Almost all of the players on the field, and everyone in the home-plate area, including the press box, swore that the ball was still ascending when it hit the roof. The winning pitcher that day for the Blue Jays was Pat Hentgen of Fraser. Juan Gonzalez and Ken Griffey, Jr. were the most widely discussed participants at Baltimore's 1993 All-Star celebration, though neither player did anything heroic in the game itself. Where was it hit? In 1932, the muscular "Double X" almost equaled Ruth's season record of 60 home runs. Not many balls are hit farther than 500 feet, and Killebrews was measured at 522. It is for that reason that we find their actions so thrilling, and will always want to identify them for special reward and distinction. On June 27, 2007, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard launched a 505-foot home run off of Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Aaron Harang. On July 18, 1921, Babe Ruth hit what is believed to be the longest verified home run in Major League Baseball history. 4. Friday 3 March 2023 21:59, UK. 3. Detroit Outfielder Cullenbines Skills Were Ahead of His Time, Jon Warden made the most of his one season with Tigers, The longest home runs hit at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Included among the other great exaggerations in the history of tape measure home runs are Dave Nicholson's Comiskey Park rooftopper on May 6, 1964, and Dave Kingman's Wrigley Field blast on April 14, 1976. How long will it take the next Olympic champion to run the 100-meter sprint? And, as was the case with Mantle, Allen was one of the few men in the entire history of the game who possessed legitimate 500-foot-plus power. Needless to say that at the very least, you now have an activity to pass your free time. The first time, though, was in 1977, when Jason Thompson clubbed one out, literally seconds after my dad told me I think Thompson is gonna crush one out of the stadium. By his own account he hit the longest home run of his career on May 22, 1963 at Yankee Stadium. When gargantuan Frank Howard hit a mighty home run off Robin Roberts in Philadelphia on September 1, 1958, the next great tape measure home run career was initiated. They did not or could not find a way to further reward the batter who hit a ball significantly farther than the established home run distance. That day, Mee called the physics professor who had created the Twins home run chart and had him recalculate to take into consideration how far the ball would have traveled if unimpeded. McGowan didnt bother looking. As is often the case at Wrigley, Kingmans home run had a strong wind behind it. I ended up buy a very nice winter Tiger jacket and as I tried it on and decided on it they noticed a very minor blemish on the back and quickly informed me I had a hard time even seeing it & probably would have never noticed it. Here, in no particular order, are 12 absolutely massive homers we wish came under Statcast tracking. Cleveland Indians first baseman, and future Hall of Famer, Jim Thome hit a 511-foot home run to center field on July 3, 1999, off of Kansas City Royals pitcher Don Wengert. About Us The new parks are smaller, built for power hitters to entertain todays fans. New York Met Michael Conforto hit a 469-foot home run on September 29, 2021, off of Miami Marlins pitcher Elieser Hernandez. Accounts from that gray afternoon put Hills rooftop homer at 490 feet; Hill told the Chicago Tribune to move that up to 700 feet. His regular bombardment of the left-field roof at Tiger Stadium has not been approximated in the 60-year history of that structure. The rules of baseball were made and refined by men; they have limitations. The next truly great slugger in the chronology of long-distance hitting was Ted Williams, who arrived on the major league scene in 1939. You are correct about Howard. 565-foot home run at Washington's Griffith Stadium on April 17, 1953 considered to be . The home run was the 100th of Howards career in his 325th game. The homer had an exit velocity of 111.3 mph. Long gone! Lynne asked what I was interested in and presented me with a great selection of Tigers caps and T-shirts. How old is the oldest person on the planet? Lynn worked with me to swap out to something similar excellent customer service. It was not until Babe Ruth came upon the scene that we can find confirmed accounts of batted balls that can favorably compare with any hit during subsequent generations. Advertisement That puts it up there with legendary home runs from the likes of Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. As of 1995, the Mantle of baseball's longest hitter can probably best be worn by Cecil Fielder. Customer Service A table displaying leaders in Statcast metrics such as Sweet Spot % (SwSp%), Barrels, Exit Velocity (EV), Batted Ball Distance (DST), Projected Home Run Distance (HR-DST), Launch Angle (LA) and Batted Ball Events (BBE) . There were some very big hitters in the American League, but that was unbelievable.. A short while later I left with a new cap and a custom Fidrych T-shirt. