Longest Home Run at Sportsmans Park

[portobob]

It was about 1948 or so....I saw a right handed hitter named Pat Seerey for the White Sox hit a ball that went between the scoreboard and the grandstand roof at the old park and over Sullivan Ave. It was to the left of the scoreboard but it would have cleared the scoreboard had it been hit that way. I also saw Willie Mays hit batting practice pitches into the stands in the center field bleachers but never saw anyone hit one out there during a game....Supposedly Babe Ruth hit one near the YMCA in dead center field but that may be "senior citizen" jabber.

[WJackman]

Pitcher's HR in Sportsman

Portobob,

Maybe you can give me a distance estimate on this homer Wes Ferrell hit on July 13, 1934.

"Wes kept the Browns off the scoreboard until the ninth innings in his next starting assignment, a 7-2 victory in 104 degree heat in St. Louis on July 13. He opened the scoring in the third with a tremendous home run off Dick Coffman. The ball 'landed in the top row of the left field bleachers just to the east of the scoreboard.' He deposited another Coffman pitch into the left field seats in the fifth and this time two teammates, including brother Rick who opened the inning with a double off the left field fence, rode home on the blast. The score was 4-0 and Wes had knocked in all four runs."

Ferrell also hit this one in 1935.

"Wes Ferrel is One-Man Club' was the Boston Globe's headline four days later after he tossed a five-hitter in St. Louis, winning 2-1. The Browns loaded the sacks in the first inning on a hit and two walks but Wes pitched his way out of the jam, allowing just two more runners until St. Louis scored in the eighth. Wes accounted for the game winner in the seventh when he hit a 'mighty clout into the distant pavilion, down toward the center field bleachers."

[portobob]

re Pitchers Home Run at Sportsmans Park

Seems like the left field foul pole was 355 to 360 feet but I'm not sure. There must have been 15 to 20 rows of bleacher benches behind a concrete wall about 12 ft high. I guess that puts the homers in the 390/400 ft category. With a ball that felt like mush compared to today's missiles those hits had to be tagged pretty good.

[WJackman]

Thank you very much.

[elmer]

Mantle also is reputed to have hit a batting practice home run
in the intersection bouncing against the YMCA over the CF bleachers according
to a witness.

Ruth broke the car dealer window twice across Grand Ave a bit over 500' away. once in a game and once in BP

Mantle hit one 490-493' just left of that same window on the outside
edge of the side walk. He also hit a right-handed homer over the
scoreboard in left that hit a house about 510' away. at 2nd floor level.

[Centreville82]

530 ft, April 24, 1953:

http://www.themick.com/10homers.html#Home%20Run%20#10

[disgrig]

left field distance

Seems like the left field foul pole was 355 to 360 feet but I'm not sure. There must have been 15 to 20 rows of bleacher benches behind a concrete wall about 12 ft high. I guess that puts the homers in the 390/400 ft category. With a ball that felt like mush compared to today's missiles those hits had to be tagged pretty good.

As of 1966, the leftfield foul line distance was listed as 351 ft. and the right field foul line was 309 1/2 ft.

[kokosforever]

longest homers

It might not be the longest but Babe Ruth was the only lefthanded hitter to have hit the scoreboard in left batting lefthanded.
If you love baseball you should read The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Homers by Bill Jenkinson. There's no doubt in my mind after reading this that Ruth was, is and always be the greatest player ever.

[Chuck]

The longest home run I witnessed occurred around 1960, when I saw Joe Adcock hit the ball over the back wall of the left-centerfield bleachers. About Ruth's home run into the car dealership, I post these two pictures of Grand Avenue. The first shows a Chrysler dealership across the street taken in 1946, which may have been the Chevy dealership he is reported to have reached 20 years earlier. The other is from Google street views of the same building taken fairly recently.
Dealership 1946.pngDealership Today.png

[elmer]

It was about 1948 or so....I saw a right handed hitter named Pat Seerey for the White Sox hit a ball that went between the scoreboard and the grandstand roof at the old park and over Sullivan Ave. It was to the left of the scoreboard but it would have cleared the scoreboard had it been hit that way. I also saw Willie Mays hit batting practice pitches into the stands in the center field bleachers but never saw anyone hit one out there during a game....Supposedly Babe Ruth hit one near the YMCA in dead center field but that may be "senior citizen" jabber.

This homer not as long as others there. The top row is only around 20 above the ground, the back wall according to a Sanborn map
is 26' to the top from ground level but the street may have been just a few feet higher than the playing field so maybe add a bit
to the top row. The outside of the back wall was 397' from home plate. allowing 2 feet for the depth of the wall and another foot to the
top row the and 90' to the right end of the old scoreboard gives a landing distance of 403' feet.

Seerey's other home run likely flew past the stand about 60' high and 399 feet from home plate.

Ruth and Mantle hit BP shots that bounced to the YMCA

[disgrig]

babe ruth chevy ad post-disp 10-10-1926.jpg

Here is the Chevrolet full-page ad from the St Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1926, that shows Babe Ruth with the broken window of Wells Motor Company on North Grand (directly across the street from the Rightfield Pavillion.