Petriello: Did Ted's 'red seat' HR really go 502 feet? No, It went farther!

[soxhop411]

Mike Petriello just posted a really good article that relies on new analytical data to not only prove that Teds HR went 502 feet, but that measurements back then may have underestimated the distance

Ten seasons on, the technology has been upgraded more than once, added the ability to capture weather data, and each ballpark has been scanned down to the inch. Since 2015, Statcast has tracked nearly 50,000 home runs, and only three of them have been projected at 500-plus feet. No lefty has even managed to hit a ball in Fenway 460 feet, making tall tales like Mickey Mantle’s supposed 565-foot home run seem like exactly that, and making Ted’s 502 seem implausible.

Haberdashery standards aside, that bit of information remains tremendously useful all these years later, because seat 21 in row 37 remains exactly where it was in Williams’s day, just now with a seatback. Since each Major League park has been scanned via lidar (a form of laser measurement that allows for precise calculation of distances), that means that we can measure the exact distance from home plate to Boucher’s seat. When we do that, we get 496 feet.

So by today’s measurement standards, Williams didn’t hit his home run 502 feet. He instead hit it something more like 525-530 feet, based on lidar estimates, which for our purposes is both good (it explains why no one has been able to come close since!) and bad (that’s an even harder to believe figure!) Which is it?

https://www.mlb.com/redsox/news/ted-williams-502-foot-fenway-home-run-investigation

More at the link, and yes, its well worth a read in its entirety

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

What was the attendance that day? Was the crowd super sparse and they're relying on Grandpa Murph who was 50 feet away in the bleachers saying 'yeah, it hit that seat I think'? 525 ft. is crazy. Haven't read it yet, but this is very cool.

Ok, I looked it up. There was a double header that day. Ted hit dingers in both games. B-ref doesn't have attendance data for game 1 but game 2 had 32,000 people. So did it actually hit the seat or a person? 32k is jammed packed.

 

[mikeford]

What was the attendance that day? Was the crowd super sparse and they're relying on Grandpa Murph who was 50 feet away in the bleachers saying 'yeah, it hit that seat I think'? 525 ft. is crazy. Haven't read it yet, but this is very cool.

Ok, I looked it up. There was a double header that day. Ted hit dingers in both games. B-ref doesn't have attendance data for game 1 but game 2 had 32,000 people. So did it actually hit the seat or a person? 32k is jammed packed.

I mean the story is that it went through a dude's straw hat, no?

 

[Salem's Lot]

What was the attendance that day? Was the crowd super sparse and they're relying on Grandpa Murph who was 50 feet away in the bleachers saying 'yeah, it hit that seat I think'? 525 ft. is crazy. Haven't read it yet, but this is very cool.

Ok, I looked it up. There was a double header that day. Ted hit dingers in both games. B-ref doesn't have attendance data for game 1 but game 2 had 32,000 people. So did it actually hit the seat or a person? 32k is jammed packed.

It was probably single admission. They used to do that a lot in those days.

 

[Zedia]

I had never seen that Sano homer before, that was crushed.

 

[Bergs]

Mike Petriello just posted a really good article that relies on new analytical data to not only prove that Teds HR went 502 feet, but that measurements back then may have underestimated the distance



https://www.mlb.com/redsox/news/ted-williams-502-foot-fenway-home-run-investigation

More at the link, and yes, its well worth a read in its entirety

I have always been VERY skeptical. I am now not nearly so much. Thanks for the link.

 

[chrisfont9]

I mean the story is that it went through a dude's straw hat, no?

Bounced off it but left a small hole.

I'm not totally willing to just accept legendary feats based on eyewitness reports from old timey sportswriters, but the fact that we still see 500+ foot homers makes it not implausible.

 

[shaggydog2000]

Based on the wind data, I now am very skeptical, but think it is somewhat plausible. Maybe.

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

It was probably single admission. They used to do that a lot in those days.

A double header finished in a crisp 4+ hours.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

A double header finished in a crisp 4+ hours.

Lack of TV coverage makes a huge difference in game pace and length.

 

[BlackJack]

The guy it hit was named Joe Boucher. I have a friend with the same name who delights in telling people about the coincidence.

 

[snowmanny]

I remember that Josh Hamilton hit a bomb to RF and someone supposedly calculated that if the wind conditions had been the same as the day Ted hit his Red Seat HR, Hamilton’s would have gone as far or farther.