Options
Longest MLB home run you witnessed at a game you attended-
coinkat
Posts: 22,777 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
What do you remember about the details? Who hit it and who was the pitcher? Do you remember the date/month/year of the game.
I just finished reading an interesting story about a home run hit in Seattle in 1969 that was interesting. That Stadium the Pilots played in is no longer with us.
I will share my story later... this should make for some fun reading
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
0
Comments
I could write a long essay here if I wanted to get into my memory issues, or gifts. Lol. I remember some things that really surprise people, but other things I don't. This already probably sounds strange and is going off topic. Anyway, I digress...
I didn't attend that many games. Maybe only ten give otlr take. But I couldn't tell you who hit what at any of them.
Willie Stargell. He played for the Pirates. 1979 NL MVP?......I saw him hit one out of Dodger Stadium. Left center field if I remember correctly. Some time in the early 1970's (?). What a shot!
Mine was at the then Pro Player Stadium in Miami where the Marlins previously played their home games. It was Marlins vs Cubs and Sammy Sosa hit an absolute bomb into the upper left field tank. I don't know the footage on that particular homer but in my mind it is still flying! One I will never forget!
Candlestick Park, I thnk 1979. I remember Willie Stargell hitting one into the upper deck in Right Field.
Matt
Bob Fontaine Sr signed Stargell. Bob Fontaine Jr was our left fielder in high school.
Jr I believe has had a long career in MLB front office and I think he put together an Angel squad that won the Series mid 80's.
PRETTY GOOD READ
https://ballnine.com/2021/11/26/bob-fontaine-jr/
I think it was 1974. Riverfront Stadium. Month was probably somewhere between April and September. George Foster at the plate. Other team and Pitcher? I can't remember everything. First pitch Foster had an absolutely horrible swing at it. Like he decided to swing, then hold up and take the pitch, then change his mind and swing. Second pitch, same exact swing. Next pitch he made contact and it appeared to go into orbit. Perhaps it only went as far as Kentucky.
http://www.unisquare.com/store/brick/
Ralph
Longest one I ever remember seeing in person was at Fenway and the Texas Rangers were in town. It was late in the game, 8th or 9th inning and the Sox brought in Jeff Russell to relieve. He could bring it at the time. Canseco (at his peak of Roidedness) stepped to the plate to boos and jeers. He launched a ball that had the back of center field not stopped it would still be going.
It was unreal. the sound of that ball coming off the bat was unlike anything I have heard before or since. the most amazing thing was the crowd. instant quiet. you almost could have heard a pin drop. we were all pretty much in awe. I have no idea how far the ball went, but I know Center is 420 and that ball went way way way further than that.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
This is not turning out to be a disappointing subject... The event happened nearly 52 years ago
I will share one story which is really the one that inspired the thread after reading the story that appeared in the Washington Post in connect with another home run hit by the same American League batter in Seattle about a month or so before the one I witnessed at Anaheim Stadium. The year was 1969. The Washington Senators came to town with a new Manager... one not seen in Washington since the days of Joe Cronin. This would be the only time I would ever see Ted Williams in a baseball uniform... obviously not a Red Sox uniform but nonetheless... it was a uniform. The Senators were trailing 6-0 in the 6th inning. I suspect everyone reading this knows who steps up to the plate with a man on first. So Frank Howard hits a shot with height that extended above the upper deck and crested somewhere around the end of the left field upper deck. One could barely see the white baseball soaring as one really would not believe unless they saw it actually happen. Keep in mind, Anaheim Stadium was built in the 1965-66 time frame and was not enclosed with the seating it now has. The ball easily cleared the ball pin as well as the secondary fence that for the lack of a better way of describing it, enclosed the Big A scoreboard from the parking lot. I suspect the ball may have been recovered in the parking lot. This was estimated to be 495 ft. I believe at a later time, Howard hit one at the Big A that was estimated at 505. In 1967, Yaz hit one at the Big A that was estimated at 515 ft. I DID NOT see either of those two. I always maintained that a 495 ft estimate was well short of the actual distance. I will write that those who witnessed this will not forget.
