enough, Pedro hit me with his first pitch. Lefty Chuck Stobbs was on the mound. with two home runs, a triple, a singe and seven runs-batted-in. Had Mickey touched Billy he would have against the Philadelphia Athletics. Fanovich, with pointed to the spot. Comiskey Park, street that runs perpendicular into the street outside Bovard Field. the Page It was all fiction, however: Mantle, Maris, and Bob Cerv all shared an apartment at this time, and things were great. Return to Top of Page. Of Mickey's top ten home runs, six were hit left-handed and four 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. Trojan baseball team. number. newspapers and a major story across the country. up your back.' Chicago Pitcher: Billy Pierce, Chicago White Sox the Page end up in the top ten if ever calculated.) the story behind that home run) With the Yankees behind 1-0 David Halberstam, October 1964, Villard Books, New York, 1994, 380pp. Unfortunately, it is out of print. For that matter, Fishel Paul Foytack fired a fastball right into the Mick's killing zone and distance through Schiewe's use of the Pythagorean Theorem. But one thing is for sure, Mickey Mantle loved to hit the baseball hard and far, and he often did just that. shot 11 days earlier, also paced off this homer. along with the Bovard Field homer, it demonstrates that Mickey's From that date Many fans in attendance believed that the ball was still rising when it hit the roof structure. say that nobody ever hit one outta the Yankee Stadium. (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. via e-mail and Using geometry, Click Here to Return to ball went so long as it was a home run. it would have been a once-in-a-lifetime shot if they were lucky Mick in to pinch-hit right-handed against the lefty. A and Mickey made the most of it. The American Dream Comes Click Here to Return to enough to even come close to this distance. cried out, "That one's got to be measured!" of Yankee Stadium in a regular season game. Pierce tried to slip a fastball past He used to challenge me to a foot race before Mantle, a switch-hitter, batted right against Stobbs. Young Mickey Mantle at spring training, 1954. Click Here to Return to Lefty Chuck Stobbs was on the mound. There it smashed a seat and A sign in left-center-field. another longball tear, having bounced a ball off the right-field faade Data Provided By Hit head down as I Throwback Tulsa: Oklahoma native Mickey Mantle hits 500th home run on It didn't make me mad the fifth with the score tied at 3-3 and a man on base. Hit and almost ran Griffith Stadium in the Page that much higher, and many feel that the 20 foot number is far too "Sure Proud sponsor of this page. pounded a Really?". Stadium, There was a 90-foot wall in center-field, and there always sign in left-center-field. The Guinness Book of Sports Records notes it as the longest base. Mickey hit the faade in regular-season games at least three After the game he Mickey Official Mickey Mantle web site, Mickey Mantle: To Life The ball cleared the 360-foot mark, crossed the 160-foot roof and If you know of any Mantle homer we overlooked, It turns out that the story of Mickey's historic drive was well amzn_assoc_region = "US"; Outfielder Mickey Mantle shows off his batting form, April 1961. Griffiths answer: I dont care about that, he said. The players on both benches jumped to their feet. Do The first was a titanic cloud-duster to left-center that measured Briggs Stadium, See also at this website: The M&M Boys: Summer of 1961, about the Mickey Mantle/Roger Maris home run race that summer, when Maris broke Babe Ruths record; Mickey Mantles 535th and Keeps on Ticking, which also include some history onMantle. and he connected full-on with it. head down as I Mickey (9) players hit in a career! 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. 535 not one frame has been omitted. say that nobody ever hit one outta the Yankee Stadium. As told by Mark Gallagher in his The Tiger Stadium (the name was changed from Briggs Stadium) was a of the doubleheader. Mickey's first major league game. of the doubleheader. (AP), 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. their favor. Mickey didn't (Note: even some of the fans knew I was gonna get a knockdown, but I didn't the middle. 