Twenty Greatest Home Runs Ever
Posted: January 10th, 2008 | Filed under: Baseball | 108 Comments »
I made a mistake the other day … one of many, no doubt. I was doing a quick synopsis of Joe Carter to illustrate a point, and I mentioned that over a 12-year period he led all of baseball in homers and RBIs, and that he played centerfield for a while, and that he stole some bases — all true — and then pointed out that he hit one of the three greatest home runs ever.
I had not really put much thought into it, though, before I wrote that. I’ve thought about it since then and … I don’t think Joe Carter’s World Series home run is one of the THREE greatest home runs ever. So I came up with my list. This is an absolutely personal list … there are some very famous home runs missing. Roger Maris’ 61st isn’t here, McGwire’s 62nd isn’t here, no Brosius, no Chambliss, no Sammy, no Ozzie, no Spezio, no Leyritz and also no Bonds. Hey, it’s just my list.
20. The Homer in the Gloaming
Date: Sept. 28, 1938
Hitter: Gabby Hartnett
Why it was great: Because of the word “Gloaming.†I love that word. It’s an old English word, somewhat still used in Scotland from what I understand. But what’s great about it is that you don’t even need to know what gloaming means to KNOW what gloaming means. There should be more words like that. The home run was big enough — Hartnett’s late inning homer at dusk helped lead the Cubs to a pennant — but it wouldn’t be much if they had called it “The Dinger at Dusk†or “The Blast at Twilight†or “The Late Inning Shot.â€
There’s a Scottish song (I think) that goes like this:
Roaming in the gloaming
With a Bonnie near the Clyde
Roaming in the gloaming
With a lassie by my side
‘Tis when the sun goes down
That’s the time that I like best
Oh yeah, I’m roaming in the gloaming.
19. King Kong
Date: April 14, 1976
Hitter: Dave Kingman
Why it was great: On the same day that Kyle Farnsworth was born in Wichita — a memorable day for Jeremy Affeldt among others — Dave Kingman hit a blast into the Chicago wind that banged on the porch of a house on Kenmore. It wasn’t the first house either … or the second. The ball that hit the third house on Kenmore has been estimated to travel 550 feet, 585 feet and 630 feet by various sources. Whatever … it was some kind of blast.
Two things worth knowing about Dave Kingman:
1. From research on “The Machine†— coming out in March ’09, start saving up, you know, after you buy Soul, of course — Kingman played on the same Little League All-Star team as George Foster. That means the players with the biggest home run seasons between 1972 and 1986 were on the same Little League team … interesting.
2. I’ve heard the story in different ways, but my favorite way is that in 1979, Kingman simply decided to prove to everybody that he could play the game. He’d hit a lot of home runs, but he was basically known as something of a free-swinging clown and a joke (he’d played for four different teams in 1977) and a miserable cuss. So, the story goes, that Kingman decided enough was enough … he was going to show everybody.
Say what you will about Dave Kingman … but few men have ever been given his sorts of talent as an athlete. He could run when he was young, he had a strong arm, and of course he had prodigious power. True as Bill James has pointed out, he was among the worst percentage players in baseball history (Bill has him fifth, just behind Alex Johnson and Hubie Brooks) and he was a defensive horror show, and his strikeout-to-walk numbers, 1816-to-608, are not too good. But a motivated Dave Kingman was nothing to mock.
Kingman started hitting in 1979. And he kept hitting. And he kept on hitting. The man had a .236 lifetime batting average, but on July 28 of that year — in New York against the Mets team that he despised (and would soon rejoin) — he hit three home runs. That meant through 85 games, his numbers looked like this:
.306/.378/.691, 35 homers, 79 RBis, 67 runs.
I mean that’s amazing stuff in 1979. There were 64 games left in the season. If he could have maintained that pace the rest of the year, he would have hit 61 homers. Heck, he COULD have broken the home run record. You thought there was a stink when Bonds broke that record … whew.
He did not do it. The rest of the way he hit .262/.292/.507. But the point was proven … Dave Kingman COULD have been an all-time great. Maybe he just didn’t feel like it.
18. Appomattox
Date: Oct. 22, 1975
Hitter: Tony Perez
Why it was great: The Reds were done — down 3-0 in Game 7 of that World Series — when Perez absolutely crushed a homer off a floating curveball by Bill Lee (you like the Appomattox reference?). Lots more on this in “The Machine,†or whatever that book ends up being called.
17. Bo
Date: Sometime in 1985
Hitter: Bo Jackson
Why it was great: My good friend Tommy Tomlinson tells it best — he was there. He says that there was a big crowd of Georgia fans at Foley Field, there to mock Bo Jackson for playing baseball. They brought out footballs, they were signaling football penalties, they were laughing at Bo. As we’ve pointed out here, you don’t mock Bo. His first time up, first pitch, Bo hit a home run that — well, even years later, Bo would say that for one only two times in his life he was so locked in he actually saw the stitches on the ball clearly enough to count them.
Tommy says there is no way to describe just how hard he hit that ball. The best he could do is say that as soon as Bo hit it, there was an instant sound in the crowd that was like “OOF†— something like that sound you hear on television shows when someone gets hit in the stomach. And then there was silence. Dead silence. Crickets stopped chirping. Birds stopped singing. It was so quiet, you could hit Bo’s spikes scraping dirt. It was like the silence at the end of the movie ‘Babe.†And then, suddenly, everybody in Georgia just started cheering and bowing to the man.
Bo hit two more home runs that day.
16. Van
Date: Sometime in 1986
Hitter: Van Snider
Why it was great: Because it will be the longest home run I ever see. I’ve probably seen home runs that traveled greater distances — I particularly remember a home run that Mark McGwire hit off of Glendon Rusch in St. Louis — but none will ever stand up to the myth in my mind about Van Snider that day. It was in a temporary ballpark in Charlotte on the same day when Bo Jackson hit his first professional home run — on a broken bat no less — but what I remember is Snider.
He was on the same Memphis Chicks team as Bo, and as I recall it, he got knocked down at least twice after Bo hit the home run. The first time, he sort of glared at the pitcher. The second time, he actually started to charge, but he stopped. I tend to remember Chicks and O’s players moving to the top step of the dugout, everyone thought there would be a fight, but I’ve been known to remember things a bit more clearly than I should. What I do know is that the crowd was into it, and the pitcher definitely knocked down Snider, and he looked mad enough to really hurt sombody.
Next pitch, he hit it — he pulled an absolutely enormous blast to right field. The ball, I remember, went over the light towers, over some trees, and, as far as I could tell, over several states. It was an absolute mash. I couldn’t accurately offer a distance — those blasts down the line, for some reason, always seems to measure lighter than I expect — but I would estimate that it went 4,392,374 feet. And I remember he jogged slowly around the bases, all the while staring at the pitcher and the crowd booed.
It was absolutely beautiful.
15. BFD
Date: Oct. 2, 1978
Hitter: Bucky F. Dent.
Why it was great: You know why it was a great (or whatever the opposite of “great†happens to be). My favorite tidbit about this homer is that my friend Steve Palermo was the umpire who called the ball fair. Well, Stevie grew up in the heart of Red Sox country and his father was an enormous Sox fan. Here’s a little Jim Rice story … I believe Steve once brought his father to a game, and Jim Rice brought Palermo some coffee or something as a gag. And his Dad said, “That’s Jim Rice!†And Steve said (loud enough for Rice to hear), “Well, the coffee won’t get him better calls tonight.â€
Anyway, the day after the Bucky homer, Steve was at his father’s house, and he noticed that his Dad was acting kind of strange and cold. Steve said, “What’s wrong, Pops?†And his father said, “What, you couldn’t have called Bucky’s home run foul?â€
And Steve said, “Dad, it was fair by like 20 feet.â€
To which his Dad gave the great baseball fan answer … “So?â€
14. Power vs. Power
Date: June 24, 1997
Hitter: Mark McGwire
Why it was great: McGwire probably hit more enormous home runs than another ever from the right side of the plate. You have Frank Howard, Dick Allen, Kong, George Foster, Ralph Kiner, and others, but McGwire hit five home runs in 1998 that were estimated to travel 500 feet or more. To give you an idea, Sosa that same year hit one that was estimated to go exactly 500 feet and Bonds hit no 500-footers in 2001.
Of course, there are various physicists who suggest that without wind or the light air in higher altitudes, it is humanly impossible to hit a 500-foot home run. I don’t know nearly enough to dispute physicists, though I will point out that if you go back in the newspaper clippings, you will find plenty of physicists who claimed that a curveball could not curve.
Anyway, the greatest McGwire homer of all probably happened in the Kingdome on that June day when he faced off against an in-his-prime Randy Johnson. It was a 3-2 count, Johnson threw a 97-mph fastball, McGwire connected with everything he had (it was estimated that the ball came off the bat at 105 mph) and hit the ball hard enough to shake up a few physicists. The estimated distance — 538 feet — does not even begin to describe the wonder of that home run. I’m sure Unit didn’t feel exactly this way, but I remember when Rusch gave up his blast to McGwire. He said something like, “It’s weird, you almost feel proud. You see a ball go that far, and you think, ‘Hey, I threw that pitch.’â€
13. Roof shot
Date: July 13, 1971
Hitter: Reggie Jackson.