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. In 1962, he became the first of only four batters to hit a ball over the left-field roof at Tiger Stadium. Future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux was pitching for the Chicago Cubs. That list is topped by the legendary Josh Gibson, and includes George "Mule" Suttles, Norman "Turkey" Stearnes, and John Beckwith. Mizzou opened its home slate with a 17-2 run-rule victory over . (Shoutout as well to Bonds skyscraper in Game 2 of the 2002 World Series -- aka the one the camera basically lost track of.). Simply clearing the first row of shrubs beyond the center-field fence is a big deal. Franmil Reyes, Aug. 14, 2020 (462 feet)Reyes hit four of his nine home runs in 2020 off Tigers pitchers, but this was the memorable one. A careful analysis indicates, however, that accounts of 450- to 500-foot home runs in those days are almost certainly apocryphal. On July 7, 2021, Texas Rangers Joey Gallo hit a 462-foot home run off of Detroit Tigers pitcher Casey Mize. It may be appropriate to cite another example of this same optical illusion. Returns & Exchanges Hank Greenberg and Willie Horton might also qualify as long time Tigers. Stanton hit a ball in the Coors Field, one of the highest . In the years he played for his hometown team, Kirk Gibson frequently displayed his power. Check the home run lengths of all seventy Mark McGwire blasts and all sixty-six Sammy Sosa's shots in the fabulous feats section. Mike Piazza at Coors Field (Sept 26, 1997), skyscraper in Game 2 of the 2002 World Series, Cecil Fielder at Tiger Stadium (Aug. 25, 1990), physicist from Montreals McGill University. A Mickey Mantle homer was originally estimated to have gone 734 feet. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Long Distance Home Runs by William J. Jenkinson 1996. FAQ. The Milwaukee Brewers outfielder crushed a pitch on Thursday night which was reported as being 489 feet, the longest home run hit at the new iteration of Busch Stadium. That magnitude of Ruth's accomplishment can be understood with the knowledge that, because home plate had been moved, the distance to the grandstand for Gibson was 341 feet, while for Ruth it was 365 feet. update=copyright.getFullYear(); By his own account he hit the longest home run of his career on May 22, 1963 at Yankee Stadium. Mark McGwires shot off Randy Johnson (June 24, 1997)Big Mac is one of the few players to ever launch a ball completely out of Dodger Stadium, but were highlighting this one instead thanks to the quality of the pitcher. I swear one of the Angels hit one either on or over the roof in 84 or 85. It should be noted that those regular references over the years to 500- and 600-foot home runs were born out of scientific ignorance, misinformation, or even deliberate exaggeration. "Hat worn by J.A. Article. That homeric deed was performed by the powerful Jimmie Foxx on June 16, 1936. None other than Darren Holmes, the Rockies pitcher who coughed it up, estimates that this ball went probably 560 feet -- off a changeup, no less. Oliva said it was harder to hit one out at Metropolitan than at the Metrodome. I also saw Reggie Jackson with the As strike out about 3 times late in the 1969 season at Tiger Stadium. Before he retired after the 1973 season, he had performed even more extraordinary feats of long-distance hitting in the junior circuit. 3. 521, hit in his final at-bat in the majors at Fenway Park in 1960. It is only fair to also mention the great distance sluggers of the old Negro Leagues. It would have left Tiger Stadium, like Fielders shot, if not for a transformer perched on top of the right-field roof. That was the start of modern long-distance hitting, and it is a testimony to Ruth's uniqueness that he was able to set objective standards of performance that have never been surpassed. The thing is I said " no big deal" yet they would let me leave with it they got another one from their very advanced warehouse. It is a scientific fact that if Mantle, or anyone else, had sufficient strength to hit a ball that was still traveling upward when it met the towering facade, he would also have enough strength to clear that same facade by a distance of at least 100 feet. Thankfully, we gathered the information for you. Years after the fact, Brouthers was credited with a 500-foot home run on the aforementioned date, but it seems highly unlikely that the ball traveled nearly that far. On August 10, 2004, Cincinnati Reds left fielder Adam Dunn hit a 535-foot home run to center field off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jose Lima. Before