Few things in sports compare to a massive home run, the kind that can either ignite a stadium ablaze or take the air out of the facility. There's just something about the power of the swing, the crack of the bat and the velocity of the ball that attracts everyone near and far. The longer the ball travels, the bigger the moment. Let's take a look at 10 of baseball's longest home runs.
10. Mo Vaughn, 505 ft. (2008)
On June 26, 2002, the Mets hosted the Atlanta Braves at the cavernous relic Shea Stadium. With the game tied at zero in the bottom of the second, Mo Vaughn stepped to the plate. After missing all of 2001 due to injury, the first baseman came back to the game reinvigorated, bashing 26 homers before the year was complete.
With the bases empty, Mo Vaughn crushed a pitch from Tom Glavine that bounced off Shea Stadium's scoreboard in deep center-field, 505 feet away. Although Vaughn gave his team the early lead, the Mets still lost to the Braves 6-3.
9. Jim Thome, 511 ft. (1999)
It was the back-end of a double-header on July 3, 1999 in Cleveland's Jacobs Field. The boisterous crowd of 40,707 was feeling the moment, having witnessed a nail-biting 9-8 win over the Royals just an hour earlier. But Kansas City had taken some of the life out of the crowd, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
In the bottom of the second, Cleveland's Jim Thome bashed a ball over Don Wengert. The ball then hopped once on the concourse and bounced onto Eagle Avenue (now Larry Doby Avenue). At 511 feet, it was the longest home run in the ballpark's short history. To top it off, the Indians won again, 9-5, ending the memorable day on a very good note.
8. Darryl Strawberry, 525 ft. (1988)
It was almost as if he was the poster child of the word "sinewy", but somehow, someway, Darryl Strawberry made a career out of hitting a little white ball great distances. None was greater than what could have been on Opening Day 1988.
The Mets were visiting the Montreal Expos and were already down by a run at the top of the second when Strawberry strode to the plate. Dennis Martinez could only watch as Strawberry struck the ball just perfectly at just the right angle to carome off of the Olympic Stadium roof.
Since the ball never actually left the facility, this one was tough to calculate. After the Mets beat the Expos 10-6, Professor Bob Moore of McGill University calculated the distance. It would have been an astonishing 525 feet.
7. Dave Kingman, 530 ft. (1976)
The Mets were visiting Wrigley Field on this mid-April afternoon. Up 3-2 at the top of the sixth, Dave Kingman walked to the plate. He then bashed a homer off of Tom Dettore, watching the ball rise high into the air before it glided down to bounce off of a house 530 feet away. Even though Wayne Garrett also scored on that play, the Mets still managed to lose 6-5. But that would be far from Dave Kingman's last great homer at the Friendly Confines.
T-5. Adam Dunn 535 ft. (2004); Willie Stargell (1978)
In the history of the game, just two men have sent a baseball 535 feet. Each moment was unique and special in the eyes of the beholder.
Willie Stargell entered Olympic Stadium two homers shy of tying Duke Snider's all-time mark. With the Dodgers legend working as a broadcaster for the game, Stargell lived up to the moment, blasting a three run homer off of the Expos' Wayne Twitchell in the first inning. The Pirates still led 3-0 when Stargell again swung his mighty bat against Twitchell.
While the Pirates cruised to a forgettable 6-0 win, easily the most memorable play of the day was Stargell launching the ball almost to the roof. The crowd was in awe as the ball landed in upper right-field. Impressed, the Expos (who lost 6-0 that afternoon) painted the seat where the ball landed a shade of Pittsburgh Pirates yellow. Today, it resides in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
It was August 10, 2004 when Adam Dunn strode out of the batter's box at Great American Ball Park. Staring at a 1-4 deficit against the Dodgers at the bottom of the sixth inning, Dunn blasted the pitch completely out of the ballpark and into orbit. Or in this case, the state of Kentucky, as the ball came to rest on the edge of the Ohio River.
4. Reggie Jackson, 539 ft. (1971)
This list wouldn't be complete without Reggie Jackson's 539 foot blast in the 1971 All Star Game. With the American League down 0-3 in the bottom of the third inning, Jackson blasted one off of Pittsburgh's Dock Ellis, sending the ball so far into deep center-field that it struck Tiger Stadium's roof. To sweeten the swing just a little bit more, the homer also sent Luis Aparicio home, cutting the deficit to a single run, sparking a rally that would earn the A.L an exhilarating 6-4 victory.
3. Dave Kingman, 550 ft (1979)
Less than three years after crushing a memorable 530 foot homer into Wrigleyville, Dave Kingman returned to the scene, only this time he was a Cub. The afternoon of May 17, 1979 brought one of baseball's most unusual games. The pitchers might as well have stayed home as seemingly everybody was hitting a home run. In total, 50 balls were hit with 11 crushed for homers that day.
While the Phillies would win 23-22, lost in the explosives was Dave Kingman's booming 550 footer off of Ron Reed in the bottom of the sixth. His third homer of the day certainly traveled a healthy chunk of the Windy City, launching over the left-field fence and over Waveland Avenue before plopping down on the porch of the third house on Kenmore Avenue.
2. Mickey Mantle, 565 ft (1953)
Mickey Mantle was always known for his big bat. With forearms practically the size of sycamores, it was very difficult to imagine him launching baseball after baseball out of the ballpark. On April 17, 1953, exactly two years to the day since his major league debut, he slammed his longest one ever.
At the top of the fifth, with the Yankees leading 2-1, Mantle stepped to the plate carrying a bat that he had hastily borrowed from. a teammate. The strange lumber didn't bother him one bit as he crushed Chuck Stobbs' pitch for an incredible 565 feet, sending the ball far past the 391 foot mark and past 32 rows of bleachers before it caromed off an ad 460 feet from home plate before it ultimately cleared Fifth Street and rolled the rest of the 565 feet, into the backyard of 434 Oakdale Street.
Babe Ruth, 575 ft. (1921)
Babe Ruth had been bashing homer across the A.L. for years and now here he stood, tied with Roger Connor for most home runs in a career at 138, all the Babe needed was just one more dinger to become baseball's home run king.
At the top of the eighth inning with the Yankees leading the tigers 8-1, Ruth absolutely obliterated rookie Bert Cole's fastball, As the ball flew out of Detroit's Navin Field, both Ruth and Roger Peckinpaugh strode home, scoring the Yankees' last two runs of the afternoon. The distance? An estimated 575 feet. A stretch fitting for a king.