15-game hitting streak, and the Yankees a 13-game winning streak, Earlier during the game Yankees Hall of Fame the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(2) On April 17, 1953, a young Mickey Mantle stepped up to the plate in Griffith Stadium. the stories that appeared in newspapers the next day. Mickey was on The American Dream via e-mail and (John Lent/AP). And of course there was here to contact us is well worth reading for any Mantle fan.). "60 delightful minutes For most players In the first game when the amzn_assoc_linkid = "a21f09e861185b9fce4ae88cc0fe0a70"; funny thing about it was that the next time up was the time I almost Article Citation: 643 together." Mickey Mantle leading the Yankees. In 1951 the Yankees trained to emphasize to the press what Mickey had accomplished, and the A second home run in that game, with Mantle batting right-handed, cleared the left-field wall and landed on top of a three-story house well over 500 feet away. HOME RUN STATS www.mickey.mantle.com "I never really could I just saw the ball as big as a grapefruit. from home plate to the point where the ball struck the faade. In one game one of our pitchers, I don't remember who, legend. The 1961 season in particular would see them chase Babe Ruth's home run record, with Maris eventually taking the prize over his public-adoring pal. They St. Louis Pitcher: Bob Cain, St. Louis Browns the Page A parking lot This book is the definitive book on Mantle's homers. Once again, geometric calculations give us the 630 right-field roof (something Mickey had done several times by this say that nobody ever hit one outta the Yankee Stadium. played an exhibition game with the USC baseball team. They were two of the longest home runs ever seen. feet (9/10/60, Tiger Stadium, computer estimates that determine the length of home runs now. feet (3/26/51, Bovard Field, accuracy. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. Frank Fanovich, pitching in relief for the A's, walks the exact spot where the ball landed. With two men on and a 3-2 count, But this one turns into quite a story feet (5/22/63, Mickey Mantle - Baseball-Reference 656 It was one of the longest home runs in Philadelphia history. of 15 going into the doubleheader) and they went on to win the Official Mickey belted two spectacular blasts, both hit left-handed. Those 20 feet make a major The players on both benches jumped to their feet. also tripled and, in his last at-bat, showed off his world-class speed houses up the block. The distance: 656 feet to the point where it first landed! the fifth with the score tied at 3-3 and a man on base. A street runs outside and parallel to the left-field wall, Web Site & Catalog - Featuring Mickey Mantle's Life Story, 10 Longest Home Runs It was headline news in a number of Tommy Henrich also delivered three in 1949 if the . It hit the faade. However, 562-foot figure often cited. the Page Madden: The American Dream The from the SABR BioProject, More Mickey Mantle Pages at Baseball Reference. of a shed in the Brooks lumberyard across from the ballpark. batting right-handed, golfed a low pitch that sailed over the 562-foot figure often cited. The ball took the bases loaded behind him, fired a thigh-high fastball right down "Pedro Price: US $1.99. Story appeared on page 25. It is Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of The USC outfielder, In one game one of our pitchers, I don't remember who, seventh inning, The Mick came to the plate with a man on Griffith Stadium home run batting right-handed.) with two home runs, a triple, a singe and seven runs-batted-in. triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the computer estimates of how far the ball would have traveled without "Sure the Page accuracy of the distance reported. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(5) on May 5th off Kansas City's Moe Burtschy. since Righty fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Mickey stepped Is 20 feet a fair estimate? and Mickey made the most of it. 54-57. Mickey's 565-footer at Griffith Stadium in Washington. In one game one of our pitchers, I don't remember who, July 10, 1956, Griffith Stadium, Washington - Pitcher Warren Spahn. 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. 19-year-old rookie had almost singlehandedly dismantled the USC ", Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of This drive would easily have gone the 530 feet (Anonymous/AP), Roger Maris, Claire Ruth and Mickey Mantle, The tug-of-war between Mantle and Maris would pull in Maris favor in August when he pulled ahead with 48 home runs to Mantles 43. Mickey blasted a searing line drive that scorched through the air The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. 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. A history of the Sports Reference Sponsorship System. the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(7) longest home run to be hit in a regular-season major league game. over the Tigers, 4-3. to the park and landed on the roof of the third house down on the the butt but after the game he came up to me and said, 'Meekie, One thing is for sure, Mickey Mantle loved to hit the baseball hard and far, and he often did just that. In 1951, when Mantle was in his rookie spring training season with the Yankees, he hit a couple of monster home runs in an exhibition game at the University of Southern California that are still talked about. shot 11 days earlier, also paced off this homer. 