Longest ball ever hit and witnessed

[Frank J. Leigh]

Years ago, reading about Babe Ruth, I read that playing against a Prison Team in upper New York State...
Which Prison, I have forgotten, and whether Ruth was with the Red Sox or Yankees I have forgotten as well, but I never forgot the hit...

They claimed it measured {618 feet}...With the bats and balls of the day, that was phenominal...
If you consider today's equipment, games played, and training methods, no matter how far, steroids or not, these guys hit, or totals they build up, Ruth and some others will never be equaled...
Perhaps records should be kept in the context of their times and different circumstances to prevent a "record setter" exceding records with unequal equipment etc...FJL

[starkeeper]

In the Old Tiger Stadium, in June of 1991, I saw Mickey Tettleton hit a ball over the right field bleachers and out of the stadium. I don't know the measurement of the hit but that ball was sure tattooed. I think they were playing the California Angels.

[the pyromaniac]

In the Old Tiger Stadium, in June of 1991, I saw Mickey Tettleton hit a ball over the right field bleachers and out of the stadium. I don't know the measurement of the hit but that ball was sure tattooed. I think they were playing the California Angels.

Tettleton hit a lot of those after he left Oakland, especially once he got to Tiger-town!

[Jake83]

McGwire hit a ball over 500 feet against Randy Johnson in 97 or 98 at the Kingdome

[Outta Here]

Didnt witness it, but what about McGwire vs Livan Hernandez (FLA M), that was BIG

[Oriolesfan1810]

I think if I can remember, Darryl Strawberry hit the LONGEST homerun in Camden Yards history, it went 495 feet to dead center field.

Juan Gonzalez, I don't know if this is a myth or not, but he apparently hit the Camden Warehouse and that's 472 feet away.

[BaseballHistoryNut]

McGwire hit a ball over 500 feet against Randy Johnson in 97 or 98 at the Kingdome

I saw that ball. It was measured at 538 feet, I believe. It was pretty unreal, but with the number of Ruth bios I've read, I'm sure he hit many which were longer, and perhaps quite a lot longer. And, of course, Mantle hit one which cleared the LF bleachers at Griffith Stadium, and Josh Gibson hit two.

Jake: Specifically, McGwire's ball went over the wall between the deep part of LF and the shorter part of LCF. It totally cleared the first wave of bleachers and almost totally cleared the second wave. The "538 feet" estimate was given pretty quickly, but supposedly they had all of those seats measured or estimated.

What I remember most fondly, other than the barrage of "did you see THAT" phone calls I made, is this:

When McGwire got around third, Johnson tipped his cap to him. THAT showed a lot of class. Not, "Hey, MF, I'm gonna break two ribs next time you're up," or some such atavistic, egomaniacal b.s. from a guy like Clemens, Gibson, etc. Just a real show of respect, from the man who was then the games unquestioned #1 power pitcher to the man who was then the game's #1 power hitter/cheat. Since we/me weren't so cynical (realistic) then, I thought it was a great moment.

BHN

[baseballPAP]

I can claim Adam Dunn's blast that ended up on a piece of driftwood in the Ohio River as the longest I've ever witnessed. The ball had an unnatural flight....it just shouldn't have been able to keep going up that long! I believe it measured 500+, but I can't remember the "exact" figure.

[PopTop]

The two longest balls I ever saw hit in the old Astrodome were by Mike Schmidt and Darryl Strawberry. Schmidt's blast in 1974 off Claude Osteen hit the CF speaker that was hanging a good 100+ feet above the field and, by my estimation, about 375 from the plate. The distance to the centerfield wall then was 408 if my memory is correct. I'd guess that one would have traveled at least 480' if measured out. Not sure that it ever was measured, however, and it was eventually ruled a single

Strawberry hit his during the home run derby before the 1986 All-Star Game. They still had the old monster scoreboard on the wall beyond the outfield bleacher seats. Strawberry crushed one that hit off the base of that back wall in right down below the scoreboard.

Wasn't on hand at the games when Doug Rader and Jimmy Wynn launched homers into the left field upper deck of the old park (then yellow seats, eventually to be what was called the 'rainbow' level'). Willie Stargell reached that same seating level in right twice, I believe.

