the red seat

Yo La Tengo

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Listened to the game today and the radio crew reported that Franchy in BP hit a ball one row in front of THE RED SEAT. Any video would be much appreciated.

And, I'd love to see our collective wisdom on who came closest. I have a memory of a monster bomb by Manny that I'd probably pick, but I can't remember the date.

[Never started a thread before, so, feel free to delete.]
 

snowmanny

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There was a ball hit out there by Josh Hamilton that fell several rows short, but if IIRC they said that if the wind conditions had been the same as when Ted hit his, Hamilton’s would have gone farther.

addendum so Hamilton’s went 469 feet.Vlad I hit one 484 in 2006. Yaz hit that one to the right of the CF flagpole

also- wind gusts up to 21 mph towards RF on the day of the Williams blast.
 
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Kliq

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There was a ball hit out there by Josh Hamilton that fell several rows short, but if IIRC they said that if the wind conditions had been the same as when Ted hit his, Hamilton’s would have gone farther.

addendum so Hamilton’s went 469 feet.Vlad I hit one 484 in 2006. Yaz hit that one to the right of the CF flagpole

also- wind gusts up to 21 mph towards RF on the day of the Williams blast.
Was this the one he hit off Mark Melancon? I was at that game live. Melancon had like, a 50.00 ERA coming out of the bullpen, the Sox were getting killed and Hamilton was red hot. My Dad said "This is going towards the Williams seat" as Hamilton came to the plate, and he hit one damn close.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Longest home run I’ve ever seen in Fenway was by Bo Jackson off Wes Gardner in 1989. It almost hit the flag in center field.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWr_92fOySY
I was at that game. I think about that HR all the time and didn't realize that there was a video of it -- thanks for sharing. That ball was still rising when it hit near that Right Guard sign on the back wall of CF. Never seen anything like it.
 

bankshot1

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Longest home run I’ve ever seen in Fenway was by Bo Jackson off Wes Gardner in 1989. It almost hit the flag in center field.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWr_92fOySY
I written of this a few times, but the longest HR I saw in Fenway was Jim Rice's mammoth blast of KC's Steve Busby in 'July 75. The shot was hit to straight center and passed about a foot to the left of the flagpole and a few inches from the top of the flagpole, and exited Fenway over the wall behind the centerfield bleachers. I was sitting in the lower centerfield bleachers and that ball was still on a line when it left the park. I had never seen a ball crushed like that. That ball had at least 500' written on it and was headed for a set at the Boston Tea Party and then either Daisy Buchanan's or Ryles for last call.
 

Hoya81

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There was a ball hit out there by Josh Hamilton that fell several rows short, but if IIRC they said that if the wind conditions had been the same as when Ted hit his, Hamilton’s would have gone farther.

addendum so Hamilton’s went 469 feet.Vlad I hit one 484 in 2006. Yaz hit that one to the right of the CF flagpole

also- wind gusts up to 21 mph towards RF on the day of the Williams blast.
It's been said over the years that the addition of the luxury suite and press box behind home plate permanently impacted the wind patterns and made homers more difficult for lefties, especially hitters like Nixon/Drew/Gonzalez who lacked the raw power of Ortiz or Vaughn.
 

E5 Yaz

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I written of this a few times, but the longest HR I saw in Fenway was Jim Rice's mammoth blast of KC's Steve Busby in 'July 75. The shot was hit to straight center and passed about a foot to the left of the flagpole and a few inches from the top of the flagpole, and exited Fenway over the wall behind the centerfield bleachers. I was sitting in the lower centerfield bleachers and that ball was still on a line when it left the park. I had never seen a ball crushed like that. That ball had at least 500' written on it and was headed for a set at the Boston Tea Party and then either Daisy Buchanan's or Ryles for last call.
We were there together separately
 

dynomite

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I was there in late June 2001 when Manny hit one into the light tower above the Coke bottles above the Monster. I believe it is officially listed as 501 feet so that it didn’t surpass Williams Red Seat record of 502.

I had thought Vlad Guerrero would never be surpassed — I caught his mammoth blast when visiting with the Expos in ‘99. Felt like it was still rising as it went over the Monster out of the stadium. Then Manny did this:

View: https://youtu.be/oTe_mpOmnpA
 

Just a bit outside

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I was there in late June 2001 when Manny hit one into the light tower above the Coke bottles above the Monster. I believe it is officially listed as 501 feet so that it didn’t surpass Williams Red Seat record of 502.

I had thought Vlad Guerrero would never be surpassed — I caught his mammoth blast when visiting with the Expos in ‘99. Felt like it was still rising as it went over the Monster out of the stadium. Then Manny did this:

View: https://youtu.be/oTe_mpOmnpA
Joe mentioned this one on the broadcast. Also joked that if someone reached the red seat they would repaint a new red one a few more rows up.
 

yeahlunchbox

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I was there in late June 2001 when Manny hit one into the light tower above the Coke bottles above the Monster. I believe it is officially listed as 501 feet so that it didn’t surpass Williams Red Seat record of 502.

I had thought Vlad Guerrero would never be surpassed — I caught his mammoth blast when visiting with the Expos in ‘99. Felt like it was still rising as it went over the Monster out of the stadium. Then Manny did this:

View: https://youtu.be/oTe_mpOmnpA
The game you went to is probably the one I remember where they estimated the home run to be further than the Ted Williams home run, then when I assume they realized what they had done the telecast came back and took a few feet off of it so Williams still had the longest.
 

Harry Hooper

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IIRC, Shank ran over to the Sox stats guys and insisted they couldn't top Ted's blast with an estimated distance homer.


The Globe featured a photo with a little circle around the ball passing alongside the top of the flagpole on Rice's blast off Busby.
 
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John Marzano Olympic Hero

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IIRC, Shank ran over to the Sox stats guys and insisted they couldn't top Ted's blast with an estimated distance homer.
I heard that story too. Shaughnessy basically didn’t feel Manny was worthy enough of passing Williams.

Which, honestly, fuck him. I don’t mind Shank that much anymore (mostly because he’s completely irrelevant) but I can’t believe how much Red Sox history was rewritten/controlled by that guy.
 

Kliq

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Realistically, it's hard to believe that the longest home run in Fenway Park history was hit in 1946; when you consider the modern athletes, the faster pitching velocity and the launch angle revolution. I think before the statcast era, people thought 500+ homers were more common than they ended up being; there have only been two since 2015 when they first started tracking them.
 

snowmanny

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Well, it’s 502 feet to a spot higher than the batter’s box. So Manny has no complaints. And Shank is an idiot


Physicist Alan Nathan said the ball would have gone 535 feet. Meteorological records showed him the temperature that day was 76 degrees and the wind came 21 mph from the west. He figured Williams hit the ball at an unusually steep angle of 30.3 degrees and that the ball’s speed off the bat was 119.4 mph”

https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/hidden-history-fenways-red-seat-those-arent-diehard-red-sox-fans/
It was apparently a change up he expected, so an unusual launch angle would make sense.

Doubting that the greatest hitter that ever lived, with the wind blowing out to his pull side, having been delivered what may have been essentially a batting practice pitch, hit a ball really really far…seems like an odd stance.
 
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cornwalls@6

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There was a ball hit out there by