I will share one other story that involves Wrigley Field in 1973- Cubs v Phillies... you can start thinking about the suspects
EDITED TO ADD- Unfortunately, I made a mistake... the year was 1970- actual date was 7-24-70. Howard hit this one off Andy Messersmith who was an excellent pitcher back in the day.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Everyones favorite player JIM RICE !
I don't know when I guess I was around 10
I can't remember any special MLB homers I've seen so I'll go with minor league:
Joey Gallo played briefly for Spokane (short-season A) when he was 18. He hit a home run one night in Spokane - where the ball does NOT carry well - WAAAAY over the light pole in right field. I would guess it ended up being around 500ft. Just an amazing bomb.
In 1951 the Yankees played the USC varsity. Mantle hit one that went 650 ft. If you go to INSIDEUSC by SCOT WOLF you can read about it on today's topics with a picture of the Mick rounding third base. I'm allowed on the blog as many of the guys know me because I helped them up after I crushed them. They don't forget. We've all gotten nicer.
How was it measured? The spot where it landed or the spot where it stopped?
i truly dont believe it is humanly possible to hit a baseball over 600 feet. really, I seriously doubt there has ever truly been a home run that exceeded 550 feet.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Maybe with some crazy titanium spring-loaded bat from the 1990s in Denver with a wind at your back.
But a wooden bat? Highly skeptical.
1951
Beer
Do I dare say anything more?
Probably 450
August 10 1980 Oakland coliseum double header mariners and a’s game 1 top of the 15 th inning
Dan Meyer solo bomb M’s won game 1 2-1 in 15 innings
...
Not everyone's, but definitely mine.
This homerun is not the furthest homerun I've seen hit, but one that is referenced in an ESPN 30 for 30. I was in attendance at Kauffman Stadium, June 17, 1994. While many others were glued to their TVs at home watching other events unfolding, I was watching a matchup between the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals.
We were sitting in the lower bowl on the third base side, about 20 rows behind the visitors' dugout. Ken Griffey, Jr. stepped to the plate, and it's almost a rediculous exaggeration when I tell people that it seemed time slowed down. I know the reality of his bat speed and power, but it was as if he swung nice and easy at about half speed with that famous one handed follow-through and slow walk/strut as the ball met bat and soared in a majestic arc and into the fountains. As mentioned in other posts in this thread, the crowd went instantly quiet as we watched it go, and to this day, I'm not sure if what I heard was real or imagined, or if the PA pumped artificial sound through the speakers, but there was this loud "ker-bloop!" when the ball splashed down into the water. Then home crowd erupted into wild cheers for the visiting superstar, as he'd just hit his 30th homerun earlier in the season than any other player in history (by date, I believe, not by number of games played).
This was occurring when most people were still without cellphones, although one of my group did have a pager. We had been aware when heading to the stadium that O. J. had failed to turn himself in at the agreed upon time, and I recall sporadic updates on the pager that "The Juice was Loose", but I pretty much totally missed one of the biggest pop culture moments of the last 30 years, as the chase was all over by the time we got home.
But I'll never forget the view of that swing, and the sound that it made as it splashed down in the fountain 400+ plus feet away.
I didn't check the distance, but I was at this game. Can't find any video although it probably exists somewhere on the interwebs. The buzz in the stadium after was insane! He would go on to hit another GS the following year...breaking his own "oldest player" record. Borrowing excerpts from "braveshistoryblog.wordpress.com" to stay legal!
Julio Franco hits a grand slam at age 45 (June 4, 2004)
Julio Franco – Atlanta Braves
At Turner Field on June 4, 2004, Julio Franco became the oldest player in baseball history to hit a grand slam. The 45 year-old Dominican first baseman’s first inning base-loaded home run proves to be the difference as the Braves beat the Phillies, 8-4.
Julio was a work horse. He continued to play in the majors until 2007 but played on minor and international teams until 2015.
Picture courtesy of Grant McAuley's Twitter pic: