How far do Home Runs REALLY go?

[stevethesoxfan]

I started this thread in reaction to seeing Manny Ramirez hit two absolute bombs in the last two days. On Monday, he hit a ball 430 ft. over the Green Monster in Boston. I was there in person and saw it go ridiculously high over the Monster seats. It is the longest HR I think I've ever seen in person.

And then yesterday, he hit one 440 ft. I saw it on TV, and it seemed to be hit even harder and higher than the one on Monday. It went high over the Monster, bounced just in front of the last row of cars on the garage roof across Landsdowne St., and bounced down to within 15 ft. of the Mass. Turnpike.

The measurements were according to ESPN. What I find hard to believe is that so many HRs in recent years have supposedly gone a lot further than that. We've all read of a lot of shots that went 480 ft., 500 ft. etc. , and I sometimes wonder if those measurements are simply hyped up by their teams propaganda. I'm sure that such balls were hit really well, but take into consideration that several of the players, coaches, and others at yesterday's game thought Ramirez' s HR Tuesday was the longest they had ever seen.

I'm not saying this to boost Manny's reputation and denigrate others -- it's just that it's hard to believe that a lot of balls recently have gone so much more than the ones crushed by him in the past two days. What do you think -- are some of these measurements exaggerated????

There is video of these two HRs on mlb.com. Go to Red Sox>multimedia>4/18 vs. Toronto>Top Plays>Ramirez goes deep. Then go to the same spot, but then 4/19 vs. Toronto>Top Plays>Manny's Monster shot.

Credit to Mr. Guido on SOSH posting this spotting of a 440 ft. HR at Fenway, about where Manny's shot went yesterday.

[Bleacherbee]

By no means scientific, but taking known distances in that photo, it would appear that if it is correct that the green dot is where ManRam's shot landed, its between 480-485 feet.

[scootermojo]

by stuff that i have read reported by physics professors and their studies of baseball is that it's practically impossible for a human being to hit a baseball over 500 hundred ft. by their estimations most of these titanic shots that where reported to have been over 500 to even 600 ft in some instances were in the high 400's and at best just a shade over 500. i would tend to believe their reporting since the laws of physics are irrefutable.

it's so hard to tell just exactly how far a hit baseball has traveled in most stadiums since they almost never land on flat ground level from where the ball was originally hit. i'm quite sure that most teams, stadiums and the league in general inflate these distances for sheer media hype. i think this is true with most of the longest homers reported from the past by the likes of ruth, mantle, etc., since there was really no movie footage and only eye witness speculation which is, after all, the worst account that one can have since people tend to exaggerate things, especially if it is their hero. one can only look to many negro league "statistics" and accounts such as josh gibson supposedly 650 ft. or even 700 ft. homer and 70 to 90 homer season he had.

in my opinion, if all of these "500 foot" hr's are greatly inflated, which i'm sure they are, it still doesn't diminish the fact to me because a 400 to 450 foot shot is a BLAST that still blows my mind.

[therealnod]

By knowing the trajectory and velocity of a batted ball a physicist can measure precisely the distance a ball will travel. Now whether or not MLB does this I'm not completely sure, but I think they do.

[ElHalo]

It certainly is possible to hit a baseball over 500 feet. I actually remember seeing Manny Ramirez last year hit a ball at Yankee Stadium that hit the second wall in monument park. Now, that second wall in Monument Park was the original outfield wall in YS 1, and that was 490 feet from home plate. Now, there certainly were home runs hit over that 490 foot wall during the lifetime of YS1, and those, by definition, had to be close to or over 500 feet. There's videotape of Mickey Mantle hitting the upper deck facade at YS1, which must by definition have been a home run that would have traveled 530 or more feet on flat ground.

[Yankees]

There was a shot (may have been Mantle) which hit the upper deck facade in Yankee Stadium while still going up, and bouced all the way back into the infield.

[stevethesoxfan]

There was a shot (may have been Mantle) which hit the upper deck facade in Yankee Stadium while still going up, and bouced all the way back into the infield.

I'm not doubting that someone, Mantle or otherwise, hit a 500 ft HR in past decades. It's just that there seems to be a lot MORE claims for them in the last few years.

For instance, to my recollection on Red Sox HRs, there was a gigantic blast by Jim Rice over the circa-1975 CF outer wall of Fenway, supposedly over the flagpole. Never really measured, but it was unbelievable. Manny also hit one out in the same area in 2001, and it went 501 ft., which is suspicious as hell because Ted Williams infamous "red seat" shot (the Fenway "record") went 12 inches further, hmmm...Then Manny hit one in Skydome that supposedly went about 490 ft. (?) in 2001. And I recall Canseco during his brief Sox stay hitting a monster in Skydome too. And in the Tokyo Dome during the All-Star tour this year, Ortiz supposedly hit one 514 ft. (I have the video clip) First of all, I wonder if these numbers are legit, but secondly, those are the ONLY 450+ ft. HRs I can recall Red Sox hitting in the last 30 years. (EDIT: And NO ONE in 93 years at Fenway has ever hit one on the RF roof, which is high, granted, but "only" 430 ft away. Think about the lefties: Williams, Yaz, Vaughn, Ortiz, and others -- none of them did that. So how can all these other people be hitting 500 ft. HRs?)

Yet doesn't it seem now like every couple of weeks someone is supposedly cranking one 460, 480, 500 ft? They all ARE titanic HRs, but are they all REALLY going THAT far, or are the teams' pumping up the numbers for PR purposes?

