[giants1957]

what player do you think have a chance to hit the longest homerun in history? we all know Mickey Mantle has that record......im think Mike Stanton has a real good chance at this record......what do you think?

[bustin 5 knots]

Carlos Peña

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The longest verifiable home run ever was Babe Ruth, at 575 feet. Mantle's "643" foot homer was measured after the ball stopped rolling.

[coimbre 21]

I used to think Josh Hamilton could but Mitch Moreland hit a monster into the upper, upper deck in Seattle, probably the longest home run I saw hit last year.

I've always seen this as an imprecise record though but the official numbers provided by B5K are correct. I believe to precisely measure a home run, it has to land on a point on the same level plane from which it was hit, which is rare for huge HRs. Take Reggie's all star game homer for instance. It hit the light tower at Tiger Stadium but where would it have truly landed had it not been obstructed? There are only estimates for how long Reggie's ball or most other obstructed shots would have traveled. Even with today's technology, I'm not as confident that velocity, trajectory, rate of descent, wind resistance, etc are being accurately captured and factored to make a precise measurement.

If I had my pick of anyone in history to match against any other player though, I'd have to take Dave Kingman. He consistently hit the longest HR's I've ever seen, hitting one into the Mets parking lot which came to a rolling stop after 600+ ft . . . With the Giants, his HR smashed the team bus window after his HR sailed over the Mets bullpen and out of Shea Stadium . . . Another into an apartment behind Waveland Ave where the tenant was watching the game on TV only to have King Kong's HR crash through his window . . . One several houses down Kenmore Ave in the famous Phillies Cubs slugfest . . . Another down Kenmore estimated at 600ft . . . Hit a ball that stuck into the roof of the Metrodome for a ground rule double. He even hit amazing foul balls, one which I saw him pull on a trajectory between first and third over the Yankee Stadium upper deck facade and OUT of the stadium . . . Another hit the roof edge (the technical ring) at Olympic Stadium which was ruled foul because no one had ever hit one there before. Later Darryl Strawberry would hit the same ring which was then ruled a HR. Kingman was ranked 6th All Time in HR frequency when he retired. Sorry for the lengthy Kingman bit but I just loved watching the guy hit HRs.

[zeprock]

It's been reported that Negro Leaguer Josh Gibson hit one of the longest home runs in the history of Yankee Stadium -- an estimated 580 ft. Another story says that Gibson has hit the only home run in history that went out of Yankee Stadium.

[xciceroguy3354726]

Glenallen Hill put one on the roof across from Wrigley. That's gotta be one of the longest.