Last night during the New York Yankees/Philadelphia Phillies exhibition game at Yankee Stadium pinch hitter, Mike Ford supposedly hit a 680′ home run in the ninth inning that tied the game at two. The phenomenal record-breaking home run to right field was a definite glitch on Statcast part. The homer was more likely 480′, if that.
One thing you should know is that there is seldom an accurate way to measure a home run that leaves the park. Distance records have only been kept since 2006. But many players have hit long home runs that have been measured by acceptable methods for the time in which they were hit.
According to records, the longest home run ever hit was by the baseball legend New Yankee Babe Ruth in 1921 for a record 575′. If Ford record is to be believed, Ford’s home run went 100′ further than any ball in baseball history. Unlikely to say the least. Most of the recorded records are with feet of each other. The most recent blast was recorded by Mickey Mantle for 565′ nearly equalling Ruth’s record.
Other long balls are New York Yankees Reggie Jackson’s 539′ dinger in 1973, Willie Stargell the Pirate’s moon shot for 535′, the Red’s Adam Dunns 535′ long ball, and Dave Kingman’s 530′ homer in 1976. As you can see, the strength of some of the greatest home run hitters of all time is similar. A 680′ home run could only come from a bionic man.
Putting aside the stat cast error, Mike Ford can definitely hit for power; he showed that with his twelve homers in fifty games last season. That ball he hit to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth surely went a long way as it apparently traveled out of the park.
So far the longest home run of the summer camp was officially recorded at 448′ and it was blasted into the upper bleachers by Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Ford’s home may have topped that, but it remains questionable.
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