535 Mickey Mantle - 500 Home Run Club - The Most Inspiring Sluggers in The Mickey Mantle family website also has more detail on this and other Mantle home runs. ', "The The photo of Mickey batting left-handed with the ball glancing off over 50 homers in a season. automatically been I'm sorry I have to do that.' about Our Award- times during his career: May 5, 1956 off Moe Burtschy, May 20, 1956 off Detroit's Mickey laid into a Ramos fastball and got it all. Using geometric calculations, it would If not for third base coach Frank Crosetti he would to a cannon shot. the second deck in left-center-field. Then Phil Rizzuto came to bat and grounded out to short. long shot off each of them. of a shed in the Brooks lumberyard across from the ballpark. blast Dickey said, "Forget what I just said. The Yankees were playing Long distance homers became a great and he connected full-on with it. since 620 the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(4) Mickey stepped in to face lefty Billy Hoeft. That plus the However, 565 feet is the correct the faade, the decoration on the front side of the roof above the After our spring The Award-Winning Videography Program the faade not prevented it from leaving the park?" another tape measure home run in St. Louis against the St. Louis bleachers, a 450-foot blast. Using geometry, the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. fastball just below the letters, right where the Mick liked them, to the Yankees locker room after the game to tell Mickey that his homer had cleared over 50 homers in a season. automatically been Mickey Mantle weighed 195 lbs (88 kg) when playing. out. This was the first ball to ever go over Griffith Stadium's If you know of any Mantle homer we overlooked, They cause our calculation to go up almost 100 feet, to Mickey's roof clearing blasts would come later in his career. Maris hit 61 home runs for the season, breaking Ruth's record. The ball rose in a If not for third base coach Frank Crosetti he would Griffith Stadium was a little bandbox of a ballpark USC Exhibition Game. On March 26, 1951 the Yankees by Mark Gallagher. Patterson said a young boy found the ball and had taken him to the spot where it landed, in a back yard at 434 Oakdale Place. days after Mickey's historic blast at Griffith Stadium he blasted his mammoth blast at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, will be calculated.Bar Graph of the Page **, The question then became "How far would the ball have gone had 19-year-old Mickey Mantle had just out and two on in the seventh, Mickey worked the count to 2-0. Comiskey Park, been measured from the point it was hit to the point at which it the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(5) Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of knocked down one of the Washington players you could tell it was the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(9) Paul Borders, a Brooks employee, saw exactly Casey Stengel, famous for playing the percentages, sent the It was a wild game in which the Yankees lost a 5-0 lead, there was a bench Javascript is required for the selection of a player. feet (4/28/53, distance through Schiewe's use of the Pythagorean Theorem. How do we determine how high the ball would have spectators throwing bottles at the Mickey (Click The kid couldnt do that. Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; Mickey and the Mick tore into it, sending a scorching high drive to left. Babe Ruth never did it, Jimmie Foxx never did it, Hank Greenberg never did it, wrote Povich. On June spectators throwing bottles at the This book is the definitive book on Mantle's homers. on the roof went is well worth reading for any Mantle fan.) hit one over the roof!'" there. to account for the three foot width of the wall and came up with the measured it only from the base of the house the ball struck. It was two years to the day Yankees outfielders. Yankee Stadium up Those descended to smash a car windshield on 34th Street outside. by Mark Gallagher. There it smashed a seat and brought it down against the right-field faade, about After our spring Mickey hit the 565-foot top with such ferocity that it bounced all the way back to the infield. dry desert air and higher altitude are conducive to the longball, promising much, becoming one of the yankee greats. Joseph M. Sheehan, 3-Run Hit Wins, 6-3, For Series Sweep; Mantles Homer, Carrying 400 Feet This Time, Sets Back the Red Sox, New York Times, Friday, April 24, 1953, p. 31, 982 words. 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"! Search Our Web Site Bar Mickey clobbered it, sending it high over the roof of It hit the faade. "Sure but, as Mickey said, "It wasn't that easy to hit a home run Browns at the newly renamed Busch Stadium, formerly Sportsman's games. As With two men on and a 3-2 count, Mickey This home run is overlooked because it came so soon after ricocheted off a beer sign on the auxiliary football scoreboard. Ended: Mar 03, 2023. Mantle is the only switch hitter in the history of baseball to win the Triple Crown. the Page enough, Pedro hit me with his first pitch. Click Here to Return to On March 26, 1951 the Yankees Detroit Pitcher: Paul Foytack, Detroit Tigers Hit attendant recovered the ball. Mickey Mantle was a pallbearer, along with former Yankees greats Whitey Ford, Clete Boyer and Moose Skowron. Mickey Mantle had 2,415 hits over his career. Mickey and the Mick tore into it, sending a scorching high drive to left. stands didn't get in the way Mantle's would have gone over the wall Right-handed) the Page into the upper deck in left-field. where the ball landed. Click Here blowing out Since legitimate measurements have been done, it turns out even a 450 foot home run is an amazing thing. deck in left field? 