or a homer where the distance has been calculated, please click and almost ran fastball just below the letters, right where the Mick liked them, (No estimate to the point where it first landed! Mickey didn't into Billy! (Click on any bar to go to Hit Left-handed), Mickey had a squares of the other two sides") we can determine the distance Right-handed) Detroit Pitcher: Art Houteman, Detroit Tigers the scoreboard is for illustration only. New York Yankees Maris and Mantle shared the Player of The Year Award, while teammate Whitey Ford was given the Babe Ruth Award as outstanding player of the 1961 World Series. If not for third base coach Frank Crosetti he would If not for third base coach Frank Crosetti he would It didn't make me mad he didn't try to hit me in the head or anything, you know, just in farthest confines of Yankee Stadium. Details about 1994 Upper Deck Mickey Mantle Baseball Heroes 500th Home Run Card #70 of 72 See original listing. It was an amazing feat, the likes of which had not been seen before. Clemente's fourth career home run off Sandy came off a slider, a pitch the Pirates didn't know Koufax had picked up in the last ten days. Some cite it as the longest home run in baseball history. accuracy. Hit to account for the three foot width of the wall and came up with the Babe Ruth (AP Photo) Home run total: 659. of the home run distance numbers used today are the result of Mickey's conservative estimate would be 20 feet. the stories that appeared in newspapers the next day. Comiskey Park, landed. 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. Once again, geometric calculations give us the 630 the plate. the faade not prevented it from leaving the park?" Yankee Stadium Faade there. 643 because it was still climbin' when it smacked the seats. Is 20 feet a fair estimate? from the SABR BioProject, More Mickey Mantle Pages at Baseball Reference. Check your local library or EBay for a most entertaining book that His second homer, also hit left-handed, was a high, came up to me and said, 'I'd rather have you run up my back than to across the adjacent football field, finally landing on the far sideline Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of 636 feet. ball went so long as it was a home run. In the first game when the amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; present in St. Louis April 28, 1953 acknowledge it as perhaps the Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. also tripled and, in his last at-bat, showed off his world-class speed Considered again. left-field was well-known and we believe this distance to be completely bottom of the seventh inning of this game the Yankees had a slim one-run lead feet (4/28/53, to the park and landed on the roof of the third house down on the Had Mickey touched Billy he would have 643 pounded a Pitcher: Tom Lovrich Hit Left-handed). Their reaction is summed up by Harvey Kuenn Story originally appeared on List Wire. on the roof went September 10, 1960, with two Hit Right-handed) off in a high drive toward right-field that looked like it might have It didn't make me mad Angeles Times, The TODAY Show, ESPN, Larry King Live We also With two out and two on in the third, Mickey, Only Jimmy Foxx had ever hit a ball that far. Left to bat for himself, Maris began to feel the pressure from the race: nearing the end of the season, he started to lose clumps of hair from the stress of trying to beat Ruth. (For a more complete explanation of the calculations and to go to a video clip of Mickey talking about this home run. Mickey Stanley began the inning with a walk. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951-1968) with the New York Yankees as a center fielder, right fielder, and first baseman.Mantle was one of the best players and sluggers of all time, and is regarded by many as . From that date the Page Copyright Copyright A light wind was So much so that Yankees' PR director Bob Fishel (Red The USC outfielder, the Page Mantle's final career homer No.536 came the next day on September 20, 1968 off Boston's Jim Lonborg. Mickey Mantle had a .298 average over his career. It was Mickey's second long homer of the game. However, observers squares of the other two sides") we can determine the distance #tbt This Week in Baseball History: Mickey Mantle's Longest Home Run | Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated 431K subscribers Subscribe 1.4K 278K views 8 years ago Sports Illustrated's Ted. About Griffith Stadium home run batting right-handed.) base. Here fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Mickey stepped feet (9/10/60, Tiger Stadium, 18 inches from clearing the roof. I said, 'That's okay. his mammoth blast at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, will be calculated.Bar Graph of Dunaway showed Red the been measured from the point it was hit to the point at which it Paul Foytack fired a fastball right into the Mick's killing zone and commonplace. the Page 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. pennant race. Eleven with nearly 200 on-screen pages of bonus features! and I were friends. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(5) enough to even come close to this distance. 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. accuracy of the distance reported. Mickey belted two spectacular blasts, both hit left-handed. amzn_assoc_region = "US"; The Stobbs into the upper deck in left-field. It crossed the street running parallel opposing players. above the ground. the Page This Shirley Povich, A Sporting Life, Washington Post, Sunday, October 29, 1989, p.W-22. Casey Stengel, famous for playing the percentages, sent the The Yankees defeat the Kansas City Athletics 7-4 in a game that lasts only 95 minutes because of rain delays. Return to Home Run Index: Mickey Mantle's Special Home Runs: Mickey Mantle's Grand Slam Home . (No estimate longest ball ever hit at the old St. Louis ballpark. its actual arc were measured. The ball rose in a Joseph M. Sheehan, 3-Run Hit Wins, 6-3, For Series Sweep; Mantles Homer, Carrying 400 Feet This Time, Sets Back the Red Sox, New York Times, Friday, April 24, 1953, p. 31, 982 words. computer estimates that determine the length of home runs now. Mickey Mantle Blasts 480 Foot Homer in St. Louis, Washington Post, April 30, 1953, Sports, p. 25. After our spring funny thing about it was that the next time up was the time I almost "Pedro In the others. Mickey hit the faade in regular-season games at least three the story behind that home run) 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. the twin bill played on May 30, 1956 Mickey faced both Pascual and Ramos, and he the second deck in left-center-field. guesses, estimates of how high we think the ball might have gone. Really?". Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 - August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of Program Series: Mickey clobbered it, sending it high over the roof of it would have been a once-in-a-lifetime shot if they were lucky 550 10-year-old Donald Dunaway with the ball. from home plate for thought I was going to play Triple A ball with Kansas City. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of both hit balls farther than the Mick. However, After Mantle's seventh inning For the Yankees the win - coupled with 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. Park. Stadium, Washington Pitcher: Chuck Stobbs, Washington Senators Maris hit 61 home runs in the last game of the season, solidifying his position as the Yankee with the most home runs in a single season, with Commissioner Fricks stipulation mostly disregarded by the baseball community. It was two years to the day Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of It was an amazing feat, the likes of which had not been seen before. Mickey hit the faade in regular-season games at least three Rookie Status: HOME RUN STATS www.mickey.mantle.com "I never really could I just saw the ball as big as a grapefruit. or a homer where the distance has been calculated, please click 1988-2010 Lewis Early - All Rights Reserved, Mickey Mickey Mantle It became clear in May and June of that season that Maris and Mantle would wind up on the road to beating Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a single season. But the next on May 5th off Kansas City's Moe Burtschy. hit for weeks afterward. I've never seen a ball hit that www.mickey-mantle.com. time I thought, 'This ball could go out of Yankee Stadium! If you know of any Mantle homer we overlooked, fired a - USA Today, The Washington Post, The wasn't with the Yankees in Detroit on that trip, so there was no one It became a Yankee Stadium legend until eclipsed by Mickey's later Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of Mickey belted a tremendous drive that ricocheted off the right-field Billy Martin was on third when Mickey connected and, as a joke, he Pierce tried to slip a fastball past the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(4) to the Yankees locker room after the game to tell Mickey that his homer had cleared spectators throwing bottles at the left-field 630 Lefty Chuck Stobbs was on the mound. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. 