Why it was great: Sure, I could have picked Reggie’s third home run in that World Series game, but to me, this monster was greater — guys on the bench said Reggie hit it so hard they could FEEL the tremors in their chest, the way you can when someone with speakers blasting pulls up next to you at a stop light. This was in an All-Star Game, off of Dock Ellis, and it hit a light standard on the roof, and it was estimated (as these things are) at 540 feet.
When traveling around I ran into a guy who said he was from Detroit and he was just a kid watching that game, and he TAPE RECORDED the call when Reggie hit the ball. He would then listen to that call over and over again. I love that story.
12. Goosed
Date: Oct. 10, 1980
Hitter: George Brett
Why it was great: Everyone remembers Brett’s pine-tar home run off of Gossage, but to me the upper-deck blast Brett hit off of Goose to basically knock out the Yankees was much bigger, much more majestic and much greater. You have to remember that the Royals had lost to the Yankees in the 1976 playoffs, then again in 1977, again in 1978, and Brett’s homer was like … well, it was a like this George Foreman uppercut, my favorite ever boxing punch.
To fully enjoy this punch (I know it’s wrong but it makes me start laughing every time I see it; it’s like watching a Popeye cartoon) — start watching at about 7:00 or so (maybe even 7:10). After a few seconds you will see Foreman knock down Gerry Cooney with a series of punches. Then Cooney will flail around for a few seconds, and you have to listen to the announcers (one of them being Dan Dierdorf) to get the full appreciation of the punch:
Color commentator: He is badly hurt. Same position he was in round five against Spinks. A clubbing right hand by Foreman … now let’s see if he learned anything about how to survive because he’s got a minute eight seconds …
Both announcers: OHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dierdorf: And that’s it.
That’s what Brett’s homer did to the 1980 Yankees.
11. Lady in the White Dress
Date: Unknown
HItter: Roy Hobbs
Why it was great: While many prefer the final home run — the one that gave the New York Knights the pennant, the one that smashed into the lights and created a fireworks show — I’m partial to the opposite field home run that Hobbs hit in Chicago (inspired, oddly, by the sight of Glenn Close in a white dress — last year, when Alex Gordon was hitting .167 in June I was thinking maybe the Royals should hire Close to come out to the park). The ball smashed the clock there in Chicago and — this is how well it was hit — apparently ended the game, even though the Knights were obviously ON THE ROAD.
I asked a question about The Natural on my original blog, but there are, apparently, thousands more readers now so it is worth asking again:
Movie question: Was Scotty Carson, the scout in “The Natural†who signed Roy Hobbs, a good guy or a bad guy? On the one hand, Pop, the manager of the Knights, gave Scotty the unique authority to sign any player “if he ever found anyone decent.†This would indicate that Pop and Carson went back some years. Carson found Roy Hobbs, signed him, and sent in a report that he was “one hell of a hitter.†That seems to indicate he was a good guy/good scout.
On the other hand, Scotty was obviously getting paid off by The Judge — and when asked to explain why he sent Hobbs to the Knights, Scotty mumbled that he only signed Hobbs off of the Heeber Oilers to fail.
“Judge, I’m just doing what you asked. Hobbs is a joke, a nobody from nowhere.â€
So what is it? My opinion: Scotty was still loyal to Pop and he knew that Hobbs was going to be a great player. He was obviously handcuffed by The Judge – that’s why he was watching the Heeber Oilers to begin with – but a chief scout like Scotty Carson could not have missed the talent of Roy Hobbs. I think he signed Hobbs, sent him in to help his old friend Pop and then tried to cover up with this “Hobbs is a joke†line.
10. The Called Shot
Date: Oct. 1, 1932
Hitter: Babe Ruth
Why it was great: All these years later, and we still don’t know if Ruth really called his home run before he hit it out against the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. Apparently, the Cubs were berating him, Ruth was screaming back at them, he may or may not have pointed out to the outfield, then he definitely hit the homer. I’ll tell you what’s absolutely unbelievable about this whole thing — they were playing a World Series game on Oct. 1.
9. The Longest Homer Ever
Date: April 17, 1953 at Clark Griffith Stadium
or
Date: Sept. 10, 1960
or
Date: May 22, 1963
Hitter: Mickey Mantle (of course)
Why it was great: The picture at top is of the last home run, hit at Yankee Stadium — it is suggested by some that the ball was still going up when it hit the facade at the top of Yankee Stadium, and it was estimated by someone who was probably called Mad Dog in 1963 that it might have traveled 734 feet. That shot was hit off of Bill Fischer — who is now working for the Royals as a senior pitching advisor.
The 1960 homer was at Tiger Stadium, another roof blast off of Paul Foytack, and it was estimated later to travel 643 feet, which might be a bit ridiculous.
The first, the one at 1953, was at Griffith Stadium in Washington, and according to this site Billy Martin, as a joke, was waiting at third base, like he had to tag up, and Mantle almost ran into him. The estimated distance was 565 feet, and according to lore, this was the first home run actually tape measured.
8. Gods and Letters
Date: Sept. 28, 1960.
Hitter: Ted Williams
Why it was great: The last homer of the best hitter in front of 10,454 at Fenway.
“Like a feather caught in a vortex, Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs — hurriedly, unsmiling, head down, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of. He didn’t tip his cap. Though we thumped, wept, and chanted “We want Ted” for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back. Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters.â€
– John Updike, The New Yorker
7. There’s a New Home Run Champion
Date: April 8, 1974
Hitter: Hank Aaron
Why it was great: i had the chance many years ago to do one of my favorite stories … I talked to both of the guys who ran around the bases with Aaron. They were a couple of Georgia college students in 1974, and they were both pretty good guys (though they had lost track of each other).
It’s weird, looking back, that scene seems filled with joy — those two white kids ran up and patted him on the back and were obviously (looking back) trying to congratulate him. But remember, at that time, there were a bunch of nutjobs and scumbags sending Aaron death threats and awful letters. I mean think about this — Aaron’s daughter was watching the game under FBI protection, his mother was scared to death for him, then he hits the home run, and two young white guys run on the field to get to him. Aaron would say he did not really notice them, which tells you just what kind of zone Hank Aaron could get in.
6. Wild Thing
Date: Oct. 23, 1993
Hitter: Joe Carter.
Why it was great: A game-winning home run to clinch a World Series … can’t get much greater than that. And to do it off of Mitch Williams, you just have to love it. Amazing homer. But it’s not quite third.
5. IDNBWIJS
Date: Oct. 15, 1988
Hitter: Kirk Gibson
Why it was great: I was in the car, driving back from a Clemson football game, and I was approaching the giant peach in Gaffney, S.C. when Gibson came to the plate in Game 1 of that World Series. He hit the home run, limped around the bases, I pulled over the car by the peach while listening to Jack Buck shout on the radio: “I do not believe what I just saw.â€
4. The Homer
Date: August 29, 1977
Hitter: Do I really need to say?
Why it was great: Well, you know all the details already. There stadium was packed with 6,236 screaming fans. This was a battle between a third-place White Sox team and a fifth-place Indians team, so know a lot was on the line. A native was pitching for the White Sox that day, a future Cy Young Award winner from my hometown, South Euclid, Ohio, and Steve Stone started off the game by striking out Paul Dade. I feel silly going over these particulars since they are so well known. Up stepped the man. He may have had an angry look on his face … I’m not sure, I was listening on to Herb Score on radio.
Duane Kuiper had been hot for about a month — he hit .306 over the previous 35 games — 45 hits that did include four doubles and two triples. He dug in. The wind was blowing out a little bit, and perhaps he sensed what was about to happen. Stone threw him a fastball, and Kuiper got all of it, every bit of it, and the right fielder moved back like he was going to catch it in front of the warning track, but no, not this time. The ball went over the wall by at least 4 inches. Maybe more. Maybe 5.
Stone was so shaken up by this that two batters later he gave up an inside-the-park homer to Andre Thornton, who was not exactly a paragon of speed, and right after that gave up a home to Bruce Bochte. Thornton would later hit another home run. It was quite a night. Yes. Quite a night.
3. Waving It Fair
Date: Oct. 21, 1975
Hitter: Carlton Fisk
Why it was great: You know what we need? Another book on the 1975 World Series. Oh, wait, that’s what I’m doing. Never mind … please remove the sarcastic font from the previous two sentences.
My favorite factoid of the Fisk homer is that the cameraman who got the famous shot of Fisk waving the ball fair was apparently sticking with Fisk because he was scared of a giant rat on the top of the Green Monster. I love stuff like that. Like I love the famous shot of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston because if you look carefully through Ali’s legs, you will see a photographer on the wrong side of that photo with his camera around his neck and this priceless “Oh man, I would give a billion jillion shmillion quantillion dollars to be on the other side of this ring right now†look.
Back to Fisk, I love the way he was trying to knock down fans who were getting in his way as he rounded the bases.
2. Maz
Date: Oct. 13, 1960
Hitter: Bill Mazeroski
Why it was great: You know why. Do you remember that Bill Mazeroski Baseball magazine that used to come out every year around this time? Talk about great. I can remember when it was my singular ambition to write for that magazine. I remember it because it’s STILL my singular ambition. I wonder how involved Maz was in putting that together.
1. The Giants Win the Pennant
Date: Oct. 3, 1951
Hitter: Bobby Thomson
Why it was great: It’s the only homer you can call The Shot Heard Round The World. … Apparently, the Giants cheated to come back on the Dodgers — they were stealing signs using an intricate and elaborate operation according to Joshua Prager’s marvelously researched and somewhat oddly named book “The Echoing Green†— and Thomson himself seemed to know that a fastball was coming before he hit it. It would be hard to convince me that every player from the 1940s and 1950s and later, given the chance to take a performance enhancing drug that would help them recover from injury, work out harder and play at a higher level, would have declined.
