The story of Mickey Mantle's record-setting, 565-foot home run blast at Washington's Griffith Stadium goes a little something like this: Mantle hit a ball off an advertisement sign estimated at 460 feet from home plate, the ball flew out of the stadium, a kid apparently had it in his backyard behind the stadium, a Yankee PR guy went and snatched and voila: there's your 565 feet.But thanks to that damn new-fangled technology and Jeff "Blue Steel" Passan's intrepid reporting, it looks like there's not way on Earth that was even possible.
The more evidence surfaced to debunk it, the stronger the legend of 565 grew. Mantle himself said the home run he hit May 22, 1963, off Bill Fischer would have traveled farther had it not bounced off the right-field façade of Yankee Stadium. The work of physics professors, particularly Robert Adair, cast doubts on the ability of a ball to travel 500 feet, let alone 565.So yes, there goes mathematics ruining the purity and esprit de corps of our national pastime once again. Jim Armstrong must be livid about this."The ball could not have flown farther than 515 feet," Jenkinson says, and even that, he believes, is a stretch. One physicist told him it went 498 feet. Jenkinson, whose book "Baseball's Ultimate Power: The Kings of the Tape Measure" is set to come out next year, thinks it went 505 feet. A phenomenal home run, yes, one only a handful of players could hit. Not the best, though.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
4-17-2008 @ 8:35PM
harold rissell said...
I was a young 7 year old Mickey Mantle fan attending that game w/ my father..when Mick crushed that ball it shot out of the park..565 feet..looked like the ball went on forever..
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4-17-2008 @ 9:35PM
Steve said...
I would have to do some reseach, but I question the professors who make judgments based on incomplete information.
The ball hit by Mantle just nicked the top of a National Bohemian beer sign at the top of a steep bleacher section. The Yankee PR man carried a tape-measure with him, and immediatly left the press box to measure Mantle's HR. Your stated estimate of 460 feet from home plate to the top of the sign is questionable. Even if the estimate is correct, could a ball at that height travel another 105 feet. Yes, it could. Remember, the ball just nicked the top of the sign, slowing its ascent only a little as it left the park.
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4-17-2008 @ 9:54PM
JOHN WRIGHT said...
DOES IT REALLY MATTER EXACTLY HOW FAR THAT HOMERUN WENT?? ALL I KNOW, IT WAS HIT BY THE GREATEST ALL AROUND BALLPLAYER AND I AM SURE IF THEY PLAY BALL IN HEAVEN, MANTLE WILL BE THE ALL-STAR CENTERFIELDER.
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4-17-2008 @ 10:55PM
NeonDon said...
Who gives a rat's *ss how far a blast like that ACTUALLY went? It gave the fans that day a thrill they'll never remember. Can't we EVER just enjoy something without it having to be either proven or debated? It's a friggen' game, not fodder for the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE or NOBEL PRIZE. Does any schmuck think it's going to diminish Mickey's memory or legend? I'm surprised you'd even waste space printing this crap! Maybe if the kid hadn't picked it up, it would've rolled another 10 feet. For chrissake. What stupidity.
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4-17-2008 @ 10:56PM
NeonDon said...
Make that, they'll never FORGET!! Got a little upset.
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4-17-2008 @ 11:05PM
Nick said...
Is there nothing sacred anymore? Leave Mickey alone. The next thing you'll be hearing from these "so called, reality show watching, techno-nerds" is Bill Gates is not really a geek. (Sorry Bill).
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4-17-2008 @ 11:08PM
JustDon said...
Remove all the cr*p beyond the fences in all the outfields so we'll know exactly how far every HR hit goes, 'cause it's worthless watching them without knowing how far they went. What mundane junk to waste time and space with. I knew I was wasting my time even looking up every time Griffey hit one!!!!!
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4-17-2008 @ 11:39PM
LSt said...
The Mick's greatest HR was about '63, or so. I remember it as being in KC, but could be confusing it with when he almost hit one of Finley's sheep on the grassy knoll...
He had broken his foot in Baltimore when his spikes caught in the outfield fence.he was unable to run & came to bat as a PH... the options were: hit a HR or be thrown out from anywhere in the park as he hobbled to 1st.
Home Run!! "How about that?"
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4-17-2008 @ 11:48PM
Al Shalhoub said...
Some one from the Red Sox Nation is trying to rewrite history just like there politions.
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4-18-2008 @ 2:01AM
Jim Stelling said...
You guys got it,
one of the best players ever and no drugs back then.
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4-18-2008 @ 3:31AM
edwoode054 said...
I think the Mick was one of the greatest players of all time. One of the great drinkers too. He hit that home run without the benefit of steroids too. Not many can say that today. Besides the better question would be who could drink the most ....Mickey, Billy or Whitey. I'm betting on the amoral Billy Martin myself. He was a disgrace.......eD
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4-18-2008 @ 3:35AM
edwoode054 said...
I think my friend John Gutch could hit one further. He is quite a man. Also if any hot girls wanna e-mail me my e-mail is edwood054 and that';s a yahoo address. Remember hot girls only ha.......eD
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4-18-2008 @ 6:23AM
Samwise said...
What difference does it matter now? When truth and legend collide, print the legend.
On May 22, 1963, against Kansas City's Bill Fischer, Mantle hit a ball that fellow players and fans noted was still RISING when it hit the 110-foot high facade in right field in Yankee Stadium, then caromed back onto the playing field. It was later estimated that the ball would have traveled 620 feet had it not been impeded by the ornate and distinctive facade.
How are the engineers going to debunk this one?
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4-18-2008 @ 9:23AM
Dudley said...
I was there - as were all the elementary school crossing guards who got in for free. We were in the back of the lower deck so we couldn't see much of the sky or the beer sign. Chuck Stobbs threw a fastball and Mickey swung. The left fielder looked up, then turned around and faced the bleachers. A fan in the bleachers ran to the top to look over the wall to see where the ball went. The next morning, one of the Wash papers had a picture of a brick building across the street with a white X drawn where the ball supposedly hit. It might have gone further except for the building. 565 feet is also the height of the Washington Monument.
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4-18-2008 @ 9:26AM
tom meilander said...
As Mickey was my favorite player, it may as well traveled 1,000 feet. Only 565 feet? I remember my first Mickey Mantle baseball card, 1960 TOPPS, and how disappointed I was that on the back of his card, it listed only 280 homeruns. I was certain he had hit over 1,000 homeruns and as a 6 year old, it was my first "reality check" with the Mick. He was not superman! Oh well, he hit em' as far as anyone and that was the Mick! Let the legend live!
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4-18-2008 @ 4:43PM
MaxFilbert said...
Mickey was the greatest!
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4-19-2008 @ 2:22AM
NeonDon said...
WELL POSTMANR, GUESS YOUR HEADLINE HAS BEEN "DEBUNKED" BY THE INTELLIGENT READERS WHO WERE KIND ENOUGH TO YOU TO READ YOUR IDIOTIC PIECE!!!!!
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4-19-2008 @ 8:06AM
ANGELO GRECO SR. said...
HE WAS THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER PERIOD. PLAYED HURT ALL THE TIME, BET IF HEALTHY HE HITS 800 HOMERUNS. PLUS BRAKES MANY OTHER RECORDS.
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4-20-2008 @ 6:12AM
Padra said...
Hey Guys, the caps button is on the left about half way down. Press once!
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4-20-2008 @ 6:14AM
Tim said...
Britney Spears NAKED again:
http://celebritiesvidz.com/videos.php?v=Britney_Spears
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