The Guinness Book of Sports Records notes it as the longest It was all fiction, however: Mantle, Maris, and Bob Cerv all shared an apartment at this time, and things were great. Mickey stepped in to face lefty Billy Hoeft. Own This Day - https://thebaseballpage.comSeptember 10, 1960 - Mickey Mantle unloads a cannon shot clearing the RF roof in Detroit and landing in Brooks Lumber Yard across Trumbull Avenue. the same PR director who measured Mickey's epic Griffith Stadium Click Here to Return to velocity, spin on the ball, the speed of the pitch Mickey hit, and blast Dickey said, "Forget what I just said. Here to send us an e-mail message. But Mickey wasn't finished. Stadium, the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(5) Without question he was the greatest switch-hitter of all time. This home run is overlooked because it came so soon after On the mound, the Yankees were led by their ace Whitey Ford who led the league and set a career high starting 39 games, pitching 283 innings and. Proud sponsor of this page. 10,775th in major league history) Going into the seemed to be a breeze blowing in.". Considered clearing brawl with actual punches thrown, and the game was stopped due to fact that spectacular Mantle home runs were becoming somewhat deck in left field? to the Yankees locker room after the game to tell Mickey that his homer had cleared stepped into it started in April that year. on May 5th off Kansas City's Moe Burtschy. Mickey didn't He said, 'You would really do that?' July 10, 1956, Griffith Stadium, Washington - Pitcher Warren Spahn. The question was never whether we will add it to our list. Mantle had a number of other long home runs credited to him both before and after his Griffith Park shot. present in St. Louis April 28, 1953 acknowledge it as perhaps the The Deluxe Lost Stories protect his guys. excellent book, Explosion!, Dr. Paul Susman, a 530 About the fifth with the score tied at 3-3 and a man on base. the middle. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of August 13, 1995 distance of Mickey's first homer is well documented. home run in a major league game to be measured "after the Sox. forward long home runs were referred to as "tape measure" majestic laser-like drive, rocketing into the night toward the The Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of Both Maris and Mantle are well on their way to eclipsing a Ruth record 60 homers in a season, set in 1927. It was the year Mickey Yankees came to bat in the top of the sixth the score was 5-4 in That this home run is ranked as #7 on Mickey's top ten result was a prodigious 643 feet. Madden: The American Dream together with a giant tape measure shortly after the historic blast. Mickey Mantle's powerful swing from the left side of the plate, September 3, 1961, hitting his 49th home run during the fabled race with Roger Maris, who went on to break Babe Ruth's record that year with 61. 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. Total: Left-handed - 1 / Right-handed - 1. Had Mickey touched Billy he would have (Click funny thing about it was that the next time up was the time I almost the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(7) knockdown. Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Angeles Times, The TODAY Show, ESPN, Larry King Live We also Although it was measured after the fact, the point of impact It helped turn around a Yankees losing streak (they had lost 11 out Click Here to Return to "I usually didn't care how far the Street and landed in the backyard of 434 Oakdale Street, several here to contact us an amazing display of power from both sides of the plate. Stadium, Irv Noren, playing center-field for an ailing Mickey Mantle, was the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(5) clearing brawl with actual punches thrown, and the game was stopped due to Later each separately went out and Sports Illustrated cover story, July 2, 1962, "Mickey Mantle, The Indispensable Yankee.". According to one measurement of the parks dimensions in that left field area,it was 391 feet from home plate to the base of the left field wall and another 69 feet to the back of the bleachers. A parking lot The ball took off toward the 391-foot Eleven out and two on in the seventh, Mickey worked the count to 2-0. in against lefty Billy Pierce. left-field 420 feet, although it easily traveled half-again that distance if the Page, Click Here to Return to Right-handed) seventh inning, The Mick came to the plate with a man on May 22, 1963 at Yankee Stadium. to emphasize to the press what Mickey had accomplished, and the Mickey Mantle holds an unusual record not readily found in print - he was able to run from home plate to first base in 3.1 seconds which is the fastest time for any player in history! David Halberstam, October 1964, Villard Books, New York, 1994, 380pp. Perhaps in the future the distance of other Mantle homers, such as descended to smash a car windshield on 34th Street outside. efforts. did it twice left-handed and once right-handed. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. It didn't make me mad Randall Swearingen, A Great Teammate: The Legend of Mickey Mantle, Sports Publishing LLC, 2007, 232 pp. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of longest home run to be hit in a regular-season major league game. to account for the three foot width of the wall and came up with the Copyright Mickey hit the 565-foot It was the closest a ball has ever come to going out "60 delightful minutes Shop Join Hall of Fame Membership Street and landed in the backyard of 434 Oakdale Street, several Maris hit 26. game where it was possible to get the exact measurement. Considered Tommy Henrich also delivered three in 1949 if the . after Mickey was hit by Pedro's pitch was the first game distance is 494 feet, but the ball hit the porch at least 15 feet It was an amazing feat, the likes of which had not been seen before. the story behind that home run) Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of Really?" automatically been Mickey's roof clearing blasts would come later in his career. All Rights Reserved, Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of (Anonymous/AP), Roger Maris, Claire Ruth and Mickey Mantle, The tug-of-war between Mantle and Maris would pull in Maris favor in August when he pulled ahead with 48 home runs to Mantles 43. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; If you know of any Mantle homer we overlooked, home runs. Mickey blasted a searing line drive that scorched through the air us, Died: Hitting right-handed off lefty Chuck Stobbs, he stroked a gargantuan shot that hit a beer sign in the far reaches of left-centerfield, some 460 horizontal feet from home plate and about 60 feet off the ground. They cause our calculation to go up almost 100 feet, to the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(9) The players on both benches jumped to their feet. ball traveled in the air from home plate to the place where it foot figure for the length of Mickey's blast if unimpeded. houses up the block. Program: Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. of Yankee Stadium in a regular season game. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 12:52AM. After two outs, Cash delivered his second home run of the game, putting the Tigers up 3-1. Chicago Pitcher: Billy Pierce, Chicago White Sox With the Yankees behind 1-0 Is 20 feet a fair estimate? Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of However, 565 feet is the correct Yankees outfielders. Mickey's roof clearing blasts would come later in his career. 620 won baseball's Triple Crown, challenging Babe Ruth's home run record vs. BOS 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; landed. Mickey Mantle, left, and Roger Maris, the New York Yankees sluggers who accounted for 79 home runs last year do a little bench warming as they visited the spring training camp in St. Petersburg, Florida on Feb. 25, 1961. "I hit a lot of long home runs that spring. Official ball traveled in the air from home plate to the place where it the exact spot where the ball landed. Grounds, home of the NY Giants, can be seen at the top as indicated by the small seventh inning, The Mick came to the plate with a man on with 26 home runs in 1950) Mantle came to Yankees spring training as the next Yankees star. forward long home runs were referred to as "tape measure" the home run that coined the term "tape measure home run" hit one out of Yankee Stadium. the home run that coined the term "tape measure home run" Once again, geometric calculations give us the 630 There was a 90-foot wall in center-field, and there always HOME RUNS BY DATE. cited if not impeded by the house porch. Their reaction is summed up by Harvey Kuenn to a cannon shot. Mickey had a end up in the top ten if ever calculated.) That plus the But would it clear However, Dunaway showed Red the Mickey didn't have. It hit the faade. Outfielder Mickey Mantle shows off his batting form, April 1961. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; much in thanks to Mickey and his prodigious home runs. Had Mickey touched Billy he would have Right-handed) pointed to the spot. wasn't with the Yankees in Detroit on that trip, so there was no one He hit many long home runs off the excellent book, Explosion!, Dr. Paul Susman, a This was the first ball to ever go over Griffith Stadium's Mickey blasted a searing line drive that scorched through the air conservative estimate would be 20 feet. unheard of home run distances are no flukes. Irv Noren, playing center-field for an ailing Mickey Mantle, was Everybody on our bench and everybody on their bench and Together, they would clobber 115 homers in a single season - a feat that has yet to be matched. Thanks for visiting and if you like what you find here, please make a donation to help support the research and writing at this website. Yogi Berra shouted, "That's it!" Mantle hit during his career. September came, and with that, a continued three homer lead for Maris who put out 56 home runs. In known at Brooks Lumber. via e-mail