[RuthMayBond]

Years ago, reading about Babe Ruth, I read that playing against a Prison Team in upper New York State...
Which Prison, I have forgotten, and whether Ruth was with the Red Sox or Yankees I have forgotten as well, but I never forgot the hit...

They claimed it measured {618 feet}...With the bats and balls of the day, that was phenominal...
If you consider today's equipment, games played, and training methods, no matter how far, steroids or not, these guys hit, or totals they build up, Ruth and some others will never be equaled...
Perhaps records should be kept in the context of their times and different circumstances to prevent a "record setter" exceding records with unequal equipment etc...FJL

I have reports of Ruth with
626' at Tiger Stadium
567' in Tampa, preseason

[RuthMayBond]

I saw that ball. It was measured at 538 feet, I believe. It was pretty unreal, but with the number of Ruth bios I've read, I'm sure he hit many which were longer, and perhaps quite a lot longer. And, of course, Mantle hit one which cleared the LF bleachers at Griffith Stadium, and Josh Gibson hit two.

McGwire supposedly went 545' on 5/16/1998

[RuthMayBond]

I can claim Adam Dunn's blast that ended up on a piece of driftwood in the Ohio River as the longest I've ever witnessed. The ball had an unnatural flight....it just shouldn't have been able to keep going up that long! I believe it measured 500+, but I can't remember the "exact" figure.

Most reports are saying 535'

[skeletor]

Rockets outta Tiger stadium

Over the life of the corner..formerly known as Navin-Briggs-Tiger stadium, been some monster shots outta the old gal..Ruth hit one that was rumoured to have gone over 600 plus feet..and doing it on a diet of hot dogs, beer, cigars, and lusty women....

In the 1960's saw both Norman Cash and Frank ' hondo ' Howard smash a
couple of rockets outta the park..Cash over the right field roof..and Howard over the left-center field..Howard's ball was rumoured by NASA, to be in orbit around one of Mars's moons...

Of course, Mantle hit some shots as well..as well as the one in washington..
in 1953, over 540 plus....jeeez o'petes..the mick was the real deal.

Bonds couldn't carry his score card...in my opinion...

[BaseballHistoryNut]

Over the life of the corner..formerly known as Navin-Briggs-Tiger stadium, been some monster shots outta the old gal..Ruth hit one that was rumoured to have gone over 600 plus feet..and doing it on a diet of hot dogs, beer, cigars, and lusty women....

In the 1960's saw both Norman Cash and Frank ' hondo ' Howard smash a
couple of rockets outta the park..Cash over the right field roof..and Howard over the left-center field..Howard's ball was rumoured by NASA, to be in orbit around one of Mars's moons...

Of course, Mantle hit some shots as well..as well as the one in washington..
in 1953, over 540 plus....jeeez o'petes..the mick was the real deal.

Bonds couldn't carry his score card...in my opinion...

I've said before that Bonds' sudden explosion into a magnificent long-distance HR hitter is traceable to a specific event: his 493-foot HR off of Seth Etherton in June of 2000--a ball hit with no help from the wind, which exceeded by over 43 feet any other non-wind-aided HR he'd ever hit. He then set about merrily hitting dozens of other such HR's, almost all of them after his 36th birthday, after never having done so before he had his magical encounter with Etherton. No reasonable person could deny what that signifies about his numbers in 2000-2004, but by the same token, it makes him look pretty clean before that. How many guys with huge numbers from 1995-1999 can we comfortably saw that about?

In my belief, there are two reasonable approaches to evaluating Bonds' career:

(1) Consider it over and done with, as of the date of the Etherton HR--or, perhaps, disregard everything from the start of 2000 on; or

(2) Because steroids and HGH obviously do not help one's longevity (note the breakdowns of numerous muscular PED freaks, most notoriously McGwire and Sosa, to say nothing of Caminiti), give Bonds heavily adjusted credit for his years from 2000 on, with far fewer HR's, runs scored and RBI's, enormously fewer walks, a hugely increased number of AB's, etc. I have no proposal for a credible way to adjust, for future historians' confident use, his slugging, on-base and runs created figures. Those will be guesses, which is perhaps ok for one season or so, but it would be hard to place confidence in the ultimate career figures.