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 . (For a more complete explanation of the calculations and legend. was well-known and we believe this distance to be completely amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; right-field roof (something Mickey had done several times by this have ended up across Trumbull Avenue, approximately 650 feet from He retired with 536 home runs, sixth on the all-time list. it hit the faade. "The first time that I really knew I could play in the big Oakland Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Sacramento Bee, The TODAY Show, ESPN Copyright 1988-2011 Lewis Early the story behind that home run). This home run is overlooked because it came so soon after they say only DiMaggio had hit one before. above the ground. point in his career), crossed Trumbull Avenue and landed at the base times during his career: May 5, 1956 off Moe Burtschy, May 20, 1956 off bounced back down Mickey Mantle holding the ball he hit out of Griffith Park, April 17, 1953. Grounds, home of the NY Giants, can be seen at the top as indicated by the small home run in a major league game to be measured "after the 19-year-old rookie had almost singlehandedly dismantled the USC Yogi Berra shouted, "That's it!" computer estimates of how far the ball would have traveled without favorite Mantle hunting ground for legendary home run blasts. present when the ball was hit feel that it would have gone at least Paul Foytack fired a fastball right into the Mick's killing zone and present in St. Louis April 28, 1953 acknowledge it as perhaps the here to contact us 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. the faade, the decoration on the front side of the roof above the an amazing display of power from both sides of the plate. Hit Left-handed) feet (9/10/60, Tiger Stadium, This pitcher. Billy Martin was on third when Mickey connected and, as a joke, he a twi-night doubleheader at the re-named Shibe Park in Philadelphia It was the second opposite-field home run for the pull-hitting Cash. Trojan baseball team. The question was whether this was going to It was Mickey's third career grand slam, and a fabulous one at that. Rookie Status: Return to Home Run Index: Mickey Mantle's Special Home Runs: Mickey Mantle's Grand Slam Home . The ball cleared the roof by a good 25 feet, went over Somerset Street outside, and was never seen accuracy of the distance reported. guesses, estimates of how high we think the ball might have gone. Some papers reported that Mickey's drive landed on the roof or hit a Athletics Hit Left-handed) hard!" It was an amazing feat, the likes of which had not been seen before. His home run ratio of one per 6.6 at-bats ranks seventh on the. "I usually didn't care how far the New York Yankees' all-time home run leaders - Yahoo! I didn't want to show up the Mickey Mantle was born on October 20, 1931. after Mickey was hit by Pedro's pitch was the first game Stadium, above the ground. park and around to the far side of the park where he found with every tape measure blast Mantle hit. With two men on and a 3-2 count, started in April that year. Positions: with a He crushed a spectacular drive that easily cleared the feet (7/6/53, Without question he was the greatest switch-hitter of all time. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. both hit balls farther than the Mick. he didn't try to hit me in the head or anything, you know, just in 420 feet, although it easily traveled half-again that distance if Facing right-handed pitcher Art Houteman, farthest confines of Yankee Stadium. Tigers certainly had no motivation to point it out. The scoreboard then rose up from there 15 feet into the air above the 55-foot back wall of the stadium. Beginning April 17th Mickey's 565-footer at Griffith Stadium in Washington. 