participating in the varsity squad of William Howard Taft Charter High School, he developed his baseball skills in the West Valley Little League. Yes, Killebrew stroked titanic blasts on consecutive days in June 1967. On June 2, 2017, Manny Machado hit a 465-foot home run off Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello. Guinness also clarifies that Mickey Mantle's home run measured at 643 feet (approximately 196 meters) is the longest home run measured "mathematically after the fact." This home run was hit at Tiger Stadium in Detroit on September 10, 1960. There have been claims . When researching longest home runs, you'll likely run across claims that legends like Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth hit home runs well over 600 feet. Dismiss, Copyright 2022 Vintage Detroit Collection, Spinnaker Center, 44692 Helm St, Plymouth. Brubaker. The blast had an exit velocity of 111.6 to right-center field. Excited to work with Vintage Detroit on future orders. Lets take a look at the longest home runs in the history of each MLB stadium. ! I said, Thats where it landed; thats how we measure them.. No player has ever cleared the left field roof. Americans, along with people everywhere, are fascinated with power. "You guys got to see this kid we have in camp. * Click on a player to see more information about their specific events including videos of plays if available. The blast still stands over 40 years later as the longest homerun in MLB All-Star game history. Estimates on this baby began at 579 feet before being lowered to 529 and then 468, almost as if no one believed a baseball could really be hit that far. You didnt even have to see it; the crack of the bat said it all. I put the location into google maps off I went. Lilly challenged him and Bonds, in the words of broadcaster Jon Miller, hit one to New Jersey. With the guidance of our scientific brethren, we know that once a batted ball has reached its highest point and lost most of its velocity, it falls in a rapidly declining trajectory. The Tigers' Kirk Gibson hit a home run onto the street in 1983 but it was less than 600 feet. The pitch came from Chicago Cubs righty pitcher Francis Beltran. The center field home run was Confortos 13th homer of the season. We could hit the ball as far as they hit today, or farther. Until the Statcast radar era, we really never had. The big guy came to Detroit in 1990 as a free agent after a season in Japan. A former football player, Gibby was sort of like a tight end without the shoulder pads in the outfield for Detroit. The homer, which had an exit velocity of 107.8 mph, was Marisnicks eighth of the season. Honorable mentionsWe could go on all day, of course; dinger lore is wide and vast, and for the ones above we focused on more recent homers with ample video footage. Mo Vaughn at Shea Stadium (June 26, 2002)When the Shea Stadium workers put up that giant beer ad, did any of them think someone would hit a baseball off the blue part, three-quarters of the way up? Ted Williams called it one of the hardest hit balls hed ever seen. Quick shipping as well. By the time Detroit's Tiger Stadium bade farewell 87 years, it had witnessed 11,111 home runs, six World Series, three memorable All-Star games, NFL Championship games and championship boxing. Did you know that the SABR book (Home Run Encyclopedia) lists details about every Major League home run hit by every player since 1876? On the first strike out , he threw his bat, so the fans were booing loudly, and banging the wood seats each time he came up to bat! Almost everyone in attendance believed that the ball was still rising when it was interrupted in midflight by the roof structure. TheNew York Post called it his longest-ever home run.. His longest drive was probably struck on May 4, 1894, at old Union Park in Baltimore. On May 4 of that year, Williams cleared the towering right-field grandstand in Detroit and served notice that he was as powerful as he was refined with a bat in his hands. The great Honus Wagner is said to have hit a drive of comparable length at the Polo Grounds, and Sam Crawford was credited with a 473-foot home run in Detroit. Is there a logical explanation for that behavior? Mee, who was the official scorer in the Twins victory Wednesday, said that homer would have hit the second deck in the Dome, a feat no one has accomplished and probably never will. When Kingman launched his wind-aided blow in Chicago, The New York Times somehow concluded that it had flown 630 feet. Yesterday was the 49th anniversary of what is considered the longest home run ever hit at Metropolitan Stadium. Mantle is generally credited with the longest home run of all time, a clout that left Tiger Stadium on Sept. 10, 1960, and landed in a lumberyard across the street. And if Harmon Killebrew ever hit one farther, the 49th