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Jose’s monster shot in the Skydome. The single hardest hit I’v ever seen. Middle of a season, so loses on historical merit. I won’t touch the steroids issue here, but . . . belongs on this list. I suggest #11 as a suitable place.
I know it’s your list. Still . . .
SORRY A BIT MORE. 2ND GREATEST SHOT I EVER SAW: In a pub in Bloomsbury (The Plough) Roberto Carlos’ “wonder goal” versus France in pre-World Cup tournoi at the famous Stade de France:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXB3QGyE_NU
That is nothing but pure genius, my friends. And Americans who scoff at footie can KMA!
Easily one of the 5 greatest goals ever scored!
An entertaining read as always, Poz. Here’s one that I think deserves a shout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWBkOa-GMsM
As a big fan of the 1975 series, I appreciate the Perez homer (and I remember well the Doyle throwaway that led to it.) But to me the most memorable moment of that series was Carbo’s homer. It felt like their last chance: two outs, two on, three down. It brought them back from the dead. I suppose in many ways it’s quite comparable to the one from Perez.
Great read, Joe. Congratulations to Kuiper for getting to #4. Number 1 in my book will always be Gibson (the moment baseball became cemented in my mind), followed by Puckett’s Game 6 shot in ‘91.
Ugh. As a Phillies fan, whenever I see a list like this, I know I’m going to have to relive Joe Carter all over again.
Puckett. Leibrandt. Game 6. 1991.
“And we’ll see you tomorrow night!!”
I nominate Pujols’ bomb over the train off the previously untouchable Brad Lidge in the 2005 NLCS. I was updating my brother (who was in class) via IM, and when he crushed it, all I typed was !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. My brother typed variations of “NO WAY” about a dozen times. The reaction shots from Pettitte and others were phenomenal, and I’m convinced that the ball still hasn’t landed.
Joe,
I saw a documentary on famous sports photos, and the camera man that you can see between Ali’s legs was actually some hotshot photographer. The guy who took the famous picture was not.
Where the story gets good is that in this documentary, the newbie said he set himself up on the side of the ring, only to be approached by the hotshot, who informed him that this was HIS spot, where he ALWAYS shot, so the newbie was going to have to find a different spot. So the newbie went to the other side of the ring. The rest is history. When he got his famous shot, he was doubly excited to see Mr. Hotshot right through Ali’s legs, clearly on the wrong side of the ring while the newbie bagged one of the most famous sports photos of all time. (Which he attributed to luck. He happened to click the button at the precise nanosecond that made for a perfect picture. A split second either way, and that photo is nowhere near as dramatic.)
Anyway, that was my favorite part of the documentary, so I thought I’d share since you’ve gotten a kick out of seeing the other photographer through Ali’s legs.
Sirk
I think one of the critical homers from the 2004 ALCS belongs somewhere on the list – either Big Papi’s blast that ended Game 4, or better yet, Damon’s grand slam in Game 7 that put the Yankees on notice that these aren’t your Daddy’s Red Sox any more.
Regarding the Natural: I believe in your other blog a reader stated that it was not uncommon in the 40s for the visiting team to bat last. I can’t remember the details, but it seems like the reader said the home team had the option to choose whether to bat in the top or bottom half for the game. If that is true, it makes sense that Hobbs could have hit a walk-off as a visitor. However, I seriously doubt the writers did the research and suspect they paid little attention to the fact that he shouldn’t have been hitting in the bottom half of the inning. Dramatic license, if you will.
I’ll always remember Ozzie Smith’s improbable home run and Jack Buck’s immortal call, “Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!”
Kirby Puckett, Game 6, 1991
“And we’ll see you tomorrow night!” – Jack Buck
I don’t know if it’s top 20, but I have to shout out for Barry Bonds: October 3, 2002. John Smoltz and the Braves are ahead by 37.6 runs in the ninth when Bonds comes to bat with the bases empty. Ten years had passed since Smoltz hung a choke collar on Barry. There’s nothing at stake but balls, but those balls are hung out on national TV.
Everybody was looking around wondering if Smoltz was going to challenge him. He did. Bonds hit it so hard it left the park while Smoltz was still winding up. The cameras had a close up of Smoltz’ reaction until they realized how easy it was to lip-read what he was saying—but it wasn’t angry or grudging, it was awe.
And you know, I’m a Giants fan, so I don’t give a flying hoohah if Barry had all his blood replaced with nanobots. That was an awesome homerun.
Other great Bonds homers have to include April 12, 1993, his first home PA as a Giant.
Also, how about love for the ItpHR? Much as it pains me to admit it, May 15, 1989 at Veterans Stadium has to be one of the greats. Eleven scoreless innings. Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell hit back-to-backs off Steve Bedrosian to put the Giants up by two. Bottom of the twelfth, two outs, bases loaded, Bob Dernier—Bob Dernier—hits an inside the park homerun to end it. I mean, seriously.
Thanks,
-V.
Great blog, Joe.
Another great BRM homer was Bench’s to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th in game 5 of the 1972 NLCS. The clip from that is amazing. First, you have a young Al Michaels (then Reds’ broadcaster) absolutely losing it. Then, track the crowd reaction. Amazing.
Kudos should also go to Hal Smith and Bernie Carbo as the “most forgotten” great home runs.
And as much as I don’t like the Yankees, Chris Chambliss’ homer off Mark Littell deserves a ranking.
I also vote for Vardibidian’s home run, despite not remembering it.
Also Robin Ventura’s home run/single…
Also that day, against Böblingen-American Little League in Germany-where I’d just got my aluminum bat the day before…and they didn’t have outfield grass or a fence…the the guy threw me a fastball/changeup over the middle of the plate (the kind I’d been getting by on for years)…and I kind of hit a nice double up the power alley, except for that there wasn’t any fence…and MAN! it must have gone 800 feet!!!! They were still chasin it when I got to home plate, an’….(my other home run was bunted, and so there’s an argument about errors, I did put a couple out in batting practice; and I hit one in Crailsheim over the ditch that would have counted as a home run the following year, but I was so slow that I only got a triple out of it)…ah, the glory, the glory..
What’s that?! Ah, yes…Roberto Clemente hit a home run on the radio in the ‘71 series that sounded pretty jacked…
I’ve got tho personal favorites that I had the pleasure of seeing in person.
1) July 31st, 1980. I had been living in Kansas City for about two weeks. The Royals were smoking hot, George Brett was hitting about .390 at the time and the Red Sox came to town. This was the last season that the Sox had all of my favorite players before inexplicably letting go of Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk and Rick Burleson.
Well, the Royals simply hammered the Sox that night. It was 13-1 entering the ninth and had already included an inside-the-park homer by Hal McRae when Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans ran into each other in right-center field. With a massive lead, Jim Frey put in a kid named Jeff Twitty, who had pitched the grand total of three big leagues games and compiled an ERA of 7.56 in the process. Up steps Jim Rice, who had returned only a few days earlier from a fractured wrist that cost him five weeks.
The ball Rice hit off Twitty remained the longest I had seen hit in Royals/Fauffman Stadium for about 25 years (more on that in a moment). It was to dead center field and Willie Wilson never moved. Didn’t take a step, didn’t raise his head, simpy didn’t move. The damn thing sailed over the center field wall, and just about all of the grassy hill beyond it before short-hopping the concrete facing of the crown scoreboard. Simply awesome.
2) August 10, 2006. Wily Mo Pena hit a moonshot over the left field foul pole in Kauffman Stadium off Runelvys Hernandez that landed on the upper concourse on the fly, nearly to the outer fence. As soon as he hit it, everyone in the stands made a sound similar to the “oof” Joe describes above for Bo’s homer, and before Wily Mo had finished circling the bases I turned to my son and said, “Sam, remember this one. It may be the longest home run you ever see.”
http://www.hittrackeronline.com
Mantle’s shot was not still going up when it hit the facade. Williams’ red seat homer might have been the farthest of all time, at somewhere around 520 to 535 I think, though they estimate Reggie Jackson’s All-Star home run as being around 532.
Williams’ is, I think, the farthest HR for which we have pretty good documentation. 502 feet from the plate, and still 30 feet off the ground… wow.
That Willy Mo Pena shot went directly over my head out in left field. My brother and I didn’t say a word the entire time, just looked at each other as he ran around the bases.
We were joking later about how stupid we were going to look on Sportscenter if one of the anchors happened to notice. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure we looked like everybody else.
I think Chris Chambliss’ homer to put the Yankees over the Royals in the 1976 ALCS should be, oh yeah.
I’m still stunned by Manny’s homer in this year’s ALDS Game 2. I don’t think it’s landed yet.
Joe loved your choices was wondering where you would rank these three home runs
1. October 15 1997 Game 6 ALCS Top of the 11th Score tied 0-0 Two outs and Tony Fernandez steps to the plate and hits a home run to right field in Camden Yards off of Armando Benitez to send the Indians to the World Series.
2. July 16th 1995 With two outs and one on in the bottom of the 12th Indians trailing by 1. A young Manny Ramirez hits a bomb off of Dennis Eckersley to win the game to which Eckersley’s only reply was Wow
3. April 30th 1997 Orel Hershiser throws a fastball to Mark McGwire which he connected with and sent to left field. The ball cleared the 19ft fence the 23 rows of bleachers and struck the budweiser sign on the scoreboard that was 436 ft from home plate and 70 ft above the field. The ball has been estimated to have been traveling 124mph and if uniterrupted would have went 512 ft
A couple of other good ones:
Jose Canseco denting the TV camera in the LCS.