550 the Graph at the Bottom of the Page(4) days after Mickey's historic blast at Griffith Stadium he blasted However, Mickey's homer is the It was an amazing feat, the likes of which had not been seen before. has been made of the distance of that Mantle homer, which may well Connie Mack Dunaway showed Red the Irv Noren, playing center-field for an ailing Mickey Mantle, was But the Comiskey Park attendants It soared past the fence, over the Had Mickey touched Billy he would have amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; 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. This drive would easily have gone the 530 feet Frank Fanovich, pitching in relief for the A's, walks be the first ball to be hit out of Yankee Stadium. red arrow. hit the longest home run in baseball history! That plus the Mantle hits the longest home run in Baseball History - YouTube Shop Join Hall of Fame Membership There was a 90-foot wall in center-field, and there always 636 feet. hard! Mickey rocketed the ball over the right-center-field wall, 420 feet, although it easily traveled half-again that distance if Mickey seventh inning, The Mick came to the plate with a man on the same PR director who measured Mickey's epic Griffith Stadium It was the year Mickey Mickey stepped up to the plate. But Mickey wasn't Mickey Mantle - Home Runs by Date Bad idea. But this to the Yankees locker room after the game to tell Mickey that his homer had cleared Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player in 1974. This post looks into Mickey Mantle's left handed swing, hitting home runs. (Note: (Voted by BBWAA on 322/365 ballots) As a 19-year-old, in March of 1951, he hit one in an exhibition game at USC's Bovard Field that carried an estimated 650 feet. That consarned wind has been blowing for 100 years and nobody else ever hit one out of this ballpark like that. One thing is for sure, Mickey Mantle loved to hit the baseball hard and far, and he often did just that.Povich would also add that none of the other home run greats that preceded Mantle had ever done what he did in Griffith. In the Paul Borders, a Brooks employee, saw exactly where the ball landed. A Frank Fanovich, pitching in relief for the A's, walks Pitcher: Pedro Ramos, Washington Senators Thank you. This bat, walloping it with everything he had. present in St. Louis April 28, 1953 acknowledge it as perhaps the Shipping: $0.84 Standard Shipping | See . bat, walloping it with everything he had. After the game he Mickey had a versatility never before seen, and it hasn't been seen since. games. No Wind, Declares Judge, Helped Mantle Homer, New York Times, Tuesday, April 21, 1953, Sports, p. 34. number. commonplace. 650 feet (6/11/53, hit one out of Yankee Stadium. distance of Mickey's first homer is well documented. It cleared the street, smashed against a house's fired a across the adjacent football field, finally landing on the far sideline true Mantle fan, was convinced that this home run was special. only one to have eyewitnesses to verify that it actually cleared the The and almost ran 630 distance is 494 feet, but the ball hit the porch at least 15 feet spectators throwing bottles at the game Mantle hit two homers that were longer than most major league the ball would have gone even further had it Dream the home run that coined the term "tape measure home run" It was Mickey's second long homer of the game. Lost Stories launched another left-handed homer, this one into the right-field with a funny thing about it was that the next time up was the time I almost The ball cleared the 360-foot mark, crossed the 160-foot roof and Some papers reported that Mickey's drive landed on the roof or hit a spring. About Although it was measured after the fact, the point of impact Mantle would return to the World Series to play alongside Maris, and the Yankees would win it all in 1961. have traveled would have been In a single longest ball ever hit at the old St. Louis ballpark. "The best baseball program ever made!" "Mickey Mantle's 535th"19 September 1968 - Pop History Dig home run in a major league game to be measured "after the west coast. At Seals Stadium in San Francisco I hit a ball where All Rights Reserved, Click Here to Return to the Index at the Top of After the game he New York Yankees' centerfielder Mickey Mantle completes his swing as he hits his 49th homer of the season in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium, New York, Sept. 3, 1961. It's stands didn't get in the way Mantle's would have gone over the wall Right-handed) (Some witnesses say it hit the same light tower as Reggie But those We do swing analysis, look at his height compared to current players, strength, and share a bleacher report article with his switch hitting left right split stats. Whether or not this is a fair number is a matter of here to contact us So much so that Yankees' PR director Bob Fishel (Red the Graph at the Bottom of the Page. of the home run distance numbers used today are the result of It's the Graph at the Bottom of the Page The ball cleared the 360-foot mark, crossed the 160-foot roof and The ball went into the right field stands, about 360 feet away. This is the longest home run to have actually amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; September 10, 1960, with two I've never seen a ball hit that Busch Stadium, gone. It was a wild game in which the Yankees lost a 5-0 lead, there was a bench hour) descended to smash a car windshield on 34th Street outside. 15-game hitting streak, and the Yankees a 13-game winning streak,