anniversary of that home run is today. Reggie was one hell of a master blaster!!!! The homer was Gallos 23rd of the season. This one hit the second-deck facade in left-center. The trajectory had it coming near me but it just never came down inside the ballpark! Not since Hank Greenberg in the 1940s, had Tiger fans seen a power hitter like Cecil Fielder. What a great game! They checked it over and off I went. During Mantle's rookie season in 1951, he had struck several impressive drives, but it was not until he cleared the left-center-field bleachers at Griffith Stadium two years later that he was crowned as the new King of the Tape Measure. J.D. On September 17, 2019, Miguel Sano hit a 496-foot home run to left-center field off Chicago White Sox pitcher Ross Detwiler. This feat was accomplished at a time before home runs were hit with enough frequency to be considered a regular part of the game. In the case of Nicholson, who was a powerful man, as was Kingman, the figure of 573 feet was provided by "White Sox mathematicians." No sooner than the last word had left his mouth, he did it again.. This memorable blow was knocked down at a linear distance of approximately 415 feet and an altitude of 85 feet. 2. Reid, an engineer, estimates the distance in the air as no less than 610 feet, theTampa Bay Times wrote. But that massive outfield makes it all the more majestic when sluggers crush tape-measure homers, making this ballpark somehow look small. - The University of Missouri baseball team will open its first home series of the 2023 season this weekend at Taylor Stadium, hosting Texas Southern for a three-game set consisting of two seven-inning games on Saturday (March 4) and a 1 p.m. contest Sunday (March 5). In: MLB . Bay Area, Chicago, Milwaukee, Iowa City, Des Moines, St. Paul/Minneapolis. On September 14, 1986, Kansas City Royals right fielder Bo Jackson hit a 475-foot home run to left-center off of Seattle Mariners pitcher Mike Moore. During the 1971 All-Star Game from Detroit's Tiger Stadium "Mr. October" delivered a massive game changing three-run homer to right field that cleared the entirety of the stadium's impressively high standing bleachers. The longest home runs hit at Tiger Stadium in Detroit by Dan Holmes on January 24, 2022 I could hit for average, but that's not my job. Statcast has tracked games at every Major League ballpark for eight seasons now, and with each passing year were getting a better understanding of just how hard and how far a big leaguer can hit a baseball. One of the hardest ever at the corner was a blast by Jimmie Foxx deep into left center, just to the left of the center field scoreboard. 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. I was a little concerned it would let look as good as I hoped, but when I put it on, I loved it. I told Bob Casey about the cover we put on the seat to commemorate the home run, Mee said, and he was telling the fans over the loudspeaker as Killebrew was coming up to bat. On June 23, 2015, Miami Marlin Giancarlo Stanton hit a 479-foot home run to left-center field off of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez. 460 . Legend has it that Bonds promised Bobby Bonilla before the game that hed hit the ball out of the stadium if Yankees pitcher Ted Lilly challenged him inside. Miguel Cabrera, June 29, 2016 (459 feet)Cabrera hit two tape-measure home runs to left-center field at Comerica Park in a nine-day span. St. Petersburg, Fla. Ruth was getting ready for his penultimate season when he drilled a spring training pitch off a hotel on March 25, 1934. 452 Feet - Eric Davis (While playing for the Detroit Tigers) hit a 452 foot shot on Sept. 26th 1993. Bonus points for clubbing this off As ace Dave Stewart, when Smoke was near the peak of his powers. Accounts from the time say the ball came to rest on the banks of the Ohio River, meaning Dunn was potentially feet away from hitting a ball to Kentucky. MSU has posted double-digit runs in two of the seven games (15 runs vs. Michigan on Feb. 17; 13 runs at USC Upstate on Feb. 24), and the Spartans have posted double-digit hits in five of the seven games, with a season-high 18 hits vs. Michigan, along with 15 hits vs. Fresno state on Feb. 19 and 15 hits at Grand Canyon on Feb. 20. I could hit for average, but thats not my job. The most common cause for overstatement has been the basic misconception about the flight of a batted ball once it has reached its apex. With each passing year, others will join the long list of true tape measure champions. The massive slugger connected with a hanging breaking ball from Ivan Nova and crushed it, sending it nearly onto the concourse beyond center field. Wily Mo Pena at GABP (April 17, 2005)This ball was river-bound too, if it wasnt for that pesky upper deck standing in the way. He was an honest, sometimes even self-effacing