Mike Schmidt hitting the world’s longest single off the roof of the Astrodome. It would’ve been a 600-footer if he’d been playing outside, just a real moon shot.
The coolest HR I ever saw: Rafael Belliard’s first career HR, against the Padres in 1987. He only ever hit one other one, in 2300 career AB.
Joe – great job as always!
If we’re doing personal favorites, a few come to mind. One is Glenallen Hill’s HR that landed on the roof of a building on Waveland Avenue at (or should I say outside) Wrigley.
Another of recent vintage is Magglio Ordonez’ HR vs Oakland to send Detroit to the WS. Not “top 20″ by any means, but I just remember the absolute roar of the crowd. It was like all of Detroit screamed and exorcised the frustration of all the years since Sparky’s Tigers. Sometimes you remember the reaction to the HR more than the HR itself.
For the all-time HR I’ve seen in person, I have to go with a HR in game 5 of the 2003 NLDS, game 5, Cubs vs. Braves in Atlanta. I’m a lifelong Cubs fan (so I don’t need to go in all the woe-is-me details) but needless to say, I was a pool of pessimism going into game 5.
A friend convinced me to drive down with him to Atlanta – he had scored tickets for game 5 (in a dubious scenario that had us meet some guy in a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot to get them). Anyways, the whole time during the game I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. But the Cubs take the early lead, Wood’s shutting ‘em down and then Aramis Ramirez hits a 2-run HR off Mike Hampton for a 3-run cushion. As the ball is in flight, I’m screaming of course, but I’m experiencing the sense of “Oh my gosh! We’re actually going to do it!” – which is a sense that I’ve honestly never felt as a Cubs fan. It was a surreal experience – I imagine Red Sox fans felt that when Damon hit the GS in 2004.
All of this made my scream go louder and louder until nothing came out. My voice literally gave out and I couldn’t talk outside a whisper for about a week.
It goes without saying that I’m going crazy over an NLDS HR and the Cubs went on to crush my spirit in the NLCS. But that feeling I felt during the HR is enough to keep me going through the lean years.
By the way, my vote for least memorable HR ever was in the 1989 All-Star game. Bo Jackson crushes a shot off Rick Reuschel to start the game. Everyone’s still going crazy when Wade Boggs and hits another one. But the way people reacted you would have thought he just grounded back to the pitcher.
Yankee Stadium, 2003. Eleventh inning. Brett Boone. I was there. We went nuts. As perfect a time as I can think about. I had brought a friend, a Red Sox fan, and as my other friends and I were screaming and jumping, I felt Mike touch my elbow. He says, “Michael. I can’t _be_ here anymore” and disappears into the crowd. A month later when we could talk again, he told me that he was so visibly upset on the subway, and it was so clear why, that no one even messed with him.
Puckett. Game 6, 1991. You don’t include that one, but you include a fictional home run from a movie? And not just a movie, but a movie that bastardizes the ending? Good golly, I think you better rethink this one.
Aaron Boone, of course. Why is Brett on my brain?
Noel, at least Boggs made up for it by hitting a home run for his 3000th hit. He is the only player to have a home run for # 3000.
May 1, 1979. Astros lead the Cardinals 6-3 in the 12th inning, Joe Sambito pitching to Roger Freed, bases loaded, 2 out, 3-2 count. Freed fouled off a couple before homering — the only 2-out, 3-2, 3-runs-down, grand slam walkoff I’ve ever seen — er, heard on the radio. Apparently there have only been 13 such in history, even if you don’t require the 3-2 count part. Rarer than a perfect game or unassisted TP (which I also saw on TV this year — Tulowitzki’s. I missed Furcal’s in ‘03 when I went to walk my dog, and thought I’d never see one.)
“It would be hard to convince me that every player from the 1940s and 1950s and later, given the chance to take a performance enhancing drug that would help them recover from injury, work out harder and play at a higher level, would have declined.”
no no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Back Then the game was Pure. Pure i say!!!! the guys just Played For The Love Of The Game!!!!! Not for money. and all the players stayed with the same team from the day they were signed because the players were loyal Back Then!!! i know because everyone who was watching Back Then sez it is true!!!
- and the giants and bobby thomson stealing signs with a camera/binoculars in center field – well, that is not cheating. that is just, um, boys will be boys. which is completely different from a ballplayer trying to recover from an injury or trying to get better with (shudder) steroids!!!!
and famous home runs really should include Brad Ausmus’ blast off Kyle Farnsworth – yes!! Famous Slugger Brad Ausmus!!! to tie the famous 18 inning game of the 05 NLDS which Roidger Clemens won with 3 thrilling innings of relief pitching.
Kirk Gibson gets to nominate his other great WS shot off Gossage – 8th inning upper decker that sealed the WS for the 84 Tigers, after Gossage talked Dick Williams out of walking Gibby.
But my favourite – even if not top 20 – was early June 1984. Tigers were off to their 35-5 start, but still hadn’t quite shaken the Blue Jays, who had come to town (for all of that great start, I think the Tigers were only 4 or 5 games up on the Jays at the time). It was the Monday Night Game of the Week (remember those?). Tiger Stadium was full to the rafters. It was the start of the Wave (before it got so incredibly annoying). Jays are starting Dave Steib, so I’m already a little apprehensive. Jays get out to a lead, but the Tigers come back after Steib is pulled.
It goes into extras. Tigers had had chances in the bottom of the 9th, but left men on. 2 on, 2 out in the bottom of the 10th. Lefty Dave Bergman up against Roy Lee Jackson. And Bergman just kept fouling off pitches. Pulled every pitch – some of them dribblers down first, others rockets that landed just on the wrong side of the foul pole. Ran the count full, and I swear he must have fouled 15 pitches in the process. Until…he hit one fair – if only just barely. It was an upper deck shot that hit the foul pole ending the game. It was my most memorable in-person baseball event (although I did see Rocket strike out 20 Tigers in his last start for the Bosox, that wasn’t *one* event).
The funny thing is, for as obscure an event this might seem, *every time* I recount the story, the person I’m telling has *also* seen that homerun…
Re: Joe Carter
I grew up in Windsor, across the river from Detroit, so of course I was a Detroit fan – Tigers, Wings, Pistons, Lions (oh, my woeful Leos). I came back to Windsor for law school and all my classmates were Jay fans. If you lived anywhere by Windsor, you were a Toronto fan (although I think London Ontario has a big Tiger contingent because of the minor league affiliation). This was back in the days when the Tigers were embarking on their decade+ long run of futility. But any self-respecting Detroit fan *hated* Toronto (and that goes for everything – especially hockey).
I was at a house party watching ‘92 game 6 with about 70 other people, many of whom were marginal baseball fans. I’m feeling pretty good, because the Jays were about to be denied…until Carter’s blast. Within 10 seconds of the HR, the music started blaring and everyone except me was dancing with joy for the next several hours. I just sort of slinked into a corner and sulked. And, unknown to me, my friends got a picture of me, behind this mass of dancing, exuberant Jay fans, sitting in this shadowy corner and it looks like I’m sucking on a lemon. They gave me that picture, framed, for the last birthday I celebrated while in law school. I have to laugh every time I see it.
A Jack Clark Home run into the upper deck of left field at Shea. I never saw a harder ball being hit. Sitting in the Mezz or Upper deck on the third base side, i thought iIheard a sonic boom after the ball passed by me.
I’m posting this here but its about the HOF. Joe, I’d love to see if you know of anyone that has research it. Its yet another Rice for HOF thing, which I’m totally against but I’m so sick of reading these Rice columns that I’d at least like to see something interesting for next year.
While the advanced stats account for many things, one I don’t believe it takes into account is the construction of the leagues while the player was playing. By this I mean that pre-Rice, the leagues either were not integrated (pre-Jackie) or still had racial biases lowering the level of talent. Since OPS+ and whatnot accounts for a players environment and league averages, you could argue that players before Rice had an advantage because of these biases. Also post-Rice you could argue that many of the elite athletes had chosen to go to the NFL or NBA due to them not having minor leagues and their acceleration of popularity (and hence salaries) which would also lower the competitiveness of the player pool. I don’t know if this is even true but with all the other cockeyed “reasons” for Rice being in the HOF, a study on this would at least try to form a cohesive argument against stats like OPS+ for Rice.
There was also a week or so in ‘74 maybe, when Reggie Jackson hit a home run out of a park that landed on a train (and was later found in Deluth or somewhere), and Greg Luzinski also hit one into the night that at least allegedly was never found.
Reggie, never at a loss for words, explained that he’d hit one “2000 miles” (all quotes approximate and not intended for xerox)…
I’d ask for a further study on the REggie/train one…and a general consideration of Luzinski
“The funny thing is, for as obscure an event this might seem, *every time* I recount the story, the person I’m telling has *also* seen that homerun…”
McKingford, count me as one of them. While I was reading your post, out of nowhere the name “Dave Bergman” flashed into my head. Very memorable even though I haven’t thought of it in years….
I remember the Mazeroski baseball magazine. I think I got it for Christmas four or five years in a row, and I’d spend the next couple of weeks trying to imagine a scenario in which the White Sox would win the division. I knew they’d never win a World Series. That was for people in other cities.
