The 500 ft home run?

[sneaky_flute]

Really?  Because in golf, with a good tailwind, I can increase my drive from 50-100+ yards.  heck, in Arlington, with the wind going, I've seen more routine fly balls go 10 rows deep.

lol what? if that were the case, you'd routinely see 600-foot + home runs in right center field

[bloodbrother]

Mo Vaughn hit one off the top of the right field scoreboard in Shea back around 2003 or so. It was over 500 ft and man did it make that park look small. The scoreboard itself was probably 30ft behind the fence and it probably hit about 50+ feet up that thing.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25607257&c_id=mlb

 

sidenote: Really love that mlb is now uploading old footage. They used to be the stingiest of all the major sports when it came to classic videos, but now they have a section on mlb.com that they are constantly updating, and they have a youtube account where they actually are uploading full games + original broadcast. WS games from the 50's, perfect games, etc. It's about time

[bloodbrother]

68 WS, game 1

 

[Caralho]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxvhyQd9dqY

 

This is Mark McGwire's 538 foot bomb that I think hit the back wall of the Kingdome.

[YouthofToday]

lol what? if that were the case, you'd routinely see 600-foot + home runs in right center field

Golf balls are designed to minimize air resistance (dimples), are smaller and weigh less. Yes, a tail wind will help but nearly as much.

[Docwaukee]

the physics behind hitting a 600ft hr makes it next to impossible. 

 

it's more likely that the historical account of the event is inaccurate. 

[YouthofToday]

Interesting article: http://www.science20.com/science_20/science_baseball_what_farthest_home_run_and_did_mickey_mantle_hit_it-51254

[fan_since79]

Babe Ruth's last home run (#714) was the first ball to clear the 86-ft high right-field roof at Forbes Field. 

 

Other players accomplished the feat, including Mantle. Willie Stargell did it 7 times, including twice in one week in 1970. Of course, as a Pirate he played half his games there.

[fan_since79]

Some players have hit more home runs than Willie Stargell, but perhaps no one has ever been able to hit balls farther with such regularity. He was so strong and generated such tremendous bat speed that when he really laid into one the result was often a blast of absurd, almost cartoonish proportions.    In 61 years, only 18 home runs cleared the right field roof at Forbes Field. Stargell did it seven times. Only six homers landed in the upper deck at Three Rivers Stadium. Stargell did it four times. Only four balls have been hit completely out of Dodger Stadium. Stargell did it twice. In 1978, he launched one 535 feet into the shadowy recesses of Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. The Expos organization commemorated the event by identifying the seat where the ball landed and painting it gold.   As the Dodgers’ Don Sutton remarked, “He doesn’t just hit pitchers. He takes their dignity.”

 

http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/27e0c01a

[sneaky_flute]

this isn't a question about home runs but offense in general. has offense declined the last decade because pitchers have gotten better or were steroids really responsible for everyone hitting like barry bonds years ago?

[yk9001]

Nothing in that clip would lead me to believe it was a 500 foot home run.  In fact, I doubt it was.

 

 

And the fact that they added the crack of the bat and crowd noise sound effects...

 

fails the sniff test.

[yk9001]

to imply that Ruth or Mantle would be average or below average by today's standards is dumb. 

 

It is of course impossible to compare players of different eras.

 

But I look at body types, body shapes, weights of different eras.  Guys today train year round.  The science is so much better now.

 

 

Here is a comparison you can make (different sport).  But there is very little difference from 40 years ago to today in kicking an NFL field goal.

 

Jan Stenerud is an NFL Hall of Fame kicker.  One of the first soccer style kickers, he was so good that he was voted into the hall of fame.

 

For his career, he was a 67% fg kicker.

 

Today, a 67% NFL kicker would be cut by Thanksgiving.

[gotbeer]

Interesting article: http://www.science20.com/science_20/science_baseball_what_farthest_home_run_and_did_mickey_mantle_hit_it-51254

 

 

Nice article.  I think the one thing they missed in their calculations is the difference between a day and night game.  As we've seen at Angels stadium, which is closer to sea level, it can make routine fly balls at night, go over the fence.

[seenoevil]

i wonder in how they calculate the distance for a home run. There are balls that been hit that qo quite a distance, and then I see it listed for 435 feet, and I end up saying "wtf". Some of the balls that been hit that were over 500 or close, some seem I think it can't be that far of a distance and others I would say maybe.

 

Trumbo home run on the roof (home run derby) was listed like over 435 ft on spot, and I'm saying huh?