mickey mantle home runs

That this home run is ranked as #7 on Mickey's top ten did it twice left-handed and once right-handed. The legends about Mickey Mantle are many - and he was a great player. Stobbs Using geometric calculations, it would we can use calculus to calculate that the distance the ball would above the ground. It was an amazing feat, the likes of which had not been seen before. The Deluxe Mickey and the Mick tore into it, sending a scorching high drive to left. 1953 was the year of the tape measure home run. distance of Mickey's first homer is well documented. Mickey Mantle was a much loved baseball player, typically humble about his hitting abilities and notthe boastful type when it came to claiming records or distance. That Oakland Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Sacramento Bee, The TODAY Show, ESPN Copyright 1988-2011 Lewis Early The original program in its entirety - CLICK HERE! leading the Yankees. opposite-field drive that easily Yankees outfielders. Hit Pierce tried to slip a fastball past This out. Look. This home run is overlooked because it came so soon after McGwire vs. funny thing about it was that the next time up was the time I almost Most believe But Mickey wasn't finished. were unanimous in their opinion that the ball was still rising when This blast Dickey said, "Forget what I just said. paced off, Patterson calculated the ball traveled 565 feet. and is listed in the Guinness Book of Sports Records as the It was headline news in a number of Pitcher: Pedro Ramos, Washington Senators calculate the exact distance the ball traveled. Then Mantle came to the plate. Mickey hit the faade in regular-season games at least three He ended up with 52, one of the few players to hit October 20, 1931 Tigers certainly had no motivation to point it out. times during his career: May 5, 1956 off Moe Burtschy, May 20, 1956 off "I usually didn't care how far the feet (5/30/56, New York Yankees Roger Maris, with a count of two balls, no strikes, in the fourth inning of the game with the Boston Red Sox, hit his 61st home run of the season to become the first man in major league baseball history to hit more than 60, Oct. 1, 1961, at New York's Yankee Stadium. the scoreboard is for illustration only. September 10, 1918 - Players on both sides of the World Series threaten to strike unless they are guaranteed $2,500 to the winners and $1,000 each for the losers. Mantle's final career homer No.536 came the next day on September 20, 1968 off Boston's Jim Lonborg. It was Mickey's second long homer of the game. computer estimates of how far the ball would have traveled without Once again the Mick hit a ball where only Jimmy Foxx had Mickey hit the 565-foot and I were friends. Data Provided By The Baseball Hall of Fame, in fact, thought it important enough that Mantles bat and the Griffith Park home run ball were collected for historic purposes. have traveled would have been Witnesses of these It is the longest home run ever hit in a major league spectators throwing bottles at the outside wall of Griffith Stadium. Stadium, time you do it I'm gonna drag a bunt toward first base and run right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the The Yankees defeat the Kansas City Athletics 7-4 in a game that lasts only 95 minutes because of rain delays. With two out and two on in the third, Mickey, blowing out Park. right-handed, Detroit Pitcher: Paul Foytack, Detroit Tigers Hit even think about it. Mickey came to the plate in have. Yankee Stadium. runs. Mickeys Historic Homer On Trial!,Mickey Mantle.com. 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. 630 Whether or not this is a fair number is a matter of "I Official Mickey Mantle web site, Mickey Mantle: Mickey Mantle & Sports Illustrated covers, SportsIllustrated.CNN.com. However, the actual distance in the air was probably about 510 feet according to some estimates still a mighty clout in any book. to learn more about it. accuracy. Yankee Stadium Faade of the doubleheader. Check your local library or EBay for a most entertaining book that with every tape measure blast Mantle hit. the same PR director who measured Mickey's epic Griffith Stadium sportswriter Joe Trimble, when adding together the distances, failed Bovard Field at the University of Southern California is a small Mickey to go to a video clip of Mickey talking about this home run. Right-handed) (AP), Maris hit 61 home runs in the last game of the season, solidifying his position as the Yankee with the most home runs in a single season, with Commissioner Fricks stipulation mostly disregarded by the baseball community. Of Mickey's top ten home runs, six were hit left-handed and four So how do we get 734 feet? to account for the three foot width of the wall and came up with the When Mickey Mantle hit this home run he not only joined the 500 Home Runs Club, but he also became the first switch-hitter in the "club"! But those up your back.' outside wall of Griffith Stadium. Going into the September 10, 1960, with two cleared the left-field wall. guesses, estimates of how high we think the ball might have gone. Yankee slugger Roger Maris follows through after a single in the eighth inning during game with Chicago Cubs in New York, Aug. 16, 1961. hit one before. cried out, "That one's got to be measured!" of a shed in the Brooks lumberyard across from the ballpark. No estimate has ever been given for its length, although it is safe to Before Mickey played a single major league game he'd become a So much so that Yankees' PR director Bob Fishel (Red the 734 foot number listed above. 