I was sitting in the 3rd base box seats for the Pujols homer. It was as if time stood still. That ball just exploded off the bat, silencing 40,000+ fans instantly. It was just devestating. I think I still have post traumatic stress disorder, and haven’t been able to watch a complete baseball game since.
Paul, I was at that August 10th game when Wily Mo hit the homer, and my brother and I were out in left field just inside the pole. When Pena came up we (maybe it was just me) decided that if he hit a potential homerun ball our way we’d take our shirts off just so we could easily identify ourselves on the Sportscenter highlight when we got home (I love seeing myself on tv…). It was smashed, and I didn’t even have time to move my hand before it was a good 100 feet behind me (I thought it went over the concession stand, but I had an awful view). Definitely the longest I’ve ever seen. After it was hit I remember my mouth hanging open, and then I started laughing because Renelvys sucked so badly. It was both funny and awe inspiring.
And now I get to my brother’s comment a few below yours. Haha, good stuff.
My dad, brother, and two nephews were with me in Kauffman when Wily Mo Pena hit that shot. It’s the best example of “majestic homerun” I’ve ever seen in person.
You know what?
All you Twins fans can KMA. And to Charlie Liebrandt, I have forgiven you….. For Game 7, not for Game 6.
I was at the game when McGwire went deep off RJ. I know it couldn’t have been, but I’d swear it was still going up when it crashed into something. It’s easy to see how these home run distances get overestimated, because it looked like that thing was going to blow a hole through the back wall of the Kingdome, keep rising and eventually land about 30,000 feet away.
Go watch that scene with Glenn Close again. Yes, the film implies that the game is over, because the fans are leaving — but note, while Hobbs is circling the bases, the Cubs are not leaving the field. THEY know the game isn’t over, at least not technically. Cubs fans, OTOH, are bowing to expectations, that their Cubs will lose. Like usual.
It’s a bit of artistic license, but no, the game isn’t over, and careful viewing supports this.
Opening Day, 2004.
Mendy Lopez.
Not necessarily the greatest home runs, but more of a “I can’t believe this is flippin’ happening again” memorable home runs. As one of the 3 Mets fans west of the Mississippi, I’ve managed, on rare instances, to catch them playing the Cubs in Chicago. My last two trips to Wrigley:
September 5, 1993 (thanks Retrosheet), the Mets have a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth, John Franco on to nail it down. He walks Grace and gets Sosa to strike out, which brings in pinch hitter Glanallen Hill. Franco serves up a 3-1 fastball which Hill promptly deposits in the left-centerfield bleachers. Game over.
July 25, 1998. The Mets are up 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th. Kevin Orie draws a walk with one out and Franco comes on to nail it down. Knowing Hill is on the bench for the Cubs again (after 5 years and 2 other teams), I start to relate the previous game’s events to my wife and friends. The announced batter is Brant Brown, so I breath a sigh of relief and look at the on-deck circle, where Hill is taking his cuts. Well, I’m thinking, surely this won’t happen again… One 3-1 fastball later, the ball is landing in what I’m pretty sure was exactly the same spot it had landed 5 years earlier. 3-2 Cubs and Beck finishes the Mets of in the 9th.
Stupid Glenallen Hill…
yeh, i remember the pujols homer offn lidge. we were sitting in section 425 which is directly opposite the tracks.
and you got to understand that the game should have been over when lidge was 0-2 on eckstein. then it should have been over when he went to 3-2 on Edmonds. so we had a feeling – not the best feeling in our stomachs already when brad hung that slider…
oh
and by the way, more than a few guys have hit a baseball over the tracks just where pujols did – it wasn’t the longest or the hardest hit – just the most
the most
the most
awful
devastating
deflating
sickening
one.
yeh. because the one edmonds hit offn miceli was in st louis.
Joe, thanks for another great conversation starter. I remember the McGwire blast off of Randy Johnson in the Kingdome very well having written the game story for the Tacoma News Tribune. It cleared all the seats in deep left center and landed next to a memorabilia stand on the concourse. Another interesting note about that game. The Big Unit struck out 19 … and lost, 4-1.
Three Homers for Me
Dwight Evans leads off 86 season (he was the lead off hitter!) with a homer off Mr Opening Day (Jack Morris)
Dave Henderson almost becoming Big Papi before Big Papi, Game 5 ALCS 1986.
Personal – June 23, 1990 – Fenway Boston against Baltimore, I had tickets in the right field corner that I bought (I was all of 15) and went with my aunt and cousin. it was overcast the whole day. The game was close and Dwight Evans had tied it up in the bottom of the 8th with a solo shot. The game went into extra innings and the Sox fell behind to the Orioles by 1 in the 10th. when up stepped Evans, with a man on and two outs. Pitching for the Orioles was Gregg Olson (their closer who had a ridiculous curve ball). As Dewey dug in the sun came through for the first time that day and (just like in the movies) the pitch was sent high into the net above the Monster. Game over. Dewey rounded the bases and as he walked into the dugout, the sun went back behind the clouds.
The Fisk homer has always mystified me a little. They won the game but LOST the series. It was great TV but ultimately didn’t change the outcome.
I always thought the Gibson homer was a little overrated as well since it was the first game of the series although again, it was great TV drama.
I gotta go with Maz, Carter then Thompson.
I would also include Alomar’s game tying shot off Eck in the 92 ALCS. I don’t think Eck was ever really the same after that.
8/14/1999 My first summer after graduating from college, my roomates and I head to Fenway on a hot Saturday afternoon to watch Pedro pitch against Jr and ARod. I remember sitting in the cramped bleacher seats, no sunscreen, thinking how stupid I was for overspending outside the gate, but also so excited to see the best against the best (Pedro in 1999 was unreal of course, and ARod was just hitting the point of SUPER stardom). Top of the first, out comes Bryce Florie to pitch. The reaction in the bleachers was hilarious – imagine 10,000 drunk and angry Massholes getting their home Pedro start stolen from them. So the game goes along, everybody is wondering what happened (turns out Pedro was late to the stadium, and Jimy Williams was not thrilled), and the Sox take a big lead. Pedro is warming up, but it’s not clear if he’ll enter the game, or if he’s just getting work in or what. Well, top of the 6th, he takes the mound, and the place explodes. Pedro was a GOD in Boston at that time. A no hitter waiting to happen every time out. He comes in to face Jr/ARod/Edgar, and gets Jr to fly out. Up comes ARod. On a 0-1 count, ARod hits a ball so far over the monster (above the coke bottles, if they were there), and the crowd goes silent. You could read the minds of 33,000 people at the same time: “nobody does that to Pedro”. I’ll always remember the arc of the ball – seemed very high, yet it carried so far. Thank you to baseball-reference for helping me with the details on this one. Made my day as another dull January afternoon passes without actual baseball.
* One thing – I’m trying to find out how far the ball traveled. Any suggestions for websites that have that info?
I think the writers of The Natural did a great deal of research and it wouldn’t surprise me if they knew that the home team could chose to hit first. They certainly did a lot of work on the uniforms and the old movie news reels and that sort of thing. In fact, the amount of research they did for 1939 uniforms in the early 80s is impressive.
I also agree with Joe about Scotty Carson.
Here’s the one “error” I have a question about in the movie. Why when Pop stratches Hobbs from the lineup before the final game does he not juggle it up? All he does is strike Hobbs’ name and replace it with another. No shifting at all. Wouldn’t the bench guy more likely hit 8th?
A two-fer: 6/17/07, the Metrodome, Twins-Brewers. Lew Ford’s in center thanks to a Torii Hunter injury, and in the top of the 9th he loses a Prince Fielder pop fly in the roof. The 260+ Fielder, hustling all the way, actually parlays this into an inside-the-park homer, the first run in a game-tying two-run ninth. I can laugh about this now because the other great home run in this game came when Justin Morneau smacked a shot to right in the bottom of the 9th. A relatively insignificant game, but a pretty berserk one, twice immortalized in The Onion.
That Gibson blast ruined a big part of my childhood. I stayed up late to watch the series, my first time being aloud to do this. I was 12. I seriously believed that the A’s were the greatest team of all time. The Bash Bros. were gods. Eck was untouchable. The Dodgers didn’t have a single cool player. I mean, Mike Marshall? I hated the Dodgers inherently, as they just seemed old fashioned, and like they were in for a whipping. Then, Gibson. And I knew that things were not meant to work out like I thought they should. McGwire was my favorite player, throughout my teens. Even the .201 year. And the only game from the ‘88 series I didn’t watch was the one where he hit the game winner. I was so bitter when I read about it the next morning in the paper. That Gibson blast is definitely one for all time.
But, as for a single homerun devastatingly changing everything happening in the ballpark at that moment, boy that Pujols’ shot off of Lidge was something else. The place was so loud before he hit it, you could barely hear the announcers. Immediately after he made contact, you could hear one person clapping. I’d swear you could even hear his cleats catching dirt as he circled the bases. Of course, I watched it on TV, so the “sounds” of the game were mic-ed, and might not be the same as they were in person.
Still, I think, at the end of the day, that Joe Carter blast off of the Wild Thing was the greatest of all time. I mean, Kirby’s shot was awesome, but everybody, except for Bobby Cox, knew that Leibrandt would give that one up…
oops, allowed…
April 18, 2003
With all the Royals fans that I’m sure are on this blog (including you, Joe), I’m surprised nobody mentioned Ken Harvey’s walkoff against the Tigers in the 11th. The Royals had started out 9-0 that year, were 11-3 at the time (and I believe still undefeated at home). I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but I know the Royals squandered what should have been an easy scoring opportunity in the 10th, and the Royals we knew would have definitely gone on to lose. Add to that that it was raining fairly steady, yet it didn’t seem like a single person had left the park.
