Jim Thome-He's pretty strong

[DrunkBomber]

To high, to high

What you mean its too high?

[iamshack]

464 official distance.

 

Yeah, I was at the game, and 464 was what they posted on the scoreboard.

 

I don't know if I have ever seen a centerfielder give up on a ball that quickly.

 

Seems farther than 464 though, given the height it was when it hit the screen over the ivy...

[Gregory Pratt]

THat is why the supposed 600+ ft bombs by Mantle are so amazing. I still have a REAL hard time believing someone can hit a ball 550+ ft.

 

Mantle never hit one 600 feet, and there's no story out there that he did. He is alleged to have hit one 564, but that is not true. Bill Jenkinson spoke to the person who found the ball, and he says that he found the ball, and walked away with it, but not all that far. When someone came to look for it, they assumed that where they found him was where the ball landed.

 

Mantle's was over 500, but closer to 530 than 564. Nowhere near 600, and no one has ever hit it, although there is some speculation -- notably by Bill Jenkinson, who is the only authority on Distance Homeruns -- that Ruth hit one.

 

So, Mantle was amazing, and so's Ruth and so's Thome.

 

Interestingly, guys like Bonds and Sosa are not genuine tape-measure homerun hitter (Bonds has never hit one 500 feet, and Sosa's only 500 foot homeruns were with the wind blowing way out at Wrigley). I mean, they're both good homerun hitters enhanced by steroids, but they don't belong in the same class as these guys for distance:

 

Ruth

Williams

Mantle

Foxx

Dick Allen

Reggie Jackson

Adam Dunn

Kingman

Thome

Stargell

 

Those are just guys off the top of my head who are very, very powerful hitters in terms of sheer distance, according to Jenkinson who has logged all homeruns and ranked power hitters by pure power. Interestingly, according to him, only Dick Allen has had comparable oppo-power to Ruth.

[justBLAZE]

465 according to hittracker.com, regardless I thought 500+ for sure, that was a huge shot.

[Chisoxfn]

Mantle never hit one 600 feet, and there's no story out there that he did. He is alleged to have hit one 564, but that is not true. Bill Jenkinson spoke to the person who found the ball, and he says that he found the ball, and walked away with it, but not all that far. When someone came to look for it, they assumed that where they found him was where the ball landed.

 

Mantle's was over 500, but closer to 530 than 564. Nowhere near 600, and no one has ever hit it, although there is some speculation -- notably by Bill Jenkinson, who is the only authority on Distance Homeruns -- that Ruth hit one.

 

So, Mantle was amazing, and so's Ruth and so's Thome.

 

Interestingly, guys like Bonds and Sosa are not genuine tape-measure homerun hitter (Bonds has never hit one 500 feet, and Sosa's only 500 foot homeruns were with the wind blowing way out at Wrigley). I mean, they're both good homerun hitters enhanced by steroids, but they don't belong in the same class as these guys for distance:

 

Ruth

Williams

Mantle

Foxx

Dick Allen

Reggie Jackson

Adam Dunn

Kingman

Thome

Stargell

 

Those are just guys off the top of my head who are very, very powerful hitters in terms of sheer distance, according to Jenkinson who has logged all homeruns and ranked power hitters by pure power. Interestingly, according to him, only Dick Allen has had comparable oppo-power to Ruth.

You left off the most powerful HR hitter I've ever seen, Mark McGwire. That guy hit tape measure home run after tape measure home run. He was absolutely ridiculous.

[Gregory Pratt]

I did leave off McGwire, and I apologize for that. You're right.

 

However, his homeruns are steroid-inflated, but still: that sort of power does not come just with steroids, and Mac deserves some recognition.

 

What IS interesting is that Jenkinson puts a gold star by every homerun that has ever been hit that went over 450 feet, because anything over 450 is significant and powerful. McGwire had about 90, and Ruth? Nearly 200.

[SoxFan1]

I did leave off McGwire, and I apologize for that. You're right.

 

However, his homeruns are steroid-inflated, but still: that sort of power does not come just with steroids, and Mac deserves some recognition.

 

What IS interesting is that Jenkinson puts a gold star by every homerun that has ever been hit that went over 450 feet, because anything over 450 is significant and powerful. McGwire had about 90, and Ruth? Nearly 200.

Ruth also swung a 40+ ounce bat against inferior pitching.