[scootermojo]

I'm not doubting that someone, Mantle or otherwise, hit a 500 ft HR in past decades. It's just that there seems to be a lot MORE claims for them in the last few years.

For instance, to my recollection on Red Sox HRs, there was a gigantic blast by Jim Rice over the circa-1975 CF outer wall of Fenway, supposedly over the flagpole. Never really measured, but it was unbelievable. Manny also hit one out in the same area in 2001, and it went 501 ft., which is suspicious as hell because Ted Williams infamous "red seat" shot (the Fenway "record") went 12 inches further, hmmm...Then Manny hit one in Skydome that supposedly went about 490 ft. (?) in 2001. And I recall Canseco during his brief Sox stay hitting a monster in Skydome too. And in the Tokyo Dome during the All-Star tour this year, Ortiz supposedly hit one 514 ft. (I have the video clip) First of all, I wonder if these numbers are legit, but secondly, those are the ONLY 450+ ft. HRs I can recall Red Sox hitting in the last 30 years. (EDIT: And NO ONE in 93 years at Fenway has ever hit one on the RF roof, which is high, granted, but "only" 430 ft away. Think about the lefties: Williams, Yaz, Vaughn, Ortiz, and others -- none of them did that. So how can all these other people be hitting 500 ft. HRs?)

Yet doesn't it seem now like every couple of weeks someone is supposedly cranking one 460, 480, 500 ft? They all ARE titanic HRs, but are they all REALLY going THAT far, or are the teams' pumping up the numbers for PR purposes?

my point EXACTLY...thank you

[scootermojo]

There was a shot (may have been Mantle) which hit the upper deck facade in Yankee Stadium while still going up, and bouced all the way back into the infield.

dude, first of all think about it. there is no video of the home run at all so the only account is eye witness and it should go without saying how unreliable that is. i'm sure elhalo, being a lawyer, would agree with me on that.

do you honestly believe that mantle's homer was STILL going up when it hit the facade? impossible!

do you honestly believe that the ball bounced ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE INFIELD? come on.

it was a mammoth shot, no doubt, but greatly exaggerated just like most accounts from the past for they are full of personal bias.

[scootermojo]

By knowing the trajectory and velocity of a batted ball a physicist can measure precisely the distance a ball will travel. Now whether or not MLB does this I'm not completely sure, but I think they do.

i read and saw two different reports on the methods that mlb uses and it varies from park to park and they don't go by the formula you desribed above which would more than likely by accurate.

[scootermojo]

It certainly is possible to hit a baseball over 500 feet. I actually remember seeing Manny Ramirez last year hit a ball at Yankee Stadium that hit the second wall in monument park. Now, that second wall in Monument Park was the original outfield wall in YS 1, and that was 490 feet from home plate. Now, there certainly were home runs hit over that 490 foot wall during the lifetime of YS1, and those, by definition, had to be close to or over 500 feet. There's videotape of Mickey Mantle hitting the upper deck facade at YS1, which must by definition have been a home run that would have traveled 530 or more feet on flat ground.

i agree that some homers could be around 500 to 510 or even 520 at the best but most that are claimed to be 500ft are in the 480 to 490 range. just as in everything else they are greatly inflated for pr purposes and/or by personal bias.

[Metal Ed]

It certainly is possible to hit a baseball over 500 feet. I actually remember seeing Manny Ramirez last year hit a ball at Yankee Stadium that hit the second wall in monument park. Now, that second wall in Monument Park was the original outfield wall in YS 1, and that was 490 feet from home plate. Now, there certainly were home runs hit over that 490 foot wall during the lifetime of YS1, and those, by definition, had to be close to or over 500 feet. There's videotape of Mickey Mantle hitting the upper deck facade at YS1, which must by definition have been a home run that would have traveled 530 or more feet on flat ground.

Where can one find this videotape?

[Bob Hannah]

Mantle: April 17, 1953 at Griffith

Batting lefthanded, Mantle smashed a ball to left center, clearing the grandstand beyond the 391 foot mark. The ball caromed off the edge of the scoreboard at the back of the grandstand, landing in a yard behind the left field wall and across the street. The ball traveled well over 500 feet, estimated at 565 feet.

[Bleacherbee]

Whatever they use to measure homeruns is certainly not, in any way, scientific.

Case in point, I was at a game two weeks ago at Comerica park where Rondell White hit a bomb to left center that clanged off Hal Newhouser's statue behind all the seats. I've had season tickets to every game at Comerica since it opened and made it to nearly 75% of the games personally... it was easily the longest homerun in the park's history, bar-none.

When the distance came up, it was 440 feet - some 20 feet shorter than Eric Munson's record-holder, which went further down the line in left, but only about 15-20 rows into the crowd.

I figured that they knew that the base of the statue was 440 feet from home plate, but had no tools to take into account that it hit far up the statue, and even less to realize that if it were a foot right or left, it would not have touched the ground in the park, likely clearing the back fence and landing on Adams street.

If you take into account that Comerica park's field level is something like 50 feet below street level, Rondell White's homer would have gone 500 feet or more on a level field with no obstructions.

[Imapotato]

Some 'scientifically' measured HR Shots

Buck Ewing hit a ball 483 feet, measured by the building he hit

Harry Heilmann hit a shot 515 feet, 4 feet above a barn door that was past Detroit's RF

Babe Ruth blasted over the barn and was actually measured to be 600 feet

This is according to Spalding Baseball's Guide 1922