Ken Harvey hits a no-doubter, and I have never seen Kaufmann that crazy. Everybody there just jumping and screaming in the rain, high-fiving everybody. I was there with my brother (again. We seem to see a lot of cool stuff there together) and dad, and I remember my dad saying to me that he wished I could have been around to enjoy the late 70s early 80s, back when stuff like this was routine (i’m 25, so I don’t remember ‘85 even).
That’s my personal favorite, and it’s probably my favorite baseball moment, period.
i’m glad to see you reconsider joe carter’s home run, joe. i know it was a world series-ending homer, but many blue jays fans rate it as the SECOND-best home run by a blue jay. the first, of course, is roberto alomar’s homer off of dennis eckersley in the ‘92 ALCS.
eckersley was coming off his cy young/MVP season, and was considered unhittable. the blue jays were down two games to one, and behind 6-4 in game 4 entering the 9th. with eckersley on the mound, we were looking at a three games to one deficit and most were already thinking about 1993. then devon white singled, took third on a henderson error, and up stepped roberto alomar. before that moment, blue jays fans saw the team as a great, but destined to be underachieving, team. but then roberto alomar hit that home run and we all became believers. even eckersley, who had given up the #1 (IMHO) home run to gibson in ’88 was quoted as saying “failure of this magnitude is tough to handleâ€.
joe carter’s home run the next year was just gravy.
by the way, i’ve been meaning to leave a comment for some time now. your blog is the best out there. keep it up.
As a Los Angeles native and lifelong Dodger fan, I obviously remember the Gibson homerun as one of the many (though recently all too few) highlights of my fandom.
And as a Dodger fan, I will always be partial to Vin Scully’s call of the home run. After his usual, famous, and simple, “It’s a high drive… into deep right field… a way back… she is gone,” he remained silent. All you heard was the deafening roar of the crowd. Then, when Gibson rounded second base, Vinnie got off this line of poetry…
“In a year that has been so improbable, the IMPOSSIBLE has happened!”
I got chills again just typing it.
When I was a little boy my Dad entered my name in a baseball tickets contest at The Palace, a clothing store in North Kansas City. I won 2 box seats, which my Dad exchanged for five upper deck seats. He, me and my three older brothers went to see the Yankees and the A’s, don’t ask me the year but I think it was in the early 1960s. Mickey Mantle hit two home runs that night and one of them sailed over the right field wall, over the hill behind it, bounced on Brooklyn Avenue and wound up under the porch of the second house facing south on 21st Street just east of Brooklyn. My brother and I watched that house to see if whomever lived there was listening to the game on the radio. A few batters later a man came out of the house, crawled under his porch and came out with the baseball. I don’t know how far the ball was hit but I know some years ago this home run got a mention in a story about the longest homeruns hit in KC. Not long ago I drove down Brooklyn Avenue. The ballpark, of course, is long gone, as is much of the old neighborhood. That house, however, was still standing.
Vin Scully is to baseball as Keith Jackson is to college football. The sport sounds so much better when they describe it.
Mickey Mantle. Oct 10, 1964, off Barney Schultz’ first pitch in the 9th. Yanks 2, Cardinals 1. I was 11. Man, I hate the Yankees.
Maz’s homer is my first baseball memory. What a shot it was.
Good call on Mendy, Minda.
Schooner,
Scully still can call a helluva game, though. Keith is a little too long in the tooth to be able to keep up with a college football game these days. Scully on Dodgers broadcasts is still great, maybe the greatest.
“Wow!”
– Dennis Eckersley, having just given up a home run to Manny Ramirez
The homer may not have been that spectacular, but Eck’s reaction was.
(Honorable mention: Jim Thome hits the restaurant in SkyDome.)
So I’m a Yankees fan, admittedly, but Tino and Brosius, 9th inning, games 4 and 5 of the 2001 World Series? The Derek Jeter “Mr. November” home run? I cry every time I even THINK of those home runs, especially considering what was happening in New York at the time and the emotional state of the city. Just amazing.
Hey Joe,
What’s your take on them renaming the Jake? It’s now Progressive Field…bleh
It wasn’t the mightiest swing, but I’m partial — in part because I was there — to Jeter’s “Mr. November” shot in the 2001 World Series. The people I came with had already left our section before the bottom of the ninth because they were convinced Kim was going to blow away the Yankees and they wanted to beat the rush to their cars. Thankfully, I was taking the subway and was in no rush. I had been at the Stadium the night the Yankees won the ‘96 Series (the first championship since I was too young to know about baseball), and I thought the place would never be as loud or shake as much as it did when Girardi hit that triple off of Maddux, but I’ll be damned if the place didn’t go more berserk when Jeter deposited that ball over the fence.
I was in a daze as I got onto the D train, as I think everybody else in the car was. For the longest time, nobody said anything at all. It was eerie how silent a packed NY subway car could be. And then one guy summed it up perfectly by saying, “It’s not fair. Like that guy doesn’t get (lucky) enough.”
I don’t know if this is true or not but there is a story that Josh Gibson hit a ball in the Negro Leagues one time in Pittsburgh. Nobody could see whether it landed or not because it was cloudy day so eventually the umpire calls it a home run.
The next day Gibson’s team arrives somewhere else in PA when while he’s at bat a ball comes flying out of the sky and lands in the center fielder’s glove. The umpire then says, “you’re out!” I mean yesterday, Pittsburgh. Don’t know if it’s true (doubt it is) but he had some serious power Gibson.
I definitely remember seeing a clip of the Hill HR on the evening news and I also remember seeing the Pujols blast. A friend of mine watched that home run then immediately went to bed and told his wife, “I don’t know what I would be doing right now if that just happened to the Cubs”
One home run that I personally loved was Sosa’s home run against the Marlins in the ‘03 NLCS, game 2. That thing bounced off the camera well behind center field at Wrigley as Kenny Lofton smirks and I’m going nuts along with everybody else on the north side of Chicago.
Jon,
You do know that Cool Papa Bell didn’t actually get under the covers before the room was dark, right?
My most memorable, (besides B. F’ing Dent, and Pudge’s WS shot) was as a 10 y/o watching the Sox play the Senators at Fenway (1969) Frank Howard came to the plate. Man, was he huge! Totally intimidating, a monster. anyway, he waved, one-handed, at a fastball about 6 inches off the plate, and put it over the screen on top of the Green Moster. WOW!! One-handed!! Like returning serve with a back hand in tennis. Incredible.
My cousins and I spent the next three weeks trying to duplicate that swing and homer in our wiffle ball field.
Not necessarily historic, but these are my three most memorable:
1. Pujols shoy off Lidge
2. Billy Hatcher’s extra-inning homer in ‘86 against the Mets to re-tie the game (I was listening on the radio on the drive home from work and nearly went off a bridge)
3. Bob Walk, yeah Bob Walk, hits a game-tying homer in the bottom of the 17th(?) on July 4th (technically 5th), 1985 in a game that didn’t end until about 4 a.m. Then they had the fireworks for the 500 people that stuck around.
Thought I’d chime in with two of my favorites from the Cards/Mets rivalry in the mid-’80s:
10/1/85: During a neck-and-neck pennant race, John Tudor and Ron Darling lock horns at Busch. The game is scoreless heading into the 11th. With Ken Dayley on the hill, Darryl Strawberry crushes a MAMMOTH shot off the scoreboard clock in right-center (a good 450-feet away, the ball still rising when it hit).
The fans go silent. Some even applaud politely. The Mets go on to win 1-0. Strawberry’s blast is so ferocious that it stops the clock at 10:44, a taunting reminder to the fans at Busch of the precise moment the game went down the tubes.
4/18/87: It’s Seat Cushion Night at Busch Stadium. After the Mets lapped the field 20 times over in 1986, the Cards are trying to establish themselves as contenders. It’s a furious see-saw battle. Ozzie Smith scores the tying run in the bottom of the ninth and hundreds of seat cushions rain down on the field. The umpires. to threaten a forfeit if any more debris is thrown on the field.
The Mets strike back with a run in the 10th, but in the bottom half, Tommy Herr cranks a two-out, walk-off grand slam, and the sky fills with thousands more cushions floating to the ground. It was like snowfall in April. To this day it’s the best game I’ve ever attended.
If anything, the postings for this entry shows how unreliable people’s memories are…
JB 12:32 am: Rick Camp hit the home run at the 4th of July game, not Bob Walk.
McKingford 4:30: The Carter home run was in ‘93, not ‘92.
Vlad 3:28pm: Canseco hit the camera in Game 1 of the World Series, not the ALCS.
Sirk 1:40pm: Neil Leifer is a nobody photographer? Try google images sometime.
Bulb 7:38am: Caseco’s moonshot in the Skydome was in the ALCS, not the middle of the season.
JB,
I remember that Braves-Mets 4th-of-July marathon. It was actually Rick Camp, not Bob Walk, that hit that tying homer. The amazing thing — well, one of the amazing things — is that Camp was the world’s worst hitter. Would you believe .074/.109/.114 lifetime? With an OPS+ of NEGATIVE 39? (I didn’t even know a negative OPS+ was possible).
