5. 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. 5. The longest home run ever recorded is a subject of longstanding debate among baseball aficionados. Though its difficult to get an official handle on home run distances, the clout would rank, by any measure, among the longest of all time. It is the longest home run ever hit in a major league game where it was possible to get the exact measurement. 12/9 Tennessee. This dinger off Torontos Giovanni Carrara was pretty much that scene come to life. Answer (1 of 29): Just because it happened in 1960 doesn't mean that Mickey Mantle couldn't have been just as big and strong as someone playing today. Almost all of the players on the field, and everyone in the home-plate area, including the press box, swore that the ball was still ascending when it hit the roof. (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images). And then theres a millennial favorite -- Albert Pujols soul-crushing tater off Astros reliever Brad Lidge -- which looks just as fast as Stanton's record 121 mph laser when you watch it on tape. The Tigers' Kirk Gibson hit a home run onto the street in 1983 but it was less than 600 feet. On June 2, 2017, Manny Machado hit a 465-foot home run off Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello. These unidentified individuals based their calculations on the assumption that the ball traveled completely over the left-center-field roof. A local youngster finally ran it down some 825 feet from home plate. His 1974 blast certainly traveled over 500 feet, but just as certainly it was not rising when it was forced to as sudden stop. The next truly great slugger in the chronology of long-distance hitting was Ted Williams, who arrived on the major league scene in 1939. And if Harmon Killebrew ever hit one farther, the 49th anniversary of that home run is today. Customer Service The blast had an exit velocity of 118.3 mph and was Judges 52 home run of the season. 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. Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Russell Branyan hit a 480-foot blast on July 27, 2004. Not only did he set distance records in every major league ballpark (including National League stadiums where he played only infrequently), he also set similar standards in hundreds of other fields, where he made exhibition and barnstorming appearances. 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! In the years he played for his hometown team, Kirk Gibson frequently displayed his power. Guys, we think . So, you didnt have much of a chance to see a four-bagger back in those days. 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. San Diego Padres Franmil Reyes hit a 479-foot home run on June 5, 2018, against Atlanta Braves pitcher Luke Jackson. Bob Cerv's Hrs were from both KC Blues and A's. His longest measured at 528' was when' he was with the A's. Mantle's to extreme right field in the cluster was on the porch roof of a house and 43 feet above the playing field in BP. Tim Hagerty is the broadcaster for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, and is on Twitter at @MinorsTeamNames. As a result, he's the only player in history to establish true tape measure standards in all directions. The blast had an exit velocity of 111.6 to right-center field. Advertisement That puts it up there with legendary home runs from the likes of Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. Cecil Fielder takes a gingerly stroll on the roof of Tiger Stadium in 1993. 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. Mantle was a switch-hitter who was equally powerful from both sides of the plate. Check the home run lengths of all seventy Mark McGwire blasts and all sixty-six Sammy Sosa's shots in the fabulous feats section. Also I remember that it was thought to be a greater fete to hit one over the left field roof than in right field. What is the highest mountain in the world? I'm here to drive home runs. Most of those blasts, too, were prodigious, so the Tigers took a chance and signed Fielder. 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. The new parks are smaller, built for power hitters to entertain todays fans. Sadly, the COVID pandemic denied fans the chance to marvel at this drive in person, save for the few fans enjoying dinner atop the Detroit Athletic Club across the street. 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. On June 27, 2007, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard launched a 505-foot home run off of Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Aaron Harang. In order to fully understand and appreciate long-distance hitting, a frame of reference should be established. A truly Ruthian tale., Ossining, N.Y. Babe Ruth went to jail. Top 10 Tigers homers of the decade. Estimates on this mammoth shot range anywhere from 500 to 535 feet, but the one thing we do know is that it cleared the 20-foot patch of grass and 32-foot-high batters eye behind the 404-foot center-field marker at Great American Ball Park. April 10, 2021 by retrosimba. MSU has posted double-digit runs in two of the seven games (15 runs vs. Michigan on Feb. 17; 13 runs at USC Upstate on Feb. 24), and the Spartans have posted double-digit hits in five of the seven games, with a season-high 18 hits vs. Michigan, along with 15 hits vs. Fresno state on Feb. 19 and 15 hits at Grand Canyon on Feb. 20. Negro Leagues star Josh Gibson is said to have actually cleared that old park in the Bronx. The blast still stands over 40 years later as the longest homerun in MLB All-Star game history. Brouthers rocketed a rising line drive that cleared the fence in distant right-center field, and reportedly rolled another two blocks. Who is baseball's mightiest batsman and how far can he hit a baseball? The place was. Ted Williams called it one of the hardest hit balls hed ever seen. Is there a logical explanation for that behavior? But that massive outfield makes it all the more majestic when sluggers crush tape-measure homers, making this ballpark somehow look small. And then, wouldnt you know it, big Cecil did just that. I saw Frank Howard hit his homer over the left field wall in Tiger stadium. 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. 