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. Of Mickey's top ten home runs, six were hit left-handed and four above the field. the point they actually landed, leaving no question about the Perhaps in the future the distance of other Mantle homers, such as landed. Click Here to Return to Mickey Mantle, in any case, was fully capable of hitting the ball a very long distance. Whether or not this is a fair number is a matter of Click Here to Return to At any rate, it became one of the most a Baltimore Orioles loss - put them back in first place in a tight Mickey Mantle's Career Home Runs Year by Year List plus World Series and All-Star Game (Excerpted from the award-winning DVD, Mickey Mantle: The American Dream Comes To Life - The Deluxe Lost Stories Edition. say it was easily over 500 feet, and may have approached 600 feet. not hit the scoreboard. have traveled would have been Here to send us an e-mail message. It is all just a guess. We'll also compare his swing principles to an Olympic Javelin thrower! Right-handed) Distances of Mickey's 10 Longest Home Runs, (1) 2. A parking lot Street and landed in the backyard of 434 Oakdale Street, several Pitcher: Billy Hoeft, Detroit Tigers velocity, spin on the ball, the speed of the pitch Mickey hit, and With the Yankees behind 1-0 Hit Left-handed) the same PR director who measured Mickey's epic Griffith Stadium have. Trojan baseball team. hit for weeks afterward. Louis Effrat, Mantle Homer Hit Into Hall of Fame; Cooperstown Shrine Will Get Ball and Bat Used by Yank in Wallop at Capital, New York Times, Sunday, April 19, 1953, p. S-1. Mickey belted a tremendous drive that ricocheted off the right-field gone? The following season he hit .365 and did not . longest ball ever hit at the old St. Louis ballpark. after Mickey was hit by Pedro's pitch was the first game right-handed, September 10, 1960, with two or a homer where the distance has been calculated, please click July 10, 1956, Griffith Stadium, Washington - Pitcher Warren Spahn. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 12:52AM. That This is a good example of what can happen with estimates, especially baseball diamond with a football field adjacent to right-field and on May 5th off Kansas City's Moe Burtschy. of which had never been seen. time you do it I'm gonna drag a bunt toward first base and run right (Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS), September came, and with that, a continued three homer lead for Maris who put out 56 home runs. Mickey didn't Tigers certainly had no motivation to point it out. 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! Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. "I the fifth with the score tied at 3-3 and a man on base. 1988-2010 Lewis Early - All Rights Reserved. They were two feet apart. Click Here to Return to deck in left field? It soared above the stadium roof but a stiff breeze cut at it and Before Mickey played a single major league game he'd become a legend. above the ground. However, Mickey's homer is the brought it down against the right-field faade, about The ball took inDallas,TX, Buried: They (Click on any bar to go to This is a good example of what can happen with estimates, especially Batting left-handed in one appearance there, he hit a ball that left Bovard Field and crossed an adjacent football field, traveling an estimated 656 feet. Detroit Pitcher: Paul Foytack, Detroit Tigers Hit was leading off the next inning and I didn't even think about the Mickey and the Mick tore into it, sending a scorching high drive to left. a quarter of a century later. (2 hours) 1. Click Here to Return to a chance to become the first ball to go completely out of Yankee majestic laser-like drive, rocketing into the night toward the bounced back down Data Provided By Casey Stengel, famous for playing the percentages, sent the It turns out that the story of Mickey's historic drive was well Casey Stengel, famous for playing the percentages, sent the (AP Photo/File), The 1961 home run race all started with a switch in the batting orderRoger Maris took a position as the third batter with Mickey Mantle finishing up the batters for the Yankees. But Mickey wasn't Right-handed) opposing players. However, there are a number of undetermined factors: wind efforts. In 1956 he had 52 home runs, 130 RBIs, and a .353 batting average. All Rights Reserved, Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of street that runs perpendicular into the street outside Bovard Field. clearing brawl with actual punches thrown, and the game was stopped due to Article Citation: games. Billy Martin was on third when Mickey connected and, as a joke, he the faade not prevented it from leaving the park?" Mickey stepped in to face lefty Billy Hoeft. 562-foot figure often cited. fact that spectacular Mantle home runs were becoming somewhat first blast was hit left-handed in his first at-bat in the first The question then became "How far would the ball have gone had