The game was 8-8 after 9 innings, then both teams scored 2 in the 13th. The Mets took an 11-10 lead in the 18th, before Camp’s homer tied it. Then the Mets came back with 5 in the 19th. The Braves could only answer with 2 in their half, and lost 16-13.
Great list. But Marlon Anderson needs to be on there somewhere:
http://tinyurl.com/lzpad
Also, and I’m no Yankee fan, but Jason Giambi’s “Ultimate Grand Slam” in the pouring rain is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.
http://tinyurl.com/3alq8v
Another home run I’ll never forget was Alex Cora’s on May 12, 2004. He had an eighteen pitch at-bat against Matt Clement, fouling off 14 consecutive pitches — fourteen! — before hitting a home run to knock Clement out of the game. Wikipedia claims that’s the longest known at-bat in baseball history.
How a home run list can be without Gibson’s ‘88 WS homerun is beyond me.
Sept 27, 2001 will always be a special night for me. It was the Cubs first home game after 9/11. I had just gotten back in town after a memorial service for my uncle Mike, who was on the 101st floor in the WTC. I went to the game that night and cried during the National Anthem. In the bottom of the first, with no one on and 2 out, Sammy hit a homer and grabbed a small American flag from the first base coach which he held up while he circled the bases. As cheesy and planned as that moment was, it will always be special to me because Sammy always has been, and always will be, one of my favorite athletes. The Cubs scored 3 times in the bottom of the 8th to get within one run. During the bottom of the 9th, Sammy dueled Billy Wagner, including a foul ball that was the closest I’d ever come to. It just grazed over my outstretched fingers. The Cubs came up short, but I will always cherish the memory of seeing Sammy circling the bases, American flag in hand.
Perry:
Thanks for the correction. I didn’t have time to look up the boxscore before I posted earlier. What does it say about one’s oncoming senility when you can’t remember who hit the homer that you think of as one of your “three most memorable”?
It was a hell of a game though. I was taking my last class in summer school before graduating in August. Then, staying up until 4 a.m. wasn’t “staying up”. Ah, good times.
It wasn’t a major league game, but this one was awesome.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/910016/2004_david_ortiz_vs_shunsuke_watanabe/
“How a home run list can be without Gibson’s ‘88 WS homerun is beyond me.”
Which is probably why Joe put is as #5 on his list.
I love how baseball and discussions such as this one bring people together and we all think of the past and the great moments we have seen. Recalling some of Bo Jackson’ shome runs- the one he hit in the All-Star game (in Anaheim I believe) gives me goosebumps. I will never forget where I was and what I was doing when Baylor and Henderson hit those Home Runs vs the Angels in 86. So many Hrs to think of that make me feel warm inside just recalling them.
Also- I LOVED the Bill Mazeroski magazine. It was an oversized magazine with a small photo of Maz in the corner. The writing was thorough and each team page had a picture of a player on it and the text wrapped around the picture. In the middle they reviewed prospects and they usually had one or two features in the front section. It was a great magazine and I looked forward to it every spring. Teams were broken into different categories and rated on a scale of 1-10. I remember seeing some 9s and freaking out- I think the Toronto outfield of Bell, Barfield and Moseby were a 9. Man I loved that magazine. All the others I bought- Street and Smith and The Sporting News were lost and gone by the ASB, but Maz’s I held on to for years.
Great stuff as usual Joe.
I always remember Dave Henderson’s two home runs in the 1986 playoffs.
I still don’t believe the first one.
Gotta consider Dave Henderson’s homer off Donnie Moore, with 2 outs & 2 strikes in the 9th inning, Game 5, 1986 (Red Sox vs. Angels): The Angels were one out — one strike — from their first World Series trip when Hendu’s two-run homer gave Boston a 6-5 lead. The Angels would actually tie it in the bottom of the ninth, before Boston won (on a Henderson sac fly) in the 11th. Boston would win the next two, as well. I was in the left field bleathers & watched the ball fall about 5 rows in front of me. Shortly thereafter walked out of the staduim with 50,000+ fans in STUNNED SILENCE .You could hear a pin drop!! less than a year later Donnie Moore comitts suicide!!
I’m glad someone else remembers Glenallen Hill’s shot at Wrigley. The hardest shot I’ve seen. I was in college watching with a friend of mine. We’d nicknamed Hill as Cerrano because just like Cerrano, Hill not hit the curveball. That was another one of those shots that seemed like it was still rising when it landed across Waveland on top of the building.
Anonymous— I never said Neil Leifer was a nobody. I said he was newbie. From the documentary I saw, and the story he told, it sounded like he was fairly young at the time of that fight. (Early 20s maybe.) When he set up, the more experienced big shot photog pulled rank and told him that was HIS spot, and Leifer would need to get out of his way and find another spot. So Leifer went to the other side of the ring.
To hear him tell the story 35 years later, he still seemed to get a kick out of seeing that other photographer between Ali’s legs. And he still seemed astonished by the good fortune of clicking at the exact nanosecond that the picture would be iconic. He even talked about how if you watch video of the incident, Ali’s arm flashes by so fast, that the odds were so long that you’d get a photo at the precise moment in time that he did.
It’s a great piece of photography, and I did not mean to imply that Neil Leifer was a nobody. He was a newbie who had some big shot pull rank on him. The fact that he went on to have a long and distinguished career does not exclude him from being young and outranked at the early stage of his career. The fact is that sometimes press boxes and photo bays are not the kindest of places for 23-year-olds, regardless of their talent.
PS- In retrospect, re-reading my original post, I can see where it came out twisted. When I said that Leifer was not famous, I meant at the time. The ambiguity was the result of sloppy and hurried writing as I was on my way out the door for work. I saw Joe mention it, and then that moment in the documentary popped into my head, so I rattled off a quick response with one foot out the door.
One home run that get’s lost in the ‘88 Gibson WS shuffle is McGwire’s shot to win Game 3. I think it was only the third time a home run ended a world series game (Mazeroski ‘60 and Mantle ‘64).
And what about Dennis Eckersley and the number of huge losses in the post season? Kirk Gibson in ‘88, Joe Oliver in ‘90, Roberto Alomar in ‘92, and Manny in ‘95. Has anyone else lost so many important games in such spectacular fashion? It was because of these four events that I questioned the logic in choosing him for the HOF.
Sirk, sorry if I misunderstood your original posting. You obviously know what you’re talking about.
What about Jim Piersall’s 100th home run? I don’t think anyone has even tried to run around the bases backwards since then.
Anonymous– No worries. At first I wrote my clarification, but then before hitting send, I went back and re-read my original post just to make sure I wasn’t crazy. That’s when I saw precisely what would have led you to your conclusion. It was sloppy/hurried writing on my part. (Further evidenced by the fact that I didn’t even have time to look up the photographer’s name, which I did not know off the top of my head.)
Maybe I go to all of the wrong blogs, but this one seems to have the best commenter section.
It seems like all of the other ones I go to usually end in an argument as to who is the biggest racist/Nazi.
Gibson is always #1 for me. It happened on my 10th birthday. A rabid Dodgers fan, I had a barbecue and baseball game for my party at a park near our place, then a few friends stayed the night to watch Game 1 and hang out.
Most of them kind of gave up after Canseco’s grand slam, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to watch. As Eckersley pitched to Mike Davis, I thought I would throw up. No way anything good could come of this.
And while most other people’s soundtrack seems to usually involve Jack Buck, I never heard his call until about a year ago. I had Vin Scully.
“And look who’s coming up.”
A few of my friends and my dad slid back into the living room.
Pitch after pitch, feeble limp after feeble limp, the tension just rose. Not that something historic would happen, just that it might. There was something special about just seeing Gibson up there fighting, straining, trying — especially when even he didn’t much think he could do it.
And then it happened.
“High fly ball into deep right field … she is … gone!”
Canseco dropped his head and started jogging in. Tail lights in the parking lot beyond the rightfield bleachers lit up red. My dad jumped up and dented the ceiling with his fist.
And Scully did one of my favorite things of his. He’ll call a thing like that, and then he’ll shut up. He’ll just let the crowd consume the moment. If I remember right, he didn’t say anything else until Gibson got to second base, around the time of the fist-pump that — believe me — I incorporated into my Little League showboating the next year.
It is my favorite baseball memory of all time.
I’d have to lean toward Gibson for #1 (for my lifetime). That was the only year I can remember cheering for a Dodger team. Gibson seemed out of place in Dodger Blue, but they went after the gift that collusion gave them.
I can’t remember anyone thinking the Dodgers even had a shot against the Mets in the playoffs. Everyone was turning them into the next great dynasty. Game 4 got in the way of that. Instead of pulling Gooden in the 9th for their closer, Davey Johnson left him in and Mike Scoscia hit a two-run homer off him. If the Mets close out that game, they’re up 3-1 in the series. Instead, they lose the game and Gooden’s long descent continues.
Gibson was incredible in Game 5 of the playoffs. But he reinjured his legs with his all out play in the outfield and running the bases.
The A’s, meanwhile, destroyed a good Red Sox team. Setting the stage for Game 1….
May 27, 2007. Barry Bonds home run #746
I’ve been to dozens of Giants games but had never seen Bonds hit a home run in person. It was also the second time, and maybe the last, I’ve ever been able to take my dad to Pac Bell Park (or whatever the hell phone company it is now.)
