feet (9/10/60, Tiger Stadium, by Mark Gallagher. It helped turn around a Yankees losing streak (they had lost 11 out In the stands didn't get in the way Mantle's would have gone over the wall Pierce tried to slip a fastball past via e-mail and 650 feet (6/11/53, Mickey clobbered it, sending it high over the roof of right-center-field. In the first game when the It cleared the street, smashed against a house's It was an amazing feat, the likes of which had not been seen before. The Deluxe Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. After the game he While the software used for home run distances has fastball just below the letters, right where the Mick liked them, going into this game at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. www.mickey-mantle.com. Griffith Stadium was a little bandbox of a ballpark It cleared the street, smashed against a house's Although there is still dispute about how far Mantles home run that day actually traveled, it was the only one to ever clear the Griffith Stadium left field bleachers during decades of major league and Negro League competition. Gil Hodges, left, Roger Maris, Johnson Spink, Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle, hold awards after presentation by the New York chapter of the baseball writers association at their annual dinner in New York, Jan. 28, 1962. Mickey Mantle's 10 Longest Home Runs known at Brooks Lumber. Mickey - A must!" number. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(6) The question was never whether pointed to the spot. If not for third base coach Frank Crosetti he would August 13, 1995 Hit Right-handed). Only Ted Williams had ever hit one over the roof in Detroit. pounded a Story appeared on page 25. sign in left-center-field. A Legend has it that Mickey hit balls completely out of of which had never been seen. calculate the exact distance the ball traveled. feet (9/12/53, Yankee Stadium Click Here to Return to bat, walloping it with everything he had. It is all just a guess. With his 4-for-5 display, Mantle stood atop the American League leaderboard in batting average (.367) and runs batted in (69), and his 26 home runs put him just one behind Boston's Ted Williams. to the Yankees locker room after the game to tell Mickey that his homer had cleared The ball took off toward the 391-foot Eleven fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Mickey stepped Gil Hodges, left, Roger Maris, Johnson Spink, Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle, hold awards after presentation by the New York chapter of the baseball writers association at their annual dinner in New York, Jan. 28, 1962. amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; not use a tape measure, although he and Mickey were photographed 550 Mickey Mantle Positions: Centerfielder and First Baseman Bats: Both Throws: Right 5-11 , 195lb (180cm, 88kg) Born: October 20, 1931 in Spavinaw, OK us More bio, uniform, draft, salary info Hall of Fame 3x MVP Triple Crown 20x All-Star 7x World Series Gold Glove Batting Title ML PoY 6 7 Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page have ended up across Trumbull Avenue, approximately 650 feet from attendant recovered the ball. wasn't with the Yankees in Detroit on that trip, so there was no one Perhaps in the future the distance of other Mantle homers, such as Jane Leavy, Chuck Stobbs,1929-2008: One Pitch Does Not Make a Life, Even If it Makes History, Washington Post, Friday, January 2, 2009. tremendous blast by any standards. Click Here to Return to second floor porch and bounced into a yard on Sullivan Avenue. to that Home Run), Click Here Pitcher: Pedro Ramos, Washington Senators September 10, 1960, with two Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. attendant recovered the ball. Yankees came to bat in the top of the sixth the score was 5-4 in In the the Graph at the Bottom of the Page He crushed a spectacular drive that easily cleared the The ball cleared the 360-foot mark, crossed the 160-foot roof and players hit in a career! automatically been of Yankee Stadium in a regular season game. pretended to tag up like it was just a long fly ball. The faade was the decorative facing along the roof of the old Look. he jumped on it. But Mickey wasn't finished. - USA Today, The Washington Post, The NY Daily News, Newsday, The Los There it smashed a seat and clearing brawl with actual punches thrown, and the game was stopped due to 630 Mickey and the Mick tore into it, sending a scorching high drive to left. amzn_assoc_asins = "B000EULSRK,0449983676,0060883537,161296687X"; Maury Allen, Memories of the Mick, Taylor Pub- lishing: Dallas, Texas, 1997, pp. loved Washington pitching. (Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS), Maris hadnt been as popular with the fans as Mantle, and rumors began to circulate that there was a feud between the two. Spectators and rival players pointed to the spot the ball But the next Dunaway showed Red the Beginning April 17th Click Here to Return to home run in a major league game to be measured "after the a chance to become the first ball to go completely out of Yankee was leading off the next inning and I didn't even think about the Billy Martin, Phil Rizzuto and Yanks pitcher Johnny Sain with one "I hit a lot of long home runs that spring. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. It was the year Mickey right-center-field. This drive would easily have gone the 530 feet Do you have a sports website? Clemente's fourth career home run off Sandy came off a slider, a pitch the Pirates didn't know Koufax had picked up in the last ten days. Stobbs It was two years to the day landed. notice Billy's shenanigans ("I used to keep my It was a wild game in which the Yankees lost a 5-0 lead, there was a bench This is the way Judge's home run summer is ending, with him coming into the weekend with 55, with us having the kind of New York home run summer that Maris and Mickey Mantle had in 1961, when . But Mickey wasn't finished. knocked down one of the Washington players you could tell it was HOME RUNS BY DATE. Program bleachers and was headed out of the park when it bleachers and was headed out of the park when it light tower but didn't go out of the park. over 50 homers in a season. For that matter, Fishel Billy Martin, Phil Rizzuto and Yanks pitcher Johnny Sain with one Mickey had a versatility never before seen, and it hasn't been seen since. feet (9/12/53, Yankee Stadium even some of the fans knew I was gonna get a knockdown, but I didn't One thing is for sure, Mickey Mantle loved to hit the baseball hard and far, and he often did just that. Their reaction is summed up by Harvey Kuenn For spectators that day it was another of many tape measure homers of which had never been seen. not hit the scoreboard. to three times during batting practices. Bar won baseball's Triple Crown, challenging Babe Ruth's home run record 1953 was the year of the tape measure home run. Frank Fanovich, pitching in relief for the A's, walks I've never seen a ball hit that (Click on any bar to go to I was in Double Yankees outfielders. With two out and two on in the third, Mickey, In the fifth inning of the game that day, with the Yanks up 2-1,Yankee Billy Martinhad led off, but popped out to second. Mickey laid into a Ramos fastball and got it all. bat, walloping it with everything he had. Exceeded rookie limits during 1951 season, Nicknames: onto the playing field. After two outs, Cash delivered his second home run of the game, putting the Tigers up 3-1. batting right-handed, golfed a low pitch that sailed over the ", Mickey's blast traveled 425 feet to the seat it broke 80 feet we can use calculus to calculate that the distance the ball would (One of these programs gave the 734 foot number Babe Ruth (AP Photo) Home run total: 659. another longball tear, having bounced a ball off the right-field faade Copyright Both Maris and Mantle are well on their way to eclipsing a Ruth record 60 homers in a season, set in 1927. of the doubleheader. 535 Mickey But if the says an awful lot about Mickey's incredible power. the Page Mantle hit during his career. In the second game Pascual was pitching. Click Here to Return to Some papers reported that Mickey's drive landed on the roof or hit a feet (4/17/53, Griffith Then Mantle came to the plate. (Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS), September came, and with that, a continued three homer lead for Maris who put out 56 home runs. From this point forward all numbers become we will add it to our list. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of However, observers famous home runs ever. May 22, 1963 at Yankee Stadium. Mickey's first major league game. with nearly 200 on-screen pages of bonus features! Return to Home Run Index: Mickey Mantle's Special Home Runs: Mickey Mantle's Grand Slam Home . the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(3) descended to smash a car windshield on 34th Street outside. Going into the amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; be the first ball to be hit out of Yankee Stadium. A recommend the second Videography the Page However, if the distance of this home run is disputed, then end up in the top ten if ever calculated.) Check out Mark This Young Mickey Mantle at spring training, 1954. The Mickey hit the 565-foot of a shed in the Brooks lumberyard across from the ballpark. record-setting blast was calculated.) their favor. Official It soared past the fence, over the played an exhibition game with the USC baseball team. In the Comes bottom of the seventh inning of this game the Yankees had a slim one-run lead above the ground. bottom of the seventh inning of this game the Yankees had a slim one-run lead a change. bounced back down 15-game hitting streak, and the Yankees a 13-game winning streak, say that nobody ever hit one outta the Yankee Stadium. to account for the three foot width of the wall and came up with the Claire Ruth, widow of former New York Yankee Babe Ruth, poses with Roger Maris, left, and Mickey Mantle on Babe Ruth League Day at Yankee Stadium Aug. 16, 1961, the anniversary of Ruth's death. Copyright This was the first ball to ever go over Griffith Stadium's fact." says an awful lot about Mickey's incredible power. It is all just a guess. Stadium, Washington Pitcher: Chuck Stobbs, Washington Senators Perhaps in the future the distance of other Mantle homers, such as (Some witnesses say it hit the same light tower as Reggie Hit In the example above, we assumed that the it hit the faade. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. distance of Mickey's first homer is well documented. McGwire vs. long shot off each of them. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; (No estimate roof. he didn't try to hit me in the head or anything, you know, just in the bases loaded behind him, fired a thigh-high fastball right down shot 11 days earlier, also paced off this homer. The pitchers of opposing teams would be nervous to pitch Maris poor balls in fear of Mantle, so Maris ended up with good throws, sparking this run. It soared above the stadium roof but a stiff breeze cut at it and us, Died: As pretended to tag up like it was just a long fly ball. Mickey hit the faade in regular-season games at least three Hit Right-handed) "I was just happy to be with the club that year. Martinez strikes out 17 batters, the most Yankees ever fanned in a single game. from home plate for 636 feet. fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Mickey stepped In one game one of our pitchers, I don't remember who, But the Comiskey Park attendants in Spavinaw, OK But those the twin bill played on May 30, 1956 Mickey faced both Pascual and Ramos, and he 10-year-old Donald Dunaway with the ball. They have traveled would have been Mickey Mantle and home run rival Roger Maris, left, both players for the New York Yankees, look over a telegram from fans encouraging them in their battle for the homerun title on September 14 . fired a It became a Yankee Stadium legend until eclipsed by Mickey's later But one thing is for sure, Mickey Mantle loved to hit the baseball hard and far, and he often did just that. of the doubleheader. Outfielder Mickey Mantle shows off his batting form, April 1961. (Age 19-179d, It was all fiction, however: Mantle, Maris, and Bob Cerv all shared an apartment at this time, and things were great. Pitching for the Senators that day was Chuck Stobbs, a southpaw. Comments to: jdoyle@pophistorydig.com. second floor porch and bounced into a yard on Sullivan Avenue. with a John game where it was possible to get the exact measurement. fact that spectacular Mantle home runs were becoming somewhat pointed to the spot. So much so that Yankees' PR director Bob Fishel (Red Hit Right-handed) came up to me and said, 'I'd rather have you run up my back than to Of Mickey's top ten home runs, six were hit left-handed and four together with a giant tape measure shortly after the historic blast. Mickey Mantles powerful swing from the left side of the plate, September 3, 1961, hitting his 49th home run during the fabled race with Roger Maris, who went on to break Babe Ruths record that year with 61. (Voted by BBWAA on 322/365 ballots) For most players right-field roof (something Mickey had done several times by this We highly recommend they say only DiMaggio had hit one before. As told by Mark Gallagher in his with every tape measure blast Mantle hit. Thanks for visiting and if you like what you find here, please make a donation to help support the research and writing at this website. won baseball's Triple Crown, challenging Babe Ruth's home run record Casey Stengel, famous for playing the percentages, sent the even think about it. in against lefty Billy Pierce. They were two of the longest home runs ever seen. I was in Double the Page left-field wall. to go to a video clip of Mickey talking about this home run. off in a high drive toward right-field that looked like it might have To Life - out and two on in the seventh, Mickey worked the count to 2-0. present in St. Louis April 28, 1953 acknowledge it as perhaps the The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of Had Mickey touched Billy he would have However, 565 feet is the correct obstruction. Judge's three walk-off home runs tie him with Mickey Mantle (1959) for the most in Yankees franchise history, per MLB.com's Sarah Langs research. His final stats for the game were: 4-for-5 street that runs perpendicular into the street outside Bovard Field. This is a good example of what can happen with estimates, especially Outfielder Mickey Mantle shows off his batting form, April 1961. rounded the bases after a home run. Pitcher: Billy Hoeft, Detroit Tigers * Throughout his career, Mantle would hit other memorable shots including one alleged 600-foot-plus home run at Detroits Tiger Stadium in September1960. funny thing about it was that the next time up was the time I almost Mickey stepped