IF you advocate giving Bonds zero credit from the start of 2000 on, then by the greatest stroke of providence, you have the fact Bill James rated Bonds the #14 player in MLB history at the end of 1999, and specifically said, "This rating is based on the assumption that his career ends with the 1999 season."

Obviously none of us is bound by James' rating of Bonds. Although quite a few people at this site might agree with James' rating of Honus Wagner, and just about every serious fan of old players gives Wagner more credit than I do, I find James' ranking of Wagner as the #2 player of all time ridiculous. Absolutely, indefensibly ridiculous. To me, it is brutally clear Cobb was better than Wagner. And I see no credible case for Wagner over Ruth. That makes him #3 at best, by my reasoning, and I see no case for him over Mays (or about 8 other guys), either--though I realize reasonable minds can differ on this one. But as I said, I know I give Wagner a lot less credit than other hardcore baseball historians. (I do agree, though, that he goes with Ruth and Gehrig as the 3 players who are indisputably the #1 players ever at their positions.)

Anyway, James would put Bonds at #14 among MLB-only players, through 1999. And he has Mantle at #5. So IF you're going to toss out everything Bonds did from the year he pretty clearly (no pun intended) turned huge and joined those who'd juiced before him, then you're plainly right, Skeletor: Mantle would be way ahead of him. To put it another way, #14 would be a great player, but #5 would be a great, great, great player.

But if you give Bonds "adjusted credit" for 2000-2006, well, you then have a guy with just over 600 HR's (a very reasonable figure), over 700 SB's, huge numbers of runs, RBI's and walks (though not nearly AS huge), etc.

The insoluble problem, I think, is that even if one puts up "reasonably reliable, compromise numbers" for Bonds, one must accept that they're only that. And so how in the world does one posit seasonal and career slugging, on-base, runs created, etc., figures for Bonds?

I believe his career on-base average was better than Mantle's before 2000, but I could be wrong and for sure they were close; both were legitimately GREAT in OBP. His slugging would be ahead of Mantle's, but not by much. Defensively, Bonds was the greatest LF ever; Mantle was a tremendous defensive CF through 1958 or so, but after his arm injury in the late 50's, and especially after the osteomyelitis really kicked in, he was not a good CF, and wound up playing his last 2 years at 1B, at ages 35 and 36. But for several years, the guy WAS a great CF, which is worth more than a great LF. Sid Bream would not have tried to score with Mantle that distance from home plate. Or, if he did, and if Mantle's throw were as accurate as Bonds' was, he'd have been out by 20 feet.

Anyway, I agree with James. I think Bonds was a spectacular, great player and a clear-cut first-round HOF'er, and surely one of the all-time 20 best MLB players, through the end of 1999. Having had the dubious pleasure of watching him every day, I think the conclusion which the long-distance HR evidence compels is right. He was a comparative choirboy through 1999, while vastly lesser players attained evanescent fame with their steroids and HGH. But as great as he was until 2000--and trust me, y'all, you don't dislike him any more than I do--he was NOT as great as Mickey Mantle, as of that point in his career. No way.

Even if James (and I) are wrong about Mantle, and he belongs more like at #10 or #12, Bonds through 1999 had not had a career equal to that of Mantle. Whether he NOW deserves to be rated ahead of Mantle--and, for that matter, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Morgan, Speaker, Musial, Ted Williams, Wagner, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth or Willie Mays--is a matter of how legitimately one regards his 2000-2006 actual or "adjusted" stats, and how one then compares him those other immortals.

Baseball History Nut

[serumgard]

I think if I can remember, Darryl Strawberry hit the LONGEST homerun in Camden Yards history, it went 495 feet to dead center field.

Juan Gonzalez, I don't know if this is a myth or not, but he apparently hit the Camden Warehouse and that's 472 feet away.

That's almost got to be a myth - that would be a 472 foot opposite field home run.

If we're counting the home run derby, I saw Bobby Abreu hit a 519-footer in Comerica Park last year. He hit that someplace I never thought I'd see one hit.