I was at a baseball clinic a few years ago, where the featured speaker was a guy from my old high school: Steve Bast. He had been a super athlete; QB in football of our championship team and later a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. He gave it all up to become a doctor and he's currently the team doctor of our football team, along with being a nationally recognized expert in sports medicine and baseball (pitching) injuries. http://greatest21days.blogspot.com/2010/02/steven-bast-student-athlete-260.html http://www.ucomparehealthcare.com/drs/california/orthopedic_surgery/Bast_Steven.html According to Dr. Bast, it's impossible for human beings to consistently throw a baseball faster than 102mph without injuring themsleves. In a series of experiments with corpses and an electronically wired Dodger pitcher named Orel Hershiser, Bast found that under 102mph, the human body uses it's bone structure to support the arm/shoulder throwing mechanism. Beyond 102mph, the tendons and ligaments are unsupported and tend to tear, stretch or break, which can cause permanent damage. That radar gun was juiced: 105-107mph doesn't exist in the real world without injury. Like the 600ft home run, it's another myth from baseball fantasyland. ........JO'Co
I'll buy that. Now as far as the HR goes. The longest one I ever saw was Reggie Jackson's in the 1968-70(?) All-Star game. I had an opportunity to ask Johnnie Bench the same question and he admitted that was the longest he had seen as well. How far do you think that one would have gone?
Sabermetricians.....you know...those guys who study the physics and math of baseball, claim that the longest possible home run on planet earth, by a human being is something like 556 feet. Jackson's blast went over the fence at the 370ft mark; the generator on top of the roof was 100ft high and the damn thing was still rising when it struck the generator. The estimate at that time was 550ft if it had been unobstructed, which is at the outer limits of what a human being can do... Jackson's HR http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-07-03/sports/17254862_1_all-star-homer-all-star-games-williams-homers BTW- I was at Angel Stadium in 1968 when Carl Yastremski of the Red Sox hit the longest home run in the history of that place and it went well over 500 feet too. That was before the Big A had outfield seats and the incredible shot just disappeared into the darkness as it was still rising. When Yaz hit it, there was an electric shock to the whole crowd. Everything went dead silent as 30,000 just watched it go in stupefied amazement. Then the entire place exploded. The Red Sox poured out of their dugout and pounded him like it was the Little League World Series; jumping around like little kids. I've never seen anything like it on any level. Longest HRs http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/art_hr.shtml Sabermetrics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabermetrics#Examples_of_sabermetric_measurements
Darryl Strawberry put one right next to my Explorer at Shea back in the mid 80s. I was parked well beyond the RF wall. That was 500+ if it was an inch.
I saw the Mantle shot on TV when it occurred. Maybe it wasn't still going up when it hit the facade. I'll always wonder why it appeared to go up after it hit rather than traveling down.
Aug 31, 11:41 PM (ET) By JOE KAY (AP) Cincinnati Reds' Joey Votto (19) hits a double off Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Yovani... Full Image CINCINNATI (AP) -Aroldis Chapman was too fast to hit. Soon, the Cincinnati Reds could be too far ahead to catch. The Cuban defector made an eye-opening big league debut, topping out at 102 mph during his perfect inning, and the Reds added to their rapidly growing lead in the NL Central by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 8-4 on Tuesday night. Cincinnati wrapped up the best August by any team and moved a season-high seven games ahead of St. Louis, which lost to Houston 3-0. The Reds haven't led by so many games since 1995, the last time they reached the playoffs. Now, they have a radar-busting reliever to help them get there again. Chapman made quick work of the three batters he faced - a strikeout by Lucroy on an 86 mph slider and two weak ground balls by Craig Counsell and pinch-hitter Carlos Gomez. Half of his eight pitches reached triple digits, topping out at 102.