Americans, along with people everywhere, are fascinated with power. After Ruth and Foxx, Mantle ranks as high as or higher than anyone else who ever tried to hit a baseball to faroff places. It has been confirmed that the ball struck against the third house beyond Waveland Avenue, which is situated about 530 feet from home plate. 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. Check the home run lengths of all seventy Mark McGwire blasts and all sixty-six Sammy Sosa's shots in the fabulous feats section. From a functional standpoint, it makes no difference by what margin a ball clears a set home run barrier. Almost everyone in attendance believed that the ball was still rising when it was interrupted in midflight by the roof structure. Out of class C ball, hits 'em both ways, five-hundred feet both ways! The next day, he got Red Sox starter Jose Santiago.From there, it was on to a one-game stopover in Cleveland on May 16, when Howard hit two more homers, both off Indians flamethrower Sam McDowell. The ball landed near a parking attendant, 515 feet from home plate. 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. One other aspect of misrepresentation should be explored. He instead signed with the Dodgers organization, and after a handful of appearances in 1958 and 1959 he succeeded Carl Furillo as Los Angeles' right fielder in 1960; he won The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year Award in 1959 after hitting 43 homers in the Pacific Coast League. '"Howard never bought the Cadillac, Allen said, but the giant slugger ended up having one of the best seasons of his career, hitting .274 with 44 home runs and 106 RBIs. Since this home run was the only one that ever cleared those bleachers during decades of major league and Negro League competition, it is genuinely deserving of recognition. 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. The aforementioned fictional home run could have been reported at 550 feet in a prominent newspaper, and re-created at that length by historians for years thereafter, when in fact it traveled about 100 feet less. "He was such in a zone. 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. But on August 25, 1990, during a Saturday game against Oakland, Tigers first baseman Cecil Fielder joined the exclusive circle of sluggers. Despite many unsubstantiated claims, none of the early sluggers recorded drives of such length that they could compare with those of the modern era. The pitchers couldn't get him out," said Hank Allen, a teammate.According to Allen, Howard owned an old Pontiac station wagon but had been thinking about buying a new car during his home-run binge. Others who should be recognized are Jose Canseco, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey, Jr., Frank Thomas, and Andres Galarraga. When Mickey Mantle cleared the left-center-field bleachers at Clark Griffith Stadium in Washington on April 17, 1953, the entire baseball world was lead to believe the ball had traveled 565 feet from home plate to the point where it landed. As of 1995, the Mantle of baseball's longest hitter can probably best be worn by Cecil Fielder. However, fans don't need additional inducements to maintain their fascination with "tape measure" home runs. Significance: Longest home run (estimated 465 feet) at Nationals Park, as of start of the 2017 season Location: Budweiser Brew House back railing (plaque) Batter: Adam LaRoche Date: April 5, 2014 vs. Braves Significance: Upper deck home run Location: Section 236, Row A, Seat 14. Beginning in the late 1960s, the Senators marked the landing spots of slugger Frank Howard’s longest home runs at RFK by painting the seats white. The Nationals have made sure that Howard will not be forgotten. Through 1990, only two players had cleared the roof in left. The same home runs that had once been described as 500 footers were now being scientifically calculated in the 450-foot range. Moving into the eighties, Mike Schmidt, Jim Rice, and Darryl Strawberry set the pace at a time when modern technology permitted us to better understand the limitations of the flight of a batted ball. He would say to me every night during that streak, 'Just another down payment on that Cadillac. These unidentified individuals based their calculations on the assumption that the ball traveled completely over the left-center-field roof. Frank Howard allegedly hit a home run that far at Forbes Field in 1960. Dick Allen, too, played in both leagues, thereby providing himself the advantage of leaving his signature on more ballparks than those who only played in one league. However, the reality is that the ball was already on its way down, and those reporting the trajectory were victimized by a common optical illusion. 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. - Bill Dickey. In the case of Nicholson, who was a powerful man, as was Kingman, the figure of 573 feet was provided by "White Sox mathematicians." Any drive over 400 feet is noteworthy. . That year, he had a week for the ages, blasting 10 home runs in a stretch of 20 at-bats from May 12-18. The ball cleared the football press box (Memorial Stadium was also home to the then-Baltimore Colts), then a good 50 rows of bleachers, then a 12-foot TV camera before disappearing for good. By 1995, the sponsorship had changed, but the program had been expanded to include every big league ballpark. 