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Similarly, Comiskey's left-field roof was also visited by many batted balls, but only one is confirmed to have cleared it on the fly. That homeric deed was performed by the powerful Jimmie Foxx on June 16, 1936. As Ruth's talents waned in the early 1930s, Foxx began his ascendancy. In 1932, the muscular "Double X" almost equaled Ruth's season record of 60 home runs.
Not surprisingly, all of the great true distance hitters have also been the source of the greatest exaggerations. Despite his extraordinary accomplishments, Babe Ruth is not immune. His tremendous blow to right-center field in Detroit on June 8, 1926, has often been reported as traveling over 600 feet. Certainly, this drive was propelled somewhere around 500 feet in the air, which makes it legitimately historic, but proof that it traveled 600 feet cannot be found. In truth, that figure derived from the distance from home plate to the place where a neighborhood child retrieved the ball.
Babe Ruth ( : 575 feet
Unsurprisingly, some of the farthest home runs ever hit in the Home Run Derby happened in 2021 thanks to the effects of playing in Colorado. Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich hit the longest home run in 2022, demolishing a 499-foot blast off Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Kuhl on Sept. 6. July 3rd, 1999 still stands as a milestone for Indians fans, who fondly remember the astounding home run that secured Jim Thome’s place in MLB history.
If you’re thinking you’ve seen this man on one of our lists before, it’s because you have. McMahon slugged one of the 10 longest homers of 2021, and this 495-foot moonshot all but guarantees he’ll be among that group once again for 2022. This does continue to solidify that Denver is tremendous place to hit baseballs. This is interesting because before 2022, I don’t remember seeing left-handed hitters clobber tanks to that part of Coors.
Aaron Judge on June 11, 2017: 495 feet
Though it must be said again that with no one else at that time hitting as he did, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Ruth could belt one that far. Legend has it, that a simple tape measure was used to determine the estimated 565-foot mark. Some baseball experts could argue that the outdated methods used to measure a home run’s distance are quite obsolete by today’s standards. But since a source like ESPN doesn’t challenge it, it still stands as the second-longest today. In fact, he hit more home runs than any other player during the 1970s.
I do love seeing him take a peek out to left field before rounding third base, too. This was part of Hill’s fourth and final season of 20-plus homers, and the 27 he hit were actually a career-high mark. Looming over baseball history as an almost mythical figure, Babe Ruth to this day remains one of the sport’s greatest power hitters. Tracking home runs was a much more difficult task in Ruth’s playing days, but his longest was purported to be 575 feet. Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY SportsWillie Stargell is among the Hall of Famers who are also recognized as one of the best power hitters in MLB history.
Josh Gibson, Homestead Grays catcher – 580 feet, Yankee Stadium
One thing he’s done consistently, though, is hit some absolute tanks at the friendly confines of Coors Field. First, we’ll talk about the longest verified home run ever, and then look at some moonshots from before and during the Statcast era. Since the installment of technology, Giancarlo Stanton's home run is the longest homer ever recorded. William Jenkinson wrote "The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs, and he credited Babe Ruth as the owner of the three longest home runs ever hit. Joey Meyer's home run is the longest homer ever recorded on video.
It may not have been the only home run ever to leave Jacobs Field, but it was memorable. Moving into the eighties, Mike Schmidt, Jim Rice, and Darryl Strawberry set the pace at a time when modern technology permitted us to better understand the limitations of the flight of a batted ball. The same home runs that had once been described as 500 footers were now being scientifically calculated in the 450-foot range.
The blast has been measured as a 525 foot home run from Strawberry, which ended being first the longest one of his 39 on the season. It was such a literal moonshot into the roof that it came down onto the field of play after smacking the top of the stadium like a bullet. This was one of the last years we got to see a healthy Strawberry on top of his game, but at least he went out with a bang. Ruth has the luxury of his own legend to back up any claims of how far he hit his homers. And there aren’t many records kept that can detail any sort of measurements whatsoever. There are old tales that claim Ruth hit a ball approximately 600 feet in 1926, but who really knows?
During those years, only one drive of 500 feet was confirmed by this system. Cecil Fielder of the Detroit Tigers is credited with powering a ball 502 feet in the air over the left-field bleachers at Milwaukee's County Stadium on September 14, 1991. Such renowned sluggers and extraordinary physical specimens as Jose Canseco and Juan Gonzalez have never come genuinely close to the 500-foot threshold. The best effort on the part of either player was Canseco's famous blast into the fifth level at Toronto's Sky Dome during the 1989 American League playoffs, which was estimated at 484 feet. Drafted by the Brewers in the 5th round of the 1983 Major League Baseball draft, Meyer showed prodigious power in the minor leagues.
Nicknamed “The Immortal,” Dihigo played every position and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977. Fresh off a 30/30 campaign (and nearly going 40/40), Ronald Acuña Jr. needed just 46 games to slug 14 home runs in 2020, with this one obviously being the longest of the pandemic-shortened year. With a .987 OPS, he placed 12th in NL MVP voting and won his second Silver Slugger awards. Ryan McMahon hasn’t yet put together an above-average year on offense since debuting for the Rockies in 2017.
Decades before these modern advances, historians were left to make questionable estimations or even use an actual tape measure. It’s been a turbulent career for Minnesota Twins slugger Miguel Sanó. An All-Star selection in 2017, Minnesota’s 6-foot-4 masher is more than capable of hitting one of the longest home runs ever.
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