My dad has been sick four a couple of years and we’ve thought we’d lost him twice, but last May he felt good enough to take the trip over the mountain from Reno to San Francisco. His joy just at being there made the day one of the three best in my life, but watching my dad slowly get out of his seat in the sixth inning when Bonds sent a towering shot to center field was one of the most powerful, emotional moments of my life.
For me, one of the most incredible shots I ever witness first hand has to be Bo’s first dinger. It was September of ‘86, the Royals were completely out of it, and all the kids were playing, Seitzer, Kingery, etc… All the talk was about Bo, and when he was gonna put that first notch in his belt. Up to then, he was definitely overmatched, but everyone knew it was a matter of time.
I’m sitting in the upper deck on the left side with my family when I decide to run for some concessions. I’m walking back to my seat with a tray full of goodies just as Bo strides to the plate. Not wanting to miss his AB I stand quietly in the tunnel, and finally, finally it happens. He uncorks one to deep, deep LF and as it turns out, it ends up being the longest HR in Royal history. Funny thing is, I swear, he didn’t even get all of the ball. It came off the bat like a long, long pop fly that just kept going. If he would have gotten all of that pitch, I have to believe it would have gone completely out of then Royals Stadium. Unbelievable. Still have the scorecard too!
And yet, years later, at least 12 people would claim to have been there.
First off, yeah, Scotty Carson was a good guy. He probably went to a hundred different Heebers to find a nothing from nowhere who could help Pop win and still get through the Judge.
Gotta love loyalty.
Not sure who to knock out but everybody has favorites and these two have to be on my list:
1988. Summer. I was in the 4th grade so who really keeps track of what day it is. Dad came home with two tickets, View Level (no commercial license) for the game. The dam* Yankees were in town. Jack Clark (former dam* Cardinal) hit a line drive in the 5th that landed halfway up the grass in left-center where a fountain currently resides. It hit so hard it never bounced or rolled, just stuck in the hill. I’d never seen a major league home run before. That’s why it has to make the list.
Anyone remember when you would go to a game and not expect three juiced guys to hit a home run?
It would have to be a Yankee. Still, the Royals came back and Mike Pagliarulo was thrown out trying to score from second on a weak single to left-center by this guy, Bo Jackson. Not a bad time for your first life, game-ending play at the plate.
Also, what about Mendy Lopez Or Beltran on opening day of 2004? What a feeling, leaving the park that day, high-fives from strangers, talking about the World Series without discussing who you hope doesn’t win. Of course we know what came after that.
My personal favorite was the first ML homerun I ever saw in person. You have to remember that, by 1969, the Astros had sucked for all of their short existence (thanks again Spec). However, in 1969, they actually contended in the NL West. They were playing the Reds (or Expos, just can’t remember). The game was tied in the bottom of the 13th whe Joe Morgan hit one into the left field mezzanine level at the Astrodome that was absolutely CRUSHED. I know Bagwell hit one up there later, but Morgan’s was (and still is) the HARDEST shot I’ve ever witnessed.
Two that I remember from Wrigley
1. Glenallen Hill hit one that landed on the roof of the apt building across waveland.
2. Sosa hit a game winner right down the left field line, high over the foul pole that the opposing team argued was foul. When the opposing pitcher was asked if he thought it was foul he said “maybe if I hadn’t let him hit it 600 feet it would have been easier to tell.”
Wasn’t Jack Buck doing the game on TV?
The list is great. Nice to see ya staying loyal to Kuiper. Personal HR’s now and all in the same game even…
I was at Shea (Awful place to see a ballgame) in the upper deck right behind the dish for a Cardinals/Mets game.
Starts great, Maine settles in nicely then loads the bases to face Sir Albert. He promptly clears the left centerfield wall, then later hits a 3 run shot.
Carlos Delgado, not to be outdone, hits 2 as well including a grand slam that as I remember was a moon shot that may not have landed on Pluto yet (Is that still a planet?)
But the best of the night was, Bottom 9 and Met Favorite Izzy comes in to close the door (#2 on my most despised closer after Benitez) After Reyes grounded out and LoDuca hit a typical opposite field single, Beltran makes Shea shake with an upper deck shot that as I turned to my son, he is screaming, “You called it dad.” when in fact I had at the beginning of the game.
P.S. Only other time I felt Shea shake was after game 7 in ‘86. But that’s another story…
Joe-
You started a trend in baseball blogs
http://www.vivaelbirdos.com
I have to say, as a Cardinal fan, Pujols’ homer off of Houston’s vaunted Golden boy Lidge was the most beautiful thing I had seen in awhile. I had given up all hope, thrown the remote, and slammed some doors thinking the Cards just threw away their chances. Leave it to steady Albert to make things right. Although we lost the NLCS rightfully, he brought that series back to Busch II for its final game, which is something I’ll be ever grateful for. Its a joke in my family that Lidge will be forever messed up in the head after that at-bat, particularly against Albert.
Also, Yaddy’s homer in the ‘06 postseason…remarkable…I had no hope for that postseason, thought we were done for in the NLDS and kept getting happily surprised all the way to a World Series win…I think my neighbors hated me after that moment because I was screaming and shouting outside in glee
Though I did not see No. 16, I’ve seen alot of Van’s hits. I am lucky to have known Van for the past 30 years, and he is a close friend. We are two of a group of about 5-6 guys who have known each other since High School. Van always played the game for the sheer love of the game. He never held back. He gave everything he had every single moment he was on the field. Back in 1993, we listened as Jack Armstrong described Van as the best baseball player he had ever seen play the game. Jack said that there was no one else in the game who could do so much with his ability.
Hi. I am Van Snider’s thirteen year old daughter, Morgan. I love to hear stories about my dad playing professional baseball. He does not like to talk about it very much, so it is nice to hear stories from other people that actually saw him play. When I was younger, he would always help me improve my skills in slow pitch. Now I am playing fast pitch, and he still gives me many tips on how to improve something I might be doing wrong. From what I have heard, my dad was an ah-mazing baseball player! It is so cool to tell my friends that my dad played professional baseball! I still wish he played so that my siblings and I could see him, but he retired after tearing the rotator in his shoulder. If anyone wants to send fan mail, he loves it and will sign a baseball card too.
I’m proud to say that Van was the best son,and ball player,that EVER was. Van was screwed out of playing major league by Pete Rose and the Cincinatti Reds,which I shall never forget. Joe said it right,”Van is a WINNER!”.
The game didn’t mean anything, ultimately, but how about Frank Robinson’s homer on Opening Day in Cleveland, 1975, the day he became the first African-American manager in MLB history? I was in that sell-out crowd who showed our appreciation for Frank during a pre-game ceremony and then went crazy when the player-manager homered in the bottom of the first inning.
No one player in the history of major league baseball has/had more “law of physics” defying power than Dave Kingman. He not only hit some of the “easy to determine the truth” distances (video) homeruns ever, but, what made them so spectacular was the unreal height that they reached on there way to 450+ foot final destinations. People throw out these ridiculous numbers on the length of homeruns hit that are so embellished that they are easily disregarded by serious fans. Only a handful of players have ever hit a legitimate 500′ homerun in baseball history. Bill Nye (the baseball guy) is a physicist/baseball fan who said as much with science thrown in, who has made a point of letting fans know, much to their chagrin, what they don’t want to hear. This is the fact that many of Mickey Mantles’ so called 500-600′ homeruns in actuallity traveled more like 444-460′. People love to hype Mickey for his homeruns more than any player in history. Kingman hit balls so high that travelled out of ball parks that if another player could possibly reach these heights, they would be lucky to hit the ball 300′. Kingman hit 2 balls that landed down the street in Wrigley. Both 550-575′, one for sure on video vs Phillies in ‘79, the other vs Cubs in ‘76 that can probably be found on WOR tapes in Mets’ archives. He hit 2 balls on the fly that landed on the Mass. turnpike in Boston vs. Reggie Cleveland in ‘77 for the Yanks and in the 80’s vs. Al Nipper while with Oakland. In Montreal, they had to paint a line on the opening of the stadium roof because Kingman hit the facade over the foul pole and they had a hard time determining whether it was fair or foul. His first trip to Shea as a rookie in ‘71 led to a parking lot shot that broke a bus window on the fly. In L.A. he hit one over the back bullpen wall that easily would have cleared the left field pavillion roof had he hit it just 15′ more towards centerfield. He’s the only player to hit the ceiling of all three dome stadiums during his playing days… (astrodome, metrodome and kingdome) He hit a foul ball completely out of Yankee stadium, is the only player still to hit 2 loge level homeruns in L.A., was the only player to hit 2 homeruns into the 2nd deck in San Deigo’s Jack Murphy stadium (also hit one into the football press level in homerun contest with Dave Winfield in the 70’s) estimated at 550′ and nearly 100′ above playing surface and on and on and on. No steroids, no maple bats, no watered down pitching, just sheer brute strength. Sure he wasn’t a great average hitter, but this is about homeruns and homerun hitters. His greatest endorsement was from Willie Mays in the early 70’s when they were teammates and someone asked Mays who hit the longest homerun he’s ever seen and rhe replied, “Dave Kingman has hit at least a handful of balls 600.’ Now he was probably embellishing the distances as well, but when you hit balls so far that it’s hard to tell where they actually land, well that’s a pretty good endorsemant coming from Mays. Besides Kingman, McGwire is the only one who can come close to touching his majestic shots. But we all know he needed 250+ pounds of steroid induced testosterone to achieve this. Not god given natural ability and physique. Thanks for your time.
Dave
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