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. Not surprisingly, all of the great true distance hitters have also been the source of the greatest exaggerations. This is dramatized by the fact that Connor's blow was the only home run he would hit that season. NEW YORK -- Frank Howard, who is considered one of the greatest power hitters in the history of the nation's capital, averaged 34 home runs per season during his seven years with the Senators from 1965-71. 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. The decade of the fifties was particularly blessed with the presence of many great sluggers, who should be mentioned in any discussion of long hitters. "You guys got to see this kid we have in camp. Did you know that the SABR book (Home Run Encyclopedia) lists details about every Major League home run hit by every player since 1876? As a result, he's the only player in history to establish true tape measure standards in all directions. 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. He led the Majors in homers, total bases (330) and slugging percentage (.552) in the "Year of the Pitcher," but he finished eighth in the American League Most Valuable Player Award voting. He smoked his longest career home run in Arizona off of Chicago Cubs pitcher Francis Beltran. Perhaps the ball had already flown over 400 feet, whereupon it was interrupted in midflight at a height of 70 feet above field level. "We were standing in the shower, and I hollered at him, 'Hey, man, good job.' The founding fathers decided to reward a powerfully hit ball by allowing the batter to circle the bases for an automatic run. Frank Howard was reputed to have hit a ball at Pittsburgh’s old Forbes Field in 1960 at 560 feet, nearly as far as the 565 feet that Mickey Mantle’s famous home run that cleared old Griffith Stadium. Brouthers rocketed a rising line drive that cleared the fence in distant right-center field, and reportedly rolled another two blocks. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Long Distance Home Runs by William J. Jenkinson 1996. 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. A suitable example can be identified in Ruth's classic Comiskey Park rooftopper on August 16, 1927. As dramatic as it was, it still counted for just two runs. Watch in 720p so you can actually see the baseballs. By his own account he hit the longest home run of his career on May 22, 1963 at Yankee Stadium. He felt that Frank’s level swing was producing hard ground balls, and asked Frank to try a slight uppercut and to stand closer to the plate so he could pull the ball more.17 The results were obvious, as Howard had 24 home runs by midseason in 1967, and ended with 36 (third in the league) and a .256 average. Everything fell into place for me. Included among the other great exaggerations in the history of tape measure home runs are Dave Nicholson's Comiskey Park rooftopper on May 6, 1964, and Dave Kingman's Wrigley Field blast on April 14, 1976. He was an honest, sometimes even self-effacing individual, who was never known to overstate his accomplishments. He hit a 500′ home run into the upper deck in the left field bleachers of RFK Stadium. 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. All Rights Reserved by Baseball Almanac, Inc.Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. "For one week 50 years ago, however, there was no debate. Even allowing for exaggeration, however, the Babe’s blast clearly was a mighty blow – and possibly the longest home run ever seen at The Corner. As long as baseball has been played, observers and participants alike have been fascinated with those rare individuals who have been capable of batting balls farther than others of their time. They represent a fraction of those who have applied their ability to the act of hitting a baseball. He was affectionately known as "The Capital Punisher," and, man, did he earn that nickname. In the first game Ruth hit 3 home runs, one was the longest ever at Shibe Park. The ball landed in the upper left bleacher to the left of center field. His regular bombardment of the left-field roof at Tiger Stadium has not been approximated in the 60-year history of that structure. Minnesota’s Harmon Killebrew had been the first in 1962, followed six years later by Washington’s Frank Howard. The farthest accurately measured home run I can find is Cecil Fielder's 502 foot blast over the left-field bleachers at Milwaukee's County Stadium. This memorable blow was knocked down at a linear distance of approximately 415 feet and an altitude of 85 feet. His longest drive was probably struck on May 4, 1894, at old Union Park in Baltimore. 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. He was named the NL's Rookie of the Year after batting .268 with 23 home runs and 77 RBI, and was nicknamed "Hondo" by tea… It still stands as the most homers hit in a week. The most common cause for overstatement has been the basic misconception about the flight of a batted ball once it has reached its apex. If he had the power to clear the roof by over 100 feet, he surely would have cleared it marginally on many occasions. Red Sox fan Joseph A. 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