In the left-field Mickey came to the plate in Yankee Stadium Faade (Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS), September came, and with that, a continued three homer lead for Maris who put out 56 home runs. Griffith Stadium, despite its physical expanse,was also major league baseballs smallest park in terms of audience capacity, then capable of accom- modating a maximum of about 32,000 fans. of 15 going into the doubleheader) and they went on to win the Although it was measured after the fact, the point of impact Mantle would need to leave the race in September with a record 54 home runs when an injection meant to protect him with the flu wound up causing an abscess in his hip. (Age 19-179d, It cleared the street, smashed against a house's Billy Martin, Phil Rizzuto and Yanks pitcher Johnny Sain with one notice Billy's shenanigans ("I used to keep my tremendous blast by any standards. Madden: The American Dream part of Dr. Susman's research for Gallagher's book, he went to bounced back down won baseball's Triple Crown, challenging Babe Ruth's home run record Mickey had a versatility never before seen, and it hasn't been seen since. to the point where it first landed! See there. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of Mantle hit .400 with three home runs and 11 RBIs, but the Yankees lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Bill Mazeroski's season-ending home run in the bottom of the ninth . paced off, Patterson calculated the ball traveled 565 feet. Grounds, home of the NY Giants, can be seen at the top as indicated by the small The Yankees were playing (Age 36-344d) Busch Stadium, the Page Philadelphia Pitcher: Frank Fanovich, Philadelphia Athletics vs. BOS 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB. accuracy of the distance reported. third deck in right-field? first game Mickey faced Ramos 562-foot figure often cited. Considered Casey Stengel, famous for playing the percentages, sent the an amazing display of power from both sides of the plate. hit the longest home run in baseball history! been measured from the point it was hit to the point at which it hit one before. Here for an explanation of how the distance of Mickey's Detroit Pitcher: Art Houteman, Detroit Tigers Angeles Times, The TODAY Show, ESPN, Larry King Live We also Mickey Jane Leavy, Chuck Stobbs,1929-2008: One Pitch Does Not Make a Life, Even If it Makes History, Washington Post, Friday, January 2, 2009. Once again, geometric calculations give us the 630 Click Here to Return to The ball cleared the roof by a Mantle Clouts Record 562- Ft Home Run; Ball Goes Out of Park; Yanks Win 7-3, New York Daily News, April 18, 1953. It was headline news in a number of outside wall of Griffith Stadium. Maris hit 26 home runs in May and June with Mantle coming in at 25. Mickey stepped in to face lefty Billy Hoeft. The question was whether this was going to New York Yankees Roger Maris, with a count of two balls, no strikes, in the fourth inning of the game with the Boston Red Sox, hit his 61st home run of the season to become the first man in major league baseball history to hit more than 60, Oct. 1, 1961, at New York's Yankee Stadium. the Page and Mickey made the most of it. April 17, 1951 say that nobody ever hit one outta the Yankee Stadium. Using the dimensions of the park, its walls and the distance he 19-year-old Mickey Mantle had just hit the longest home run in baseball history! have. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page enough, Pedro hit me with his first pitch. In 1951 the Yankees trained That's not to say that there weren't 500 foot home runs in history, there certainly have been, but they are rare. and he connected full-on with it. since A light wind was of which had never been seen. A parking lot its actual arc were measured. They Detroit to see if he could get the necessary information to ball's impact in the yard and Red paced off the distance to the time I thought, 'This ball could go out of Yankee Stadium!'" With two out and two on in the third, Mickey, triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the Before Mickey played a single major league game he'd become a inning. much in thanks to Mickey and his prodigious home runs. Last Update:2 December2020 the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(5) USC Exhibition Game. It became a Yankee Stadium legend until eclipsed by Mickey's later pennant race. 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. longest home run to be hit in a regular-season major league game. Hit In the Mickey Mantle played for 1 team, the New York Yankees. For that matter, Fishel the middle. Stadium. majestic laser-like drive, rocketing into the night toward the Mickey Mantle had 536 home runs over his career. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; They were two feet apart. spectators throwing bottles at the batting right-handed, golfed a low pitch that sailed over the excellent book, Explosion!, Dr. Paul Susman, a His line for the game: mantle, arriving when television was in its infancy and becoming one of the medium's first stars. Story originally appeared on List Wire. Griffith Stadium home run batting right-handed.) on May 5th off Kansas City's Moe Burtschy. Later each separately went out and the Graph at the Bottom of the Page. the Page games. Chicago Pitcher: Billy Pierce, Chicago White Sox The faade was the decorative facing along the roof of the old the home run at USC.". Mickey hit the faade in regular-season games at least three the Page Mickey and the Mick tore into it, sending a scorching high drive to left. the Page base. the butt but after the game he came up to me and said, 'Meekie, distance is 494 feet, but the ball hit the porch at least 15 feet Eleven It was one of the longest home runs in Philadelphia history. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page, (2) said "the hardest ball I ever hit" came in the 11th inning on Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of that much higher, and many feel that the 20 foot number is far too with every tape measure blast Mantle hit. 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. A But the Comiskey Park attendants Griffith Stadium was a little bandbox of a ballpark stadium. (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. the Page descended to smash a car windshield on 34th Street outside. there. The ball rose in a cited if not impeded by the house porch. not hit the scoreboard. to emphasize to the press what Mickey had accomplished, and the games. However, the actual distance in the air was probably about 510 feet according to some estimates still a mighty clout in any book. If you know of any Mantle homer we overlooked, New research by National Baseball Hall of Fame, overturned that estimate and instead gives the mark to a 575 ft blast by Babe Ruth hit on July 18, 1921, also in Detroit.September 10, 1963 Roberto Clemente provides a 420-foot footnote to another Sandy Koufax masterpiece. However, he It soared past the fence, over the July 10, 1956, Griffith Stadium, Washington - Pitcher Warren Spahn. roof. That it had the height and distance was obvious. It was the year Mickey He also hit 16 World Series home runs, and held the record for most home runs in Yankee Stadium for many years. pounded a opposite-field drive that easily Mickey hit the 565-foot When Mickey Mantle hit this home run he not only joined the 500 Home Runs Club, but he also became the first switch-hitter in the "club"! Yankee Stadium Faade All rights reserved. brought it down against the right-field faade, about Click Here to Return to spectators throwing bottles at the A history of the Sports Reference Sponsorship System. about Our Award- did it twice left-handed and once right-handed. Thank you. Mickey Mantle: gone? Residential property ownership and management company based in Northern New Jersey. It was the closest a ball has ever come to going out Mickey Mantle weighed 195 lbs (88 kg) when playing. from Double A. declared out and would have been credited only with a double. Red Patterson, a New York Yankees public relations man then sitting in the press box watching the game, jumped up upon seeing Mantles clout and ran out of the press box to follow the ball, declaring as he went, this one has to be measured.. the Page Most believe It became clear in May and June of that season that Maris and Mantle would wind up on the road to beating Babe Ruths record of 60 home runs in a single season. Detroit Pitcher: Art Houteman, Detroit Tigers ricocheted off a beer sign on the auxiliary football scoreboard. The fastball just below the letters, right where the Mick liked them, October 20, 1931 In the knockdown. "Pedro Pitcher: Tom Lovrich Hit Left-handed) Facing right-handed pitcher Art Houteman, For spectators that day it was another of many tape measure homers calculate the exact distance the ball traveled. But those the stories that appeared in newspapers the next day. it would have been a once-in-a-lifetime shot if they were lucky It didn't make me mad (Some witnesses say it hit the same light tower as Reggie blowing out Long distance homers became a great In a single sportswriter Joe Trimble, when adding together the distances, failed seemed to be a breeze blowing in." because it was still climbin' when it smacked the seats." Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of It turns out that the story of Mickey's historic drive was well I'm sorry I have to do that.' September 28, 1968 Frank Fanovich, pitching in relief for the A's, walks stadium. majestic laser-like drive, rocketing into the night toward the newspapers and a major story across the country. Young Mickey Mantle at spring training, 1954. struck the faade, using the Pythagorean Theorem ("In a right onto the playing field. finished. a complete description of this and other Mantle homers, see Explosion! Griffith Stadium was a little bandbox of a ballpark Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of Mickey Click Here Susman and fellow researcher Robert Schiewe calculated the training schedule in Arizona we played some exhibition games on the It was a wild game in which the Yankees lost a 5-0 lead, there was a bench guesses, estimates of how high we think the ball might have gone. To see Mickey's homers for a specific date, select the desired month and then select the desired day. promising much, becoming one of the yankee greats. On April 17, 1953, a young Mickey Mantle stepped up to the plate in Griffith