The Official Long Home Run Thread

[MFS62]

In another thread, several CPF-ers mentioned that they were at the game when Piazza hit a long game winning home run against the Yankees.

What was the longest home run you've seen in person? What were some of the details you remember from the game?

The longest I ever saw was one Frank Howard hit over the left centerfield light tower at the Polo Grounds. IIRC he he hit it off Craig Anderson. It was in 1962.

The longest one I saw actually land was hit by Tim Harkness of lefty reliever Jim Brewer of LA. It was a game winner (they didn't call them "walk off" homers in those days) in the 14th inning, and went into the upper deck in right center field at the Polo Grounds.

Later

[seawolf17]

I visually remember two long home runs: one hit by Mark Whiten to win a game in the 13th inning for the Buffalo Bisons in August 2000 -- we were there for my bachelor party -- and one hit by Danny Clyburn deep into the night at Frontier Field in Rochester a few years earlier.

I was at the Dave Palmer brawl game in '86, but I was ten years old, so maybe those Gary Carter home runs just seemed a lot longer than they actually were.

[Frayed Knot]

Longest in person that come to mind:

- Dave Kingman as a SF Giant.
It was an afternnoon game at Shea very early in his career before he became well known as a big HR guy. He hit a parked bus that was beyond the back fence behind what is now the picnic area. One of 2 he hit that day IIRC.

- Straw banked one of the scoreboard about halfway up -- similar to the Mo Vaughn shot that someone else mentioned although not quite as high and a bit more to the RF side. It was off of Valenzuela.



(on edit: seeing as how I'm currently Willie Randolph, I should really only be making "small ball" posts right now)

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

The Mo Vaughn HR was just stupid.

It wasn't in the air as much as it was in the sky. It was so high it was startling, especially for a crowd that had been lulled into depression by the innings before it. In fact, only the truly tortured of us were around to see it.

I always think of a David Justice HR I saw the one time I saw a Tidewater game in like, 1988: Nice arc, straight as an arrow from home plate.

[Elster88]

="Johnny Dickshot"]The Mo Vaughn HR was just stupid. It wasn't in the air as much as it was in the sky. It was so high it was startling, especially for a crowd that had been lulled into depression by the innings before it. In fact, only the truly tortured of us were around to see it.

I was at that game. I know it's not humanly possible, but to me it looked like it was still going up when it hit the sign.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I seem to remember a Darryl Strawberry homer off Rob Dibble that went over the right field bullpen and landed in the parking lot. I was sitting in Loge seats between first and third, and had a good angle on the ball. It soared away from me like a golf ball.

[Valadius]

I was the Mo Vaughn homer game. THAT was monstrous.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Straw htting the lip of the roof at Olympic Stadium was impressive. It might have been kept in the park by the brand-new inflateable roof. It is impossible to tell how far it would have gone.

Seeing Jake reach the right-centerfield boxes at the Bobby this year was a joy.

Don't know the longest I've ever seen, but what McGwire and Sosa did in 1998 made the whole notion of clearing the fence quaint.

[Guest SI Metman]

My buddy Greg Gewirtz of MOFO fame got field level tickets from his job the day of the Vaughn game. I actually ditched my girlfriend to meet him at Shea.

We were both in disbelief when Mo's homer landed off the scoreboard. Of course the game was ruined by Strickland giving up a grand slam to Sheffield. I think I had tickets to the next game which was rained out.

[G-Fafif]

Mike off Ramiro Mendoza in the Matt Franco Game (ah, the joys of shorthand) was the longest Met home run I ever witnessed in the horsehide flesh. In terms of the bad guys, Pat Burrell went over the visiting bullpen back wall on one bounce in 2001. It was long and it was hard. I could hear it take the bounce off concrete and I was nowhere near it. Dishonorable mention: Andres Galarraga during a dispiriting afternoon of hooky-playing in 1998. Watched it go out from the mezzanine and I could swear I was at eye-level with it.

[MFS62]

Speakng of shots that hit something and stayed in the park brings to mind a game at Ebbets Field - Bums against the Reds.
If you never saw Ebbets, it was a flip-flopped Fenway, with the high wall in right. (Remember, Mole?) There was a high scoreboard amidst that wall, with a clock on top.
Muscular first baseman Ted Kluszewski of the Reds hit a shot that hit the middle of the wire mesh in front of the clock. The ball went through the protective mesh and hit the clock in the center where the hands met. The hands started going around and around. It was very impressive. It was one of the few times I remember the Brooklyn fans being quiet.

The final score for balls hit that day was:
Clock 1
Abe Stark Suits 0.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

The longest home run I can remember seeing in person was at the old Comiskey Park. Tony Armas of the Red Sox hit a shot off the scoreboard in straight away center field. It hit several feet up from the base of the scoreboard, along the bottom of the picture screen.


The hardest hit ball I can recall seeing in person was also at the Old Comiskey Park. Kirk Gibson of the Tigers hit an absolute rocket off an empty seat in the upper deck in right center. The ball was a line drive that got into the stands faster than any ball I have ever seen. It could have hurt someone had they been sitting in the seat it hit.

[MFS62]

Thanks, Edgy.
That brought back a lot of memories.

Later

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I don't think I had ever seen that view of Ebbets Field, at least not in color.

Very cool picture. Makes me wish (again) that I had been able to go to at least one game there and at the Polo Grounds.

They had better invent time travel in my lifetime.

[Frayed Knot]

Pictures like that one of Ebbets Field - or an old one of Fenway when the Green monster wasn't so green - always crack me up when I hear someone complain about how advertisments on the OF walls are some sort of modern stain on the game.
Somehow in people's minds the 'HIt Sign Win Suit' sign is warm, fuzzy nostalgia while the 'Keyspan' one or the Pepsi Pavillion are crass commercialism. And 'White Owl Whallops' and 'Ballantine Blasts' were just as big an intrusion as most of today's in-inning promos.