[Gregory Pratt]

I do not share that interpretation of Ruth's context, but I welcome your expanded thoughts on the subject.

[SoxFan1]

I do not share that interpretation of Ruth's context, but I welcome your expanded thoughts on the subject.

Ruth + 2008 = Not one of the best ever.

[BearSox]

Ruth also swung a 40+ ounce bat against inferior pitching.

I guarantee you that if Ruth was playing in today's game, he'd lead the league with 100+ homers every year. While you might consider the pitching back then as "inferior", now a days you don't have to worry about bean ball at your head (with no helmet I might add). Plus, now a-days, a hitter can focus on mainly the middle-outer part of the plate, as umps don't call the inside strike anymore. Also, I should add that the strike-zone now a days is extremely smaller then it was back in the early 1900's.

 

Plus, the fact that Ruth would hit more homeruns in a year than most organizations would in a year is pretty telling as to how good Ruth actually was. And his ability to swing a 46 ounce bat is unbelievable. How anyone can get as much bat speed as he did with such a big bat is amazing.

[T R U]

I guarantee you that if Ruth was playing in today's game, he'd lead the league with 100+ homers every year. While you might consider the pitching back then as "inferior", now a days you don't have to worry about bean ball at your head (with no helmet I might add). Plus, now a-days, a hitter can focus on mainly the middle-outer part of the plate, as umps don't call the inside strike anymore. Also, I should add that the strike-zone now a days is extremely smaller then it was back in the early 1900's.

 

Plus, the fact that Ruth would hit more homeruns in a year than most organizations would in a year is pretty telling as to how good Ruth actually was. And his ability to swing a 46 ounce bat is unbelievable. How anyone can get as much bat speed as he did with such a big bat is amazing.

 

What in the hell??

 

Babe Ruth would get OWNED in todays game, get the hell out of here bearsox

[SoxFan1]

I guarantee you that if Ruth was playing in today's game, he'd lead the league with 100+ homers every year.

I stopped reading there.

[Gregory Pratt]

Ruth + 2008 = Not one of the best ever.

 

If the discussion is, "What would Babe Ruth do if he were alive in the year 2008?" it is important to remember that Babe Ruth would be 113 years old, so he wouldn't be "one of the best ever" but I'm sure he could hold his own.

[BobDylan]

If the discussion is, "What would Babe Ruth do if he were alive in the year 2008?" it is important to remember that Babe Ruth would be 113 years old, so he wouldn't be "one of the best ever" but I'm sure he could hold his own.

 

That depends on if his manager lets him drink before, during and after the game or not.

Edited June 5, 2008 by BobDylan

[Heads22]

If the discussion is, "What would Babe Ruth do if he were alive in the year 2008?" it is important to remember that Babe Ruth would be 113 years old, so he wouldn't be "one of the best ever" but I'm sure he could hold his own.

 

He'd probably be elated at the prospect of an uneventful bowel movement.

[Hawkfan]

Remember kids, heroes get remembered..,.,, but legends never die

[SoxFan562004]

Mantle never hit one 600 feet, and there's no story out there that he did. He is alleged to have hit one 564, but that is not true. Bill Jenkinson spoke to the person who found the ball, and he says that he found the ball, and walked away with it, but not all that far. When someone came to look for it, they assumed that where they found him was where the ball landed.

 

Mantle's was over 500, but closer to 530 than 564. Nowhere near 600, and no one has ever hit it, although there is some speculation -- notably by Bill Jenkinson, who is the only authority on Distance Homeruns -- that Ruth hit one.

 

So, Mantle was amazing, and so's Ruth and so's Thome.

 

Interestingly, guys like Bonds and Sosa are not genuine tape-measure homerun hitter (Bonds has never hit one 500 feet, and Sosa's only 500 foot homeruns were with the wind blowing way out at Wrigley). I mean, they're both good homerun hitters enhanced by steroids, but they don't belong in the same class as these guys for distance:

 

Ruth

Williams

Mantle

Foxx

Dick Allen

Reggie Jackson

Adam Dunn

Kingman

Thome

Stargell

 

Those are just guys off the top of my head who are very, very powerful hitters in terms of sheer distance, according to Jenkinson who has logged all homeruns and ranked power hitters by pure power. Interestingly, according to him, only Dick Allen has had comparable oppo-power to Ruth.