individual, who was never known to overstate his accomplishments. This years World Series games at Wrigley Field remind us of Babe Ruths legendary home run there, when he allegedly called his shot in Game 3 of the 1932 Fall Classic in Chicago. Have Your Own Jersey? As i pulled in I quickly understood this was a warehouse & office thinking this is a internet retailer. I saw Frank Howard hit his homer over the left field wall in Tiger stadium. Sammy Sosa famously broke one of the windows on that yellow building, but even Slammin Sammy never hit one out there as far as Hill. Fifteen writers from New York, Chicago, and other places emphatically stated that Ruth's fifth-inning drive cleared the 52-foot-wide grandstand roof by a considerable margin. Later in the same game, Cecil Fielder hit a home run over the left field roof to show Canseco who was stronger. The covered upper-deck seats add even more grandeur to Big Cats neck-craner, providing a pad for the ball to thump and trickle down like a golf ball on a putt-putt course. Whether it skips across the top of the railing into the first row of bleachers, or completely passes out of the stadium, the batter is award four bases - no more, no less. The other great distance hitters of that period were Lou Gehrig and Hank Greenberg, but their optimum drives fell about 50 feet short of those struck by Ruth and Foxx. Allen may have hit some of his sport's longest home runs, but neither he nor anyone else ever hit a baseball nearly that far. Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Willie Stargell hit a 507-foot home run to right field on August 5, 1969. Houston Astros Jake Marisnick hit a 469-foot home run to center field off Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price on June 18, 2017. The baseball traveled past the flag pole located in deep center field, over the head of Charles Chick Shorten, over the lower deck, which undoubtedly had only a smattering of fans, and out onto the street. The lore has it that Mickey Mantle hit a 565-foot home run against the Washington Senators in 1953. . Tim Hagerty is the broadcaster for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, and is on Twitter at @MinorsTeamNames. Clemson (14-1) captured a 4-1 win against Michigan State to improve to 14-0, the third longest winning streak in the program's short infancy, before dropping a hard-fought battle in the second game to No. Reggie Jackson was the player who hit one over the right field roof while playing for the California Angels during the May 15, 1984 game at Tiger Stadium. Allen was consistent, hitting 17 home runs for the Cardinals at home and 17 on the road. I saw Jason Rooftop Thompson hit one out of Tiger Stadium over right center field off of Dick Tidrow of the Yankees. Purchased a New Era Gruff Michigan Syaye hat, and I absolutely love it. It was heresy to suggest that Ruth's accomplishments could be surpassed, but for a few seasons it appeared that Foxx might do just that. The home run had an exit velocity of 116 mph and was Zuninos 12 homer of the season. As a kid in May 1967? Seeing great drives land atop distant upper-deck roof, sportswriters observing the occurrence from a press box would resort to their limited skills in mathematics without any regard for the laws of physics. The crowd stood at attention, and at first there was a sense of awe, Kight recounted. The blast was the first of his career. Since 2015, Nomar Mazara owns the longest homer distance at 505 feet. On April 14, 1976, New York Mets right fielder Dave Kingman hit an estimated 530-foot home run to left-center field off Chicago Cubs pitcher Tom Dettore. Ted Williams hit a 502-foot blast to the right-field bleachers on June 9, 1946. And Giancarlo Stanton has hit the hardest tracked homer at a scorching 121.7 mph. Im here to drive home runs. The people there are awesome and they clearly don't get much walk in business however they know their product while intending in only buying one jersey I walked out with much more! One other aspect of misrepresentation should be explored. Landed in the last few rows one per deck bleachers. The ball struck the facade on the right-field roof approximately 370 feet from home plate and 115 feet above field level. The home run was Reyes sixth of the season. Inside Jim Flinn's memory, May 11, 1969, is a web of fuzzy details, a kaleidoscope of greens and grays, aside from the moment that couldn't be more clear. Respect to the camera crew for not flinching and focusing on their work. 5. Own This Day - https://thebaseballpage.comSeptember 10, 1960 - Mickey Mantle unloads a cannon shot clearing the RF roof in Detroit and landing in Brooks Lumb. The ball struck the facade on the right-field roof approximately 370 feet from home plate and 115 feet above field level. And, how far did it go? Tell us in the comments. He had 