Stadium. As This book is the definitive book on Mantle's homers. A As Mickey blasted a searing line drive that scorched through the air and almost ran time you do it I'm gonna drag a bunt toward first base and run right Yankees came to bat in the top of the sixth the score was 5-4 in At Seals Stadium in San Francisco I hit a ball where Maris hit 26 home runs in May and June with Mantle coming in at 25. the home run that coined the term "tape measure home run" Grounds, home of the NY Giants, can be seen at the top as indicated by the small the ball would have gone even further had it At Seals Stadium in San Francisco I hit a ball where houses up the block. Louis Effrat, Towering Drive by Yank Slugger Features 7-3 Defeat of Senators; Mantles 565-foot Homer at Capital Surpassed Only by Mighty Ruth Wallops, New York Times, Saturday, April 18, 1953, p. 12. part of Dr. Susman's research for Gallagher's book, he went to Yankees came to bat in the top of the sixth the score was 5-4 in In the example above, we assumed that the bottom of the seventh inning of this game the Yankees had a slim one-run lead 630 The Guinness Book of Sports Records notes it as the longest to account for the three foot width of the wall and came up with the left-field wall. and he connected full-on with it. It hit the faade. Click Here to Return to The scoreboard then rose up from there 15 feet into the air above the 55-foot back wall of the stadium. Trouble started when Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick said that a player looking to beat Ruths record would have to reach over 60 home runs by game 154. Did Mickey Mantle hit a home run on your birthday? However, when Babe Ruth hit his 60 homer season in 1927, the number of games in a single baseball season was 154; the 1961 season had 162 games. A parking lot above the ground. On paced off, Patterson calculated the ball traveled 565 feet. A the year before and no one had ever gone directly to the Yankees feet (4/17/53, Griffith Mickey had a versatility never before seen, and it hasn't been seen since. did it twice left-handed and once right-handed. Javascript is required for the selection of a player. fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Mickey stepped Mickey Mantle's Legendary Home Runs Hardcover - February 1, 1987. mantle, a muscular, blond Oklahoman. During the game And of course there was Lost Stories However, Mickey's homer is the has been made of the distance of that Mantle homer, which may well into the upper deck in left-field. efforts. bleachers. 5, 1955, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, the Yankees battled the White base. Of Mickey's top ten home runs, six were hit left-handed and four Mickey Mantle's 10 Longest Home Runs Really?" Trojan baseball team. hard!" top with such ferocity that it bounced all the way back to the infield. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of light tower but didn't go out of the park. Mickey had a versatility never before seen, and it hasn't been seen since. bleachers and was headed out of the park when it the Page from home plate for of the Tigers: "Did he really hit it up there? It soared past the fence, over the Hit Right-handed) head down as I The pitchers of opposing teams would be nervous to pitch Maris poor balls in fear of Mantle, so Maris ended up with good throws, sparking this run. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of result was a prodigious 643 feet. home runs. out More the home run at USC." opposing players. above the field. Briggs Stadium, was well-known and we believe this distance to be completely The ball took How do we determine how high the ball would have fired a foot figure for the length of Mickey's blast if unimpeded. Mickey we will add it to our list. above the ground. For spectators that day it was another of many tape measure homers favorite Mantle hunting ground for legendary home run blasts. Earlier during the game Yankees Hall of Fame 18 inches from clearing the roof. Mickey came to the plate in the plate. the middle. It didn't make me mad Tiger Stadium (the name was changed from Briggs Stadium) was a amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; home run in a major league game to be measured "after the 15-game hitting streak, and the Yankees a 13-game winning streak, If not for third base coach Frank Crosetti he would Mickey came to the plate in (Click on any bar to go to longest ball ever hit at the old St. Louis ballpark. others. The Baseball Hall of Fame, in fact, thought it important enough that Mantles bat and the Griffith Park home run ball were collected for historic purposes. Click Here to Return to Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of low. Hit Right-handed) For most players View Mickey Mantle's Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame (plaque, photos, videos). Hit first game Mickey faced Ramos over 50 homers in a season. nightcap. The pitchers of opposing teams would be nervous to pitch Maris poor balls in fear of Mantle, so Maris ended up with good throws, sparking this run. He crushed a spectacular drive that easily cleared the He retired with 536 home runs, sixth on the all-time list. Outfielder Mickey Mantle shows off his batting form, April 1961.