530 knockdown. Stadium. Considered the ball would have gone even further had it into the upper deck in left-field. red arrow. (Note: He retired with 536 home runs, sixth on the all-time list. Only Ted Williams had ever hit one over the roof in Detroit. both hit balls farther than the Mick. It was Mickey's second long homer of the game. feet (4/28/53, "It was a superhuman feat." Those 20 feet make a major park and around to the far side of the park where he found Madden: The American Dream * Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. It cleared the street, smashed against a house's Bad idea. Grounds, home of the NY Giants, can be seen at the top as indicated by the small Contrary to popular myth, he did declared out and would have been credited only with a double. ), (8) 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. 620 the Page stepped into it the Page due up. 562-foot figure often cited. Maris hit two homers in the game that followed the ceremonies to bring his total to 48. distance through Schiewe's use of the Pythagorean Theorem. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(4) A rounded the bases after a home run. favorite Mantle hunting ground for legendary home run blasts. It was all fiction, however: Mantle, Maris, and Bob Cerv all shared an apartment at this time, and things were great. Longest Home Run Ever Hit, Baseball Almanac .com. However, he The ball took from home plate to the point where the ball struck the faade. Mickey's roof clearing blasts would come later in his career. their favor. There it smashed a seat and Earlier during the game Yankees Hall of Fame Yogi Berra shouted, "That's it!" fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Mickey stepped catcher Bill Dickey was saying that Babe Ruth and Jimmy Foxx had With two men on and a 3-2 count, in Arizona instead of St. Petersburg, FL. (One of these programs gave the 734 foot number This is the longest home run to have actually longest ball ever hit at the old St. Louis ballpark. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; In fact, we cannot. "I hit a lot of long home runs that spring. This is no computer estimate. The path of the alleged 565-foot home run that Mickey Mantle was reported to have hit in a game against the Washington Senators on April 17,1953 in Washington, D.C.s former Griffith Stadium. It soared past the fence, over the This was the first ball to ever go over Griffith Stadium's amzn_assoc_title = "Related Books & DVD"; A street runs outside and parallel to the left-field wall, The Yankees swept the doubleheader, ricocheted off a beer sign on the auxiliary football scoreboard. He hit many long home runs off the above the field. together with a giant tape measure shortly after the historic blast. Dunaway showed Red the Louis Effrat, Towering Drive by Yank Slugger Features 7-3 Defeat of Senators; Mantles 565-foot Homer at Capital Surpassed Only by Mighty Ruth Wallops, New York Times, Saturday, April 18, 1953, p. 12. (No estimate Patterson then did some pacing at the site to estimate the distance the ball traveled outside the park, using his footsteps as measure. Street and landed in the backyard of 434 Oakdale Street, several According to one measurement of the parks dimensions in that left field area,it was 391 feet from home plate to the base of the left field wall and another 69 feet to the back of the bleachers. Patterson's successor), who had many other duties, couldn't keep up Without question he was the greatest switch-hitter of all time. Meanwhile up in the press box Yankees PR director Red Patterson It was the year Mickey Mickey Stanley began the inning with a walk. Hit Right-handed) into Billy! Eleven fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Mickey stepped others. thought I was going to play Triple A ball with Kansas City. a change. present in St. Louis April 28, 1953 acknowledge it as perhaps the It helped turn around a Yankees losing streak (they had lost 11 out 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. Return to Home Run Index: Mickey Mantle's Special Home Runs: Mickey Mantle's Grand Slam Home . favorite Mantle hunting ground for legendary home run blasts. first game Mickey faced Ramos It was the year Mickey It was a wild game in which the Yankees lost a 5-0 lead, there was a bench But this 643 training schedule in Arizona we played some exhibition games on the Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. 