107 home runs in his four-season career. A blow of 450 feet shows exceptional power, as the majority of major league players are unable to hit a ball that far. Share your opinion on our baseball message boards where a topic on the longest hit ever has already begun. DETROIT A Mickey Mantle buff claims a 1960 home run hit out of Tiger Stadium by the former New York Yankees star is the longest ever measured -- 643 feet, .0069 inches. The seat later was painted bright orange to stand out in the sea of green seats and remained there until the old Met was torn down after the Twins moved to the Metrodome in 1982. The vast popularity of major league baseball's home run hitting contest before the annual All-Star Game is ample evidence that we remain enamored of the players blessed with unique levels of power. The home run went to straightaway center field, clearing the stadium and landing into the street. His most impressive, though, may have been . A 34-mph wind blew toward the bleachers that day, which is why Mee thinks Killebrews second upper-deck shot may actually have been hit harder. So with that in mind, here are to date, in game, the longest home runs ever hit in MLB history. He actually did it twice that season, the first of two straight seasons he was an All-Star for the Tigers. Allen walloped 18 home runs over the 75-foot-high left-field grandstand at Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium, but his opposite-field drives to right and right-center fields may have been even more impressive. The distance of the home run has been estimated at up to 575 feet (175 m). Acunas homer had an exit velocity of 112.9 mph and was his 14th homer of the season. TAMPA, Fla. - The No. On May 4, 2018, Washington Nationals Bryce Harper hit a 473-foot home run to center field off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta. The homer was Machados 11th of the season. He is also the author of"Root for the Home Team: Minor League Baseball's Most Off-the-Wall Team Names.". . by Richard Bak on January 4, 2012. Glenallen Hill - 500 Feet. Not surprisingly, all of the great true distance hitters have also been the source of the greatest exaggerations. Almost everyone in attendance believed that the ball was still rising when it was interrupted in midflight by the roof structure. The home run had an exit velocity of 114.6 mph to center field. 5/5 Clemson Tigers split action on Saturday morning at the USF Tournament in Tampa, Florida. Hitters have been going well beyond that for over a decade. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Alan Foster. Dick Allen, too, played in both leagues, thereby providing himself the advantage of leaving his signature on more ballparks than those who only played in one league. As I recall, it was a sunny Sunday afternoon that day. Only one is honored at the Mall of America, where a stadium seat mounted in the malls amusement park marks the spot where his long homer landed in the upper deck. That ball is measured at 634 feet by the Guinness Book of World Records, but few really believe it went that far on the fly. Entering the 1970s, Reggie Jackson was already established as one of the best ever. Hall of Fame historian Bill Jenkinson once estimated it as the longest home run ever hit. Thirty-one years in newspapers, 20 with the Pioneer Press. I measured it at 435 feet, said Tom Mee, longtime Twins public relations man and official scorer. Why then would anyone care how far they go? The Metrodome home run record is owned by Ben Oglivie, who was with Milwaukee when, on July 27, 1983, he parked one about 12 rows back in the upper deck in right-center. Storys 487-footer from 2018 reached the concourse down the left-field line; Piazza hit the concourse in the left-center power alley. It was hit into the second level of the. If confirmed, it would be the longest home run in 2018 by a long shot. the Nearest to me was Vintage. Directly behind Allen in the historic ranking of tape measure hitters were contemporaries Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey. Unlike the 1971 All Star game blast when his Famous homer hit the light tower in right center and came back onto the field, his 1984 blast TOTALLY cleared the roof and left the stadium. copyright=new Date(); Benjamin Tetteh scored his first goal for . The founding fathers decided to reward a powerfully hit ball by allowing the batter to circle the bases for an automatic run. On June 3, 2012, Texas Rangers right fielder Nelson Cruz hit a 484-foot home run to left-center field off Angels reliever Bobby Cassevah. Perhaps the ball had already flown over 400 feet, whereupon it was interrupted in midflight at a height of 70 feet above field level. Others who should be recognized are Jose Canseco, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey, Jr., Frank Thomas, and Andres Galarraga.