The Longest Home Run David Laurila Has Ever Seen
In the introduction to the most recent edition of FanGraphs Audio — featuring interviews with Tampa Bayers Will Rhymes and Luke Scott — David Laurila notes that the longest home run he’s ever seen was hit by Miguel Cabrera during batting practice before a recent Tigers-Red Sox game at Fenway Park.
Laurila goes on to say that said home run was hit over the Bank of America sign in center field — which sign I have brought to the reader’s attention via red circles by means of a program similar to, but not precisely the same as, Adobe Photoshop.
Image stolen shamelessly and without shame from NESN.
Carson Cistulli says terrible things at The New Enthusiast.
I know homeruns aren’t typically measured in bp, but does anyone have at least an estimated number on how far it was?
Sweet goodness!
That probably would have gone through the roof of Tequila Rain
based on google earth it is 455 feet from home plate to that sign. Google Earth’s ruler is pretty exact, and you can see the sign and home plate quite clearly, so that 455 number is probably within a foot or two of being correct. I can’t tell how high the sign is, but it is clearly higher than the Green Monster, which is 37 feet high. Based on sizing up the photo with my eagle like eyesight, I estimate that the Bank of America sign is approximately 40% higher than the Monster, making it roughly 14-15 feet high, plus the 37 = 51-52 feet high.
In other words, after travelling 455 feet, it was still over 50 feet in the air. That is if the ball just cleared the sign by an inch or so. Its possible the ball was significantly higher than the sign, we will never know. In any case, we are most likely talking about something that went more than 500 feet.
Or:
At least 92.3 Altuves
Judging from the picture it’s either 6 or 7 furlongs
Ohhhhhh did you use the GIMP for editing your photo????
I’ve got the center of the sign at 60 feet above field level, but “only” 437 horizontal feet. To clear that point, it would be at least 485 feet, if you use the “true distance” method which measures back down to field level.
It could of course be more than that…
I go with McGwire’s in the 1999 homerun derby. It went over the monster and parking deck.