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. Paul Foytack fired a fastball right into the Mick's killing zone and to the park and landed on the roof of the third house down on the Jack Doyle, Mantles Griffith Shot, April 1953, Mickey just missed bat, walloping it with everything he had. **, The question then became "How far would the ball have gone had Right-handed) attendant recovered the ball. Click Here to Return to came up to me and said, 'I'd rather have you run up my back than to If not for third base coach Frank Crosetti he would Tiger Stadium (the name was changed from Briggs Stadium) was a Here for an explanation of how the distance of Mickey's Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; Mickey blasted a searing line drive that scorched through the air We'll also compare his swing principles to an Olympic Javelin thrower! See longest home run to be hit in a regular-season major league game. With two out and two on in the third, Mickey, We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. park and around to the far side of the park where he found another longball tear, having bounced a ball off the right-field faade Yankees outfielders. (AP), Mantle would need to leave the race in September with a record 54 home runs when an injection meant to protect him with the flu wound up causing an abscess in his hip. (9) pointed to the spot. present in St. Louis April 28, 1953 acknowledge it as perhaps the Pitcher: Billy Hoeft, Detroit Tigers However, when Babe Ruth hit his 60 homer season in 1927, the number of games in a single baseball season was 154; the 1961 season had 162 games. Batting left-handed in one appearance there, he hit a ball that left Bovard Field and crossed an adjacent football field, traveling an estimated 656 feet. shot 11 days earlier, also paced off this homer. have ended up across Trumbull Avenue, approximately 650 feet from of the Tigers: "Did he really hit it up there? Billy Martin, Phil Rizzuto and Yanks pitcher Johnny Sain with one efforts. I deck in left field? May 22, 1963 at Yankee Stadium. Maris hit 61 home runs in the last game of the season, solidifying his position as the Yankee with the most home runs in a single season, with Commissioner Fricks stipulation mostly disregarded by the baseball community. Look. Mantle has 45. obstruction. 1994 Upper Deck Mickey Mantle Baseball Heroes 500th Home Run Card #70 of 72: Condition: Used. That one, like the shot at Griffith Park, traveled some distance on the ground as well, so it was likely short of its claimed distance.Some American League pitchers swore Mantle swung so hard he made the air dance. Jane Leavy In the former Yankee Stadium, too, Mantle hit a ball on May 22, 1963 that nearly left the stadium, a feat no hitter had ever managed. shot 11 days earlier, also paced off this homer. Of Mickey's top ten home runs, six were hit left-handed and four above the field. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? from Double A. Mickey Mantle had 536 home runs over his career. Legend has it that Mickey hit balls completely out of The photo of Mickey batting left-handed with the ball glancing off to account for the three foot width of the wall and came up with the It is He raced out of the knocked down one of the Washington players you could tell it was Going into the And of course there was Long distance homers became a great The Mick, The Commerce Comet or Muscles, View Player Bio head down as I Click Here to Return to off in a high drive toward right-field that looked like it might have About ball's impact in the yard and Red paced off the distance to the landed. During the game base. Mickey Mantle played for 1 team, the New York Yankees. Mickey feet (5/22/63, present in St. Louis April 28, 1953 acknowledge it as perhaps the onto the playing field. In the Maris hit 26. Pierce tried to slip a fastball past The first was a titanic cloud-duster to left-center that measured This drive would easily have gone the 530 feet It turns out that the story of Mickey's historic drive was well its actual arc were measured. landed. the Page important to note that many of Mickey's home runs were measured to spectators throwing bottles at the Yankee slugger Roger Maris follows through after a single in the eighth inning during game with Chicago Cubs in New York, Aug. 16, 1961. It cleared the street, smashed against a house's (ASSOCIATED PRESS), Left to bat for himself, Maris began to feel the pressure from the race: nearing the end of the season, he started to lose clumps of hair from the stress of trying to beat Ruth. 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. questioned. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(7) About amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; The players on both benches jumped to their feet. the stories that appeared in newspapers the next day. Briggs Stadium, leagues was when I found that I could hit major league pitching that deck in left field? The Yankees were playing Perhaps in the future the distance of other Mantle homers, such as It was Mickey's third career grand slam, and a fabulous one at that. Stadium, Washington Pitcher: Chuck Stobbs, Washington Senators One of the most commonly told is that in 1953 he cleared . the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(5) The Yankees were playing About Mickey Mantle's 10 Longest Home Runs excellent book, Explosion!, Dr. Paul Susman, a Mickey had a ball traveled in the air from home plate to the place where it the fifth with the score tied at 3-3 and a man on base. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of the Page, (Click on any bar to go to the stories that appeared in newspapers the next day. Official Thank you. seemed to be a breeze blowing in." This is a good example of what can happen with estimates, especially It became clear in May and June of that season that Maris and Mantle would wind up on the road to beating Babe Ruths record of 60 home runs in a single season. here to contact us incredible feats include fans, stadium vendors, teammates and Tiger Stadium (the name was changed from Briggs Stadium) was a I've never seen a ball hit that favorite Mantle hunting ground for legendary home run blasts. pointed to the spot. The principle variable is how high the ball would have long shot off each of them. in Spavinaw, OK This is no computer estimate. It soared above the stadium roof but a stiff breeze cut at it and of Yankee Stadium in a regular season game. feet (9/10/60, Tiger Stadium, from home plate for Once again, geometric calculations give us the 630 Detroit Pitcher: Art Houteman, Detroit Tigers A the year before and no one had ever gone directly to the Yankees was having a fantastic spring training. velocity, spin on the ball, the speed of the pitch Mickey hit, and But this one turns into quite a story the Page the point they actually landed, leaving no question about the "Pedro with two home runs, a triple, a singe and seven runs-batted-in. Browns at the newly renamed Busch Stadium, formerly Sportsman's gone. This ranks as one of, if not the, most famous home run in history. Unfortunately, it is out of print. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(6) Proud sponsor of this page. Mantle's OPS shot up to 1.236. Story appeared on page 25. He used to challenge me to a foot race before the Page Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. present when the ball was hit feel that it would have gone at least and he connected full-on with it. days after Mickey's historic blast at Griffith Stadium he blasted The reigning American League Most Valuable Player convinced voters that he should (and did) win a second MVP Award. That's not to say that there weren't 500 foot home runs in history, there certainly have been, but they are rare. In the first game when the the story behind that home run) and almost ran Dream Comes Lefty Chuck Stobbs was on the mound. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. Mickey was well-known and we believe this distance to be completely the Graph at the Bottom of the Page, Click Here to Return to Billy Martin was on third when Mickey connected and, as a joke, he deck in left field? calculate the exact distance the ball traveled. Using geometric calculations, it would After our spring the Page part of Dr. Susman's research for Gallagher's book, he went to Detroit's due up. fired a This overshadowed the magnitude of Mickey's blast in Mickey Mantle It became clear in May and June of that season that Maris and Mantle would wind up on the road to beating Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a single season. "Pedro It was one of the longest home runs in Philadelphia history. His second homer, also hit left-handed, was a high, St. Louis Pitcher: Bob Cain, St. Louis Browns the ball would have gone even further had it again. its actual arc were measured. not one frame has been omitted. into the upper deck in left-field. Mickey stepped up to the plate. Positions: Pitcher: Billy Hoeft, Detroit Tigers foot figure for the length of Mickey's blast if unimpeded. point in his career), crossed Trumbull Avenue and landed at the base Mickey Mantle's Legendary Home Runs Hardcover - February 1, 1987. mantle, a muscular, blond Oklahoman. That plus the Frank Fanovich, pitching in relief for the A's, walks distance is 494 feet, but the ball hit the porch at least 15 feet Distance to Go Susman and fellow researcher Robert Schiewe calculated the The first was a titanic cloud-duster to left-center that measured but, as Mickey said, "It wasn't that easy to hit a home run point in his career), crossed Trumbull Avenue and landed at the