Detroit on September 10, 1960. One of the hardest ever at the corner was a blast by Jimmie Foxx deep into left center, just to the left of the center field scoreboard. Based upon that belief, this drive has commonly been estimated at about 620 feet if left unimpeded. Seeing great drives land atop distant upper-deck roof, sportswriters observing the occurrence from a press box would resort to their limited skills in mathematics without any regard for the laws of physics. Yet again, we have an example of a genuinely epic home run that has been grievously overstated. On September 25, 2020, Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr., hit a 495-foot home run to left-center field off Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Mazza. In order to fully understand and appreciate long-distance hitting, a frame of reference should be established. On April 14, 1976, New York Mets right fielder Dave Kingman hit an estimated 530-foot home run to left-center field off Chicago Cubs pitcher Tom Dettore.