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. They have always liked them, and always will. Martinez hit the longest home run in Comerica Park history last season at an estimated 467 feet. I saw Jason Rooftop Thompson hit one out of Tiger Stadium over right center field off of Dick Tidrow of the Yankees. Probably well over 600 feet in total. 1969 i attended my first game at Tiger Stadium the next day, Self correction. Here, in no particular order, are 12 absolutely massive homers we wish came under Statcast tracking. The home run had an exit velocity of 116 mph and was Zuninos 12 homer of the season. As i pulled in I quickly understood this was a warehouse & office thinking this is a internet retailer. Ruth hit the ball clear out of Navin Field (Tiger Stadium) to center field, a shot Jenkinson. Stanton hit a ball in the Coors Field, one of the highest . Franchy Cordero's 489-foot bomb was the longest home run of the season coming into the night per Statcast. However, the actual distance in the air was probably about 510 feet. The baseball traveled past the flag pole located in deep center field, over the head of Charles Chick Shorten, over the lower deck, which undoubtedly had only a smattering of fans, and out onto the street. 3. Since 2015, Nomar Mazara owns the longest homer distance at 505 feet. One of the largest men ever to play major league baseball, at six feet seven inches, 275 pounds, Howard was the absolute epitome of size and strength. Enjoy the dingers. The homer was Gallos 23rd of the season. Back in 21, Navin Field did not yet have the upper deck in center field that would later be a haven for diehard fans. Mantle is generally credited with the longest home run of all time, a clout that left Tiger Stadium on Sept. 10, 1960, and landed in a lumberyard across the street. On July 7, 2021, Texas Rangers Joey Gallo hit a 462-foot home run off of Detroit Tigers pitcher Casey Mize. Before he retired after the 1973 season, he had performed even more extraordinary feats of long-distance hitting in the junior circuit. Reggie was one hell of a master blaster!!!! The ball cleared the wide breadth of Grand Boulevard and landed on the sidewalk approximately 470 feet from home plate. Perhaps the ball had already flown over 400 feet, whereupon it was interrupted in midflight at a height of 70 feet above field level. The Milwaukee Brewers outfielder crushed a pitch on Thursday night which was reported as being 489 feet, the longest home run hit at the new iteration of Busch Stadium. A six-city mystery. And, how far did it go? Share your opinion on our baseball message boards where a topic on the longest hit ever has already begun. The distance traveled through the air has been obscured with the passage of time and herein lies an interesting aspect of this subject. Ruth played during the height of American's newspaper culture, when approximately 10 New York papers gave first hand accounts of each Yankee game. During Mantle's rookie season in 1951, he had struck several impressive drives, but it was not until he cleared the left-center-field bleachers at Griffith Stadium two years later that he was crowned as the new King of the Tape Measure. The homer had an exit velocity of 111.6 and was Healys tenth home run of the season. By looking back, we can confirm the preoccupation with long-distance hitting in the early stages of baseball history. 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. Well, the whole Yankees roster did in 1929 for an exhibition against Sing Sing Correctional Facility inmates. the Nearest to me was Vintage. He actually did it twice that season, the first of two straight seasons he was an All-Star for the Tigers. Directly behind Allen in the historic ranking of tape measure hitters were contemporaries Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey. Randy Johnson went 20-4 with a 2.28 ERA and 291 strikeouts in 1997, but in this case, power collided with power. Ruths tape measure mystery is part of the lore surrounding the most famous player of all-time. COLUMBIA, Mo. Despite the scarcity of film on Ruth, we can still make definitive evaluations of the approximate landing points of all of his 714 career home runs. Killabrew was in 62. 5:30 pm Darryl Strawberry hitting the large clock at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on October 1, 1985. Ruth hit the ball clear out of Navin Field (Tiger Stadium) to center field, a shot Jenkinson estimates would have traveled 575 feet unencumbered, Sports Illustrated recapped. This ball cleared the Hard Rock Cafe and landed well into the fifth deck, and Griffeys classic swing made the feat look effortless. 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. 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. 5. The home run was the 100th of Howards career in his 325th game. Miguel Cabrera later became known for reaching the camera perch above that. Fort Wayne, Ind. Kingman hit a famously long homer on April 14, 1976, at Wrigley Field. 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. Allen walloped 18 home runs over the 75-foot-high left-field grandstand at Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium, but his opposite-field drives to right and right-center fields may have been even more impressive. What a great game! Benjamin Tetteh scored his first goal for . J.D. Others who should be recognized are Jose Canseco, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey, Jr., Frank Thomas, and Andres Galarraga. 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. It was heresy to suggest that Ruth's accomplishments could be surpassed, but for a few seasons it appeared that Foxx might do just that. The seat later was painted bright orange to stand out in the sea of green seats and remained there until the old Met was torn down after the Twins moved to the Metrodome in 1982. Shipping Service Top 10 Tigers homers of the decade. Simply hitting the shrubs in straightaway center field used to be a big enough deal that those home runs were tracked in the Tigers media guide. And yet, everyone in attendance was apparently moved to awe and admiration by this single event, which resulted in the scoring of the lone run. Giancarlo Stanton, 504 Feet (2016) Since the installment of technology, Giancarlo Stanton's home run is the longest homer ever recorded.