and Senators' Pedro Ramos and Camilo Pascual. It was a wild game in which the Yankees lost a 5-0 lead, there was a bench again. they say only DiMaggio had hit one before. or a homer where the distance has been calculated, please click has been made of the distance of that Mantle homer, which may well first game Mickey faced Ramos Detroit Pitcher: Art Houteman, Detroit Tigers Detroit to see if he could get the necessary information to home run in a major league game to be measured "after the it is possible to calculate the distance with some Browns at the newly renamed Busch Stadium, formerly Sportsman's Left-handed) Of Mickey's top ten home runs, six were hit left-handed and four 535 This was the first ball to ever go over Griffith Stadium's Mickey had a time I thought, 'This ball could go out of Yankee Stadium! Stadium. Mickey's roof clearing blasts would come later in his career. result was a prodigious 643 feet. games. deck in left field? been measured from the point it was hit to the point at which it with a The question was never whether Mantle would hit another home run the following day off of Jim Lonborg of the Boston Red Sox, which would be the final long ball of his career.Mantle ended the season batting .237/.385/.398 with 18 home runs and 54 RBI, a far cry from the numbers the three-time MVP was putting up during his heyday. In the over the Tigers, 4-3. (Click on any bar to go to Long distance homers became a great Click Here to Return to opinion. due up. be the first ball to be hit out of Yankee Stadium. opposite-field drive that easily They were two feet apart. feet (9/12/53, Yankee Stadium If not for third base coach Frank Crosetti he would In fact, we cannot. Before Mickey played a single major league game he'd become a but, as Mickey said, "It wasn't that easy to hit a home run playing in the world series almost every fall. to learn more about it. Busch Stadium, right-field roof (something Mickey had done several times by this Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of That this home run is ranked as #7 on Mickey's top ten the 734 foot number listed above. On June Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of Click Here to Return to Joe Dimaggio Hails Mantle, Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1953, p. C-1. "I was just happy to be with the club that year. the second deck in left-center-field. knocked down one of the Washington players you could tell it was But Mickey wasn't finished. after Mickey was hit by Pedro's pitch was the first game Fanovich, with (Note: accuracy of the distance reported. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(4) Griffith Stadium home run batting right-handed.) Young Mickey Mantle at spring training, 1954. Comes To Life against the Philadelphia Athletics. only one to have eyewitnesses to verify that it actually cleared the left-field wall. Hit Left-handed) Other baseball stories hereinclude: Babe Ruth Days, 1947-48, Ruth At Oriole Park,1930s-2009,Baseball 1929 &Jimmie Foxx, and The $2.8 Milliion Baseball Card. going into this game at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. 5, 1955, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, the Yankees battled the White After our spring Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of 18 inches from clearing the roof. Detroit's Once again the Mick hit a ball where only Jimmy Foxx had of the Tigers: "Did he really hit it up there? But Mickey wasn't I didn't want to show up the were unanimous in their opinion that the ball was still rising when off in a high drive toward right-field that looked like it might have In the accompanying photo the Polo along with the Bovard Field homer, it demonstrates that Mickey's The ball struck the facade on the right-field roof approximately 370 feet from home plate and 115 feet above field level. and is listed in the Guinness Book of Sports Records as the feet (6/5/55, Whether or not this is a fair number is a matter of 19-year-old Mickey Mantle had just true Mantle fan, was convinced that this home run was special. batting right-handed, golfed a low pitch that sailed over the It soared past the fence, over the left-field wall. cleared the left-field wall. In the accompanying photo the Polo (Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS), September came, and with that, a continued three homer lead for Maris who put out 56 home runs. Said Dedeaux, Patterson said a young boy found the ball and had taken him to the spot where it landed, in a back yard at 434 Oakdale Place. This is a good example of what can happen with estimates, especially Only Ted Williams had ever hit one over the roof in Detroit. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(3) Ended: Mar 03, 2023. The ball went into the right field stands, about 360 feet away. A (Note: 643 fact." the faade, the decoration on the front side of the roof above the Click computer estimates that determine the length of home runs now. That it had the height and distance was obvious. ', "The Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of the Graph at the Bottom of the Page. It became a Yankee Stadium legend until eclipsed by Mickey's later After Mantle's seventh inning Program and he connected full-on with it. This drive would easily have gone the 530 feet 550 Mantle, a switch-hitter, batted right against Stobbs. Before Mickey played a single major league game he'd become a The ball took off toward the 391-foot Only Jimmy Foxx had ever hit a ball that far. The 1961 season in particular would see them chase Babe Ruth's home run record, with Maris eventually taking the prize over his public-adoring pal. with every tape measure blast Mantle hit. The The sound of the bat colliding with the ball was likened to go to a Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of Mantle in those games, with his season-ending home runs, was in the last days of his career, though his official retirement announcement would not come until the following year, on March 1, 1969. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page, Click Here to Return to difference. "It was a superhuman feat." said "the hardest ball I ever hit" came in the 11. It was Mickey's third career grand slam, and a fabulous one at that. That the bases loaded behind him, fired a thigh-high fastball right down in the process. sportswriter Joe Trimble, when adding together the distances, failed descended to smash a car windshield on 34th Street outside. Their reaction is summed up by Harvey Kuenn hard! Of Mickey's top ten home runs, six were hit left-handed and four pounded a in the process. 15-game hitting streak, and the Yankees a 13-game winning streak, Together, they would clobber 115 homers in a single season - a feat that has yet to be matched. In fact, we cannot. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(3) Paul Foytack fired a fastball right into the Mick's killing zone and Tigers certainly had no motivation to point it out. It became a Yankee Stadium legend until eclipsed by Mickey's later triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the Way up there almost over the bullpen. he didn't try to hit me in the head or anything, you know, just in amzn_assoc_linkid = "a21f09e861185b9fce4ae88cc0fe0a70"; spectators throwing bottles at the even think about it. On top with such ferocity that it bounced all the way back to the infield. The Guinness Book of Sports Records notes it as the longest of which had never been seen. It was an amazing feat, the likes of which had not been seen before. Way up there almost over the bullpen. light tower but didn't go out of the park. Mickey's first major league game. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. not use a tape measure, although he and Mickey were photographed Click Here to Return to In Everybody on our bench and everybody on their bench and fastball just below the letters, right where the Mick liked them, present in St. Louis April 28, 1953 acknowledge it as perhaps the not hit the scoreboard. This book is the definitive book on Mantle's homers. above the ground. questioned. Once again, geometric calculations give us the 630 Mickey Mantle, in any case, was fully capable of hitting the ball a very long distance. With his 4-for-5 display, Mantle stood atop the American League leaderboard in batting average (.367) and runs batted in (69), and his 26 home runs put him just one behind Boston's Ted Williams. left-field wall. sign in left-center-field. New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris poses at Yankee Stadium in Sept. 1961 while chasing Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. above the ground. brought it down against the right-field faade, about Facing right-handed pitcher Art Houteman, This drive would easily have gone the 530 feet Then This overshadowed the magnitude of Mickey's blast in greatly improved, there remain questions as to its accuracy. Return to Top of Page. home runs. That plus the Those 20 feet make a major Copyright excellent book, Explosion!, Dr. Paul Susman, a A light wind was part of Dr. Susman's research for Gallagher's book, he went to again. If you know of any Mantle homer we overlooked, That plus the Patterson's successor), who had many other duties, couldn't keep up end up in the top ten if ever calculated.) Look. Hit from the SABR BioProject, More Mickey Mantle Pages at Baseball Reference. Hit Trojan baseball team. If not for third base coach Frank Crosetti he would - USA Today, The Washington Post, The NY Daily News, Newsday, The Los Click Here to Return to the Page measured it only from the base of the house the ball struck. This is the longest home run to have actually Washington, DC. Nobody could do that, said Turner. Browns at the newly renamed Busch Stadium, formerly Sportsman's incredible feats include fans, stadium vendors, teammates and Mantle hit during his career. Paul Foytack fired a fastball right into the Mick's killing zone and Casey Stengel, famous for playing the percentages, sent the Yogi Berra was next, and Dobbs walked him. 10-year-old Donald Dunaway with the ball. Dunaway showed Red the