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If the home run is the most exciting play in baseball, than here are the most awesome. Oh, look — it’s another absolute moonshot of a home run at Coors Field. It’s like that place is a special one for hitters or something like that. I love how the camera immediately lost sight of the ball and its trajectory into the third deck. If not for hitting a transformer on Tiger Stadium's roof, the baseball would have experienced a further journey.
It came against the Phillies at Wrigley Field while Kingsman was with the Cubs back in 1979. It happened in the midst of a loss to the Phils on May 17th, a game where he hit a pair of home runs. Kingman’s second was a monstrous blast that found its way three houses deep on Waveland Avenue, before taking off down the street. In a home game for the Red Sox at Fenway Park, Ramirez got around on an offering from Blue Jay left-hander Chris Michalak and made sure he didn’t miss a single piece of it. He crushed it off of the light fixture high above the green monster in left field and atop of the Coca-Cola bottles that sit just below the lights.
Christian Yelich on September 6, 2022: 499 feet
Through seven games in August, he already hit three dingers. If you’re thinking you’ve seen this man on one of our lists before, it’s because you have. McMahon slugged one of the 10 longest homers of 2021, and this 495-foot moonshot all but guarantees he’ll be among that group once again for 2022.
Especially considering the fact that this dinger came off a breaking ball. First, we’ll talk about the longest verified home run ever, and then look at some moonshots from before and during the Statcast era. That wasn’t the case not too long ago, and the Statcast era itself only dates back to 2015. With respect to guys like Babe Ruth (who hit his fair share of no-doubters) and Mickey Mantle , we’re going to limit our list to measurements that were more verified. Reggie Jackson was famously known as Mr. October for hitting three home runs in a 1977 World Series game against the Dodgers.
Adam Dunn, 504 Feet
This would put him in the feasible discussion for the longest round-tripper ever. Mantle’s famous baseball was actually stolen from its display case in the Yankee Stadium by a group of boys who regretted the theft and returned it. Before Strawberry broke the record, the previous longest Olympic Stadium Home Run was made by Willie Stargell at 475 feet.
ESPN's Home Run Tracker has also studied long balls since 2006, giving fans a better sense of how homers travel. Decades before these modern advances, historians were left to make questionable estimations or even use an actual tape measure. Famous hits like Mickey Mantle’s home run are almost always hotly debated, and his was no exception! Some people insist that the wind helped him achieve this amazing record, while others point out that others played in the same conditions with inferior results.
15 3. Adam Dunn - 535 Feet
In a game for the D-backs back in 2004, Sexson delivered a bomb to straight away center field that could barely be followed by the cameraman. On its way down, in cranked off of the scoreboard located well above the playing surface on the second deck level of Chase Field. This blast from Sexson reminds us all why he’s not just one of the best names in sports, but that he was also a home run and RBI producer as well. On June 2, 1987, the Denver Zephyrs hosted the Buffalo Bisons at Mile High Stadium. Aided by the thin air, much like baseballs hit out of Coors Field today, Joey Meyer launched a towering blasted that traveled an absurd 582 feet and is the longest homer ever caught on video. Even in an era where pitchers are throwing harder than ever and hitters are making louder contact, we rarely see 500-foot home runs.
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. One of the largest men ever to play major league baseball, at six feet seven inches, 275 pounds, Howard was the absolute epitome of size and strength. His trail of National League home runs was already legendary when he moved to the American League in 1965.
Adam Dunn, Cincinnati Reds first baseman – 535 feet, Great American Ballpark
In fact, the Indians erected a 12-foot bronze statue in his honor in Heritage Park! Thome said that he was honored, but also a little overwhelmed by the statue, and he readily points out that many other players were just as great. It’s extremely tricky to determine the distance of a home run accurately since so many factors go into a good measurement, but Mo Vaughn’s hit was clearly a milestone! Vaughn was traded to the New York Mets at the end of 2001, and was actually mocked at the beginning of the 2002 season for being out of shape. Despite his slow start and 268-pound stature, Vaughn got some great runs in before his knee problems set in during the 2003 season. Giancarlo Stanton hit the longest home run ever made in Coors Field to date when he played against the Rockies in 2016.
This three-run homer easily made the third deck in left at Target Field, and it made Sanó the fifth Twins player that season to reach 30 homers -- an MLB record. After crushing a a 482-foot shot on Opening Day in '19, Mazara topped himself for the Statcast record with a colossal smash against the White Sox. The left-handed slugger unloaded on a 94.7-mph fastball from Reynaldo López and sent it soaring into the upper deck in right field at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
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. Such renowned sluggers and extraordinary physical specimens as Jose Canseco and Juan Gonzalez have never come genuinely close to the 500-foot threshold. The best effort on the part of either player was Canseco's famous blast into the fifth level at Toronto's Sky Dome during the 1989 American League playoffs, which was estimated at 484 feet. 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.
He also brought quite the intimidating trot around the bases with him here. I do love seeing him take a peek out to left field before rounding third base, too. This was part of Hill’s fourth and final season of 20-plus homers, and the 27 he hit were actually a career-high mark.
On Sept. 27, 2008, the slugger secured his fifth season with 40 deep flies. This blast off Glendon Rusch caromed off the center field awning for an estimated 504 feet. So take any urban legends about someone's 600-foot homer with a grain of salt. As a result, no assortment of baseball's longest blasts can be considered 100 percent credible. With no concrete numbers for anything before 2006, evaluating all-time distances remains an inexact science.
Almost everyone in attendance believed that the ball was still rising when it was interrupted in midflight by the roof structure. Based upon that belief, this drive has commonly been estimated at about 620 feet if left unimpeded. However, the reality is that the ball was already on its way down, and those reporting the trajectory were victimized by a common optical illusion.
Specifically looking at his minor-league career leading up to his MLB debut, Meyer was a legit power threat at each level. Between 1984 and 1987, he slugged at least 24 homers and 92 RBI in each campaign, with two of them going for 30-plus. He also posted an OPS greater than .900 on three different occasions. Bonds’ ball went into a tunnel in right field and was estimated at 485 feet — definitely up there as one of the longest of its time. Dave Kingman was an accomplished home run hitter in his career, retiring in 1986 with 442. None of them would be longer than the one he hit on April 14, 1976 at Wrigley Park.
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