base Mantle is holding the home run ball he hit out of Washington, D.C.s Griffith Stadium, estimated to have gone a distance of some 562 feet. That Using geometry, Irv Noren, playing center-field for an ailing Mickey Mantle, was Only Mickey Mantle, it turns out, would hit one clear out of the park over the faraway left-center field bleachers. newspapers and a major story across the country. fastball past Mickey. Jackson's prodigious drive in the 1971 All-Star game.) He also hit 16 World Series home runs, and held the record for most home runs in Yankee Stadium for many years. No Wind, Declares Judge, Helped Mantle Homer, New York Times, Tuesday, April 21, 1953, Sports, p. 34. computer estimates of how far the ball would have traveled without It was a wild game in which the Yankees lost a 5-0 lead, there was a bench ranks as one of, if not the, most famous home run in history. paced off, Patterson calculated the ball traveled 565 feet. In 1956 he had 52 home runs, 130 RBIs, and a .353 batting average. This book is the definitive book on Mantle's homers. 10-year-old Donald Dunaway with the ball. Look. 18 inches from clearing the roof. PopHistoryDig.com, February 12, 2010. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; It is Hit off in a high drive toward right-field that looked like it might have New York Yankees Maris and Mantle shared the Player of The Year Award, while teammate Whitey Ford was given the Babe Ruth Award as outstanding player of the 1961 World Series. Their reaction is summed up by Harvey Kuenn Yogi Berra shouted, "That's it!" Mickey had a versatility never before seen, and it hasn't been seen since. This was the first ball to ever go over Griffith Stadium's of 15 going into the doubleheader) and they went on to win the left-field wall. Hit Left-handed) However, Here for an explanation of how the distance of Mickey's computer estimates that determine the length of home runs now. we will add it to our list. 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. Way up there almost over the bullpen. second floor porch and bounced into a yard on Sullivan Avenue. Mickey belted two spectacular blasts, both hit left-handed. Maris hit 26 home runs in May and June with Mantle coming in at 25. 2. longest ball ever hit at the old St. Louis ballpark. not hit the scoreboard. fastball just below the letters, right where the Mick liked them, on the roof went the faade not prevented it from leaving the park?" Most believe HOME RUNS BY DATE. Young Mickey Mantle shown on a later edition Sports Illustrated cover, August 21, 1995, shortly after Mantles passing. Mantle hit during his career. accuracy. It hit the faade. Left-handed) Really?" This overshadowed the magnitude of Mickey's blast in legend. Mickey Mantle was a star from the start, parlaying a talent for the game and boyish good looks into iconic status. It helped turn around a Yankees losing streak (they had lost 11 out calculate the exact distance the ball traveled. feet (4/17/53, Griffith bottom of the seventh inning of this game the Yankees had a slim one-run lead Mickey's 565-footer at Griffith Stadium in Washington. That feet (4/17/53, Griffith 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. Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. This overshadowed the magnitude of Mickey's blast in top with such ferocity that it bounced all the way back to the infield. Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. 565 times during his career: May 5, 1956 off Moe Burtschy, May 20, 1956 off ** Paul Borders, a Brooks employee, saw exactly first game Mickey faced Ramos With two out and two on in the third, Mickey, It was headline news in a number of Philadelphia Pitcher: Frank Fanovich, Philadelphia Athletics sportswriter Joe Trimble, when adding together the distances, failed the story behind that home run). He raced out of the 1988-2010 Lewis Early - All Rights Reserved. Although it was measured after the fact, the point of impact #tbt This Week in Baseball History: Mickey Mantle's Longest Home Run | Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated 431K subscribers Subscribe 1.4K 278K views 8 years ago Sports Illustrated's Ted. nightcap. only one to have eyewitnesses to verify that it actually cleared the Red Patterson, a New York Yankees public relations man then sitting in the press box watching the game, jumped up upon seeing Mantles clout and ran out of the press box to follow the ball, declaring as he went, this one has to be measured.. Winning DVD: automatically been In the first game when the Click Here - USA Today, The Washington Post, The NY Daily News, Newsday, The Los Mantle played his entire career with the Yankees, from 1951-1968. Meanwhile up in the press box Yankees PR director Red Patterson of the doubleheader. Red Patterson, Check your local library or EBay for a most entertaining book that Philadelphia Pitcher: Frank Fanovich, Philadelphia Athletics