Comments on: Twenty Greatest Home Runs Ever

By: Deciding to Attend a Writers’ Workshop « Florida Writers Association Blog

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:12:53 +0000

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By: Dave Estabrook

Dave Estabrook — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 06:46:31 +0000

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

By: David S

David S — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:16:48 +0000

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.

By: Leon Snider,Sr.

Leon Snider,Sr. — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:33:32 +0000

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!”.

By: Morgan Snider

Morgan Snider — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:03:08 +0000

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.

By: Kevin B. Gaiser

Kevin B. Gaiser — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:08:47 +0000

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.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:29:05 +0000

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

By: DC in VA

DC in VA — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:41:07 +0000

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…

By: D.B. Cooper

D.B. Cooper — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:32:02 +0000

Wasn’t Jack Buck doing the game on TV?

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:56:25 +0000

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.”