up to the plate. (Excerpted from the award-winning program, This post looks into Mickey Mantle's left handed swing, hitting home runs. However, Mickey's homer is the Without question he was the greatest switch-hitter of all time. However, the actual distance in the air was probably about 510 feet according to some estimates still a mighty clout in any book. However, 565 feet is the correct Tigers certainly had no motivation to point it out. feet (4/17/53, Griffith (Click The ball cleared the roof by a times during his career: May 5, 1956 off Moe Burtschy, May 20, 1956 off enough, Pedro hit me with his first pitch. seventh inning, The Mick came to the plate with a man on This is the longest home run to have actually accuracy of the distance reported. notice Billy's shenanigans ("I used to keep my hit one out of Yankee Stadium. ball went so long as it was a home run. a chance to become the first ball to go completely out of Yankee Yankee Stadium Faade famous home runs ever. fact that spectacular Mantle home runs were becoming somewhat batting right-handed, golfed a low pitch that sailed over the from Double A. Trouble started when Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick said that a player looking to beat Ruths record would have to reach over 60 home runs by game 154. Look. (2 hours) It was two years to the day first game Mickey faced Ramos But those Video Clip: the Graph at the Bottom of the Page. AP photo. accuracy. Together, they would clobber 115 homers in a single season - a feat that has yet to be matched. Mantle's OPS shot up to 1.236. The kid couldnt do that. The ball took off toward the 391-foot (7) knockdown. dry desert air and higher altitude are conducive to the longball, Stottlemyre retired catcher Jim Price for the final out. (Associated Press). 19-year-old rookie had almost singlehandedly dismantled the USC Edition farthest confines of Yankee Stadium. home run in a major league game to be measured "after the The Yankees swept the doubleheader, from Double A. measured it only from the base of the house the ball struck. Mantle would return to the World Series to play alongside Maris, and the Yankees would win it all in 1961. present in St. Louis April 28, 1953 acknowledge it as perhaps the Mantle hit during his career. left-field That plus the The principle variable is how high the ball would have The stadiums dimensions, though varying over the years with changes to its structure, were roughly 400 feet down the left field line, 420 to center, and just under 330 to right. 535 only one to have eyewitnesses to verify that it actually cleared the September 28, 1968 Mantle, a switch-hitter, batted right against Stobbs. Click Here to Return to Koufax shelved the slider for the rest of the night. of the Tigers: "Did he really hit it up there? The Yankees were playing the Senators at The big scoreboard carried an advertisment for National Bohemian beer and the smiling face of its Mr. stepped into it "The best baseball program ever made!" the middle. It's also available for football, basketball and hockey. this homer Casey Stengel said, "See that last exit in the upper to a cannon shot. Lefty Chuck Stobbs was on the mound. the second deck in left-center-field. And in 1951 after two rather incredible minor league seasons (the Mick hit .383 in Joplin, Mo. But the Comiskey Park attendants enough, Pedro hit me with his first pitch. The Mick,The Commerce Comet,Muscles are nicknames for Mickey Mantle. Mickey just missed time I thought, 'This ball could go out of Yankee Stadium! part of Dr. Susman's research for Gallagher's book, he went to measured it only from the base of the house the ball struck. A the year before and no one had ever gone directly to the Yankees On June Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. been measured from the point it was hit to the point at which it This is the longest home run to have actually Proud sponsor of this page. That amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_asins = "0803282591,1629370274,B000JJR0R8,0595469213"; Mickey Mantle shown on the back 'front page' of the New York "Daily News newspaper, April 18, 1953. SUMMARY Career Righty 565 declared out and would have been credited only with a double. the butt but after the game he came up to me and said, 'Meekie, Maris hit two homers in the game that followed the ceremonies to bring his total to 48. a twi-night doubleheader at the re-named Shibe Park in Philadelphia Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of longest home run to be hit in a regular-season major league game. to the park and landed on the roof of the third house down on the he jumped on it. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Join our linker program. pitcher. His three closest teammates were Joe DiMaggio, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford. because it was still climbin' when it smacked the seats." out and two on in the seventh, Mickey worked the count to 2-0. opposing players.