 

He has hit some ridiculous bombs. For pure distance, Sexson has hit some insane bombs too. The one he hit against the Cubs when he was with the D'Backs to center field was crazy.

[YASNY]

You left off the most powerful HR hitter I've ever seen, Mark McGwire. That guy hit tape measure home run after tape measure home run. He was absolutely ridiculous.

 

I'd agree but for the fact that he too was 'enhanced'.

 

One name left off that list the hit some monster shots is Frank Howard.

[Kyyle23]

Is the distance of a homerun supposed to be measured by the straight line from the point of contact to where it landed?

 

What in the hell??

 

Babe Ruth would get OWNED in todays game, get the hell out of here bearsox

 

LOL Shadows, cutting straight to the point

Edited June 5, 2008 by kyyle23

[YASNY]

The hardest hit ball I ever saw in person was a line shot by Dick Allen that hit the brick wall at the back of the bullpen in old Comiskey. If I recall, that wall was 440 feet from the plate. The pitcher reached up to try and catch the ball as it passed the mound, and was still on the rise when it hit the bricks. The ball then bounced back over the bullpen fence, back onto the field of play. My father and I were walking to our seats and happened to be standing directly behind home plate.

[TCQ]

Ruth may have faced inferior pitching but im also sure that he played a lot of games at fields like the polo grounds or shibe park or ebbets field where dimensions were over 450 feet to some fields. At todays fields Ruth would hit plenty of home runs, could you imagine if ruth played at Coors field?

[Kyyle23]

Ruth may have faced inferior pitching but im also sure that he played a lot of games at fields like the polo grounds or shibe park or ebbets field where dimensions were over 450 feet to some fields. At todays fields Ruth would hit plenty of home runs, could you imagine if ruth played at Coors field?

 

Can you imagine todays athletes running circles around his hotdog engorged a$$?

 

You just cannot compare eras by saying "can you imagine if he hit in this park? He would have been awesome." And you cannot make the Bearsox gaurantee of 100 homeruns either. The game has changed, the athletes playing the game have changed

[klaus kinski]

I was there and that ball left the premises as fast as any I've seen-and I was there for the Tejada AND Pasqua concourse shots. To this day, I feel they did not measure the Pasqua shot right-it hit the sign behind Right field reserved seats.

 

464 seemed a bit short too last night.

 

Next hardest one I saw in person was Frank Howard hitting the wall behind the bullpen at Comisky probably in 1965 or so.

[southsider2k5]

In person the hardest hit ball I ever saw was the interleague game a few years back where Bartolo Colon had struck out Barry Bonds three times in 3 ABs and pitched to him in the 9th inning. He hit a ball about 20 rows up in section 100 or 101.

[29andPoplar]

Ruth may have faced inferior pitching but im also sure that he played a lot of games at fields like the polo grounds or shibe park or ebbets field where dimensions were over 450 feet to some fields. At todays fields Ruth would hit plenty of home runs, could you imagine if ruth played at Coors field?

Interesting point. Actually he did play a lot of games at the Polo Grounds, with its notoriously short distances down the lines and overhangs that made fly balls home runs. The Yankees shared the Polo Grounds with the NY Giants from 1913 to 1922 and Ruth wasn't thrilled about leaving there for Yankee Stadium when it was built in 1923. Of course, Yankee Stadium had a short porch in RF as well ... very short.

 

Also of note is Ruth hit a ton of home runs in League Park in Cleveland. League Park was more or less the predecessor of Cleveland Municipal Stadium which is where the new Cleveland Browns stadium now stands. League Park was something like 291 feet down the RF line and I recall reading Ruth hit a bunch there. By the way the League Park site is still there and there are still a few rememberances of the ballpark standing even though it was torn down more than 50 years ago.

 

I don't remember reading what the dimensions at Shibe Park in Philadelphia were, although Ruth did play there a lot when it was the Philadelphia Athletics.

 

Not trying to disparage Ruth here at all, just pointing out some short RF distances in the old parks.

 

Conversely, Willie Mays' HR numbers probably suffered because he was a gap hitter. He played 6 years at the Polo Grounds where the dimensions changed drastically from the foul poles to CF and then of course later at Candlestick in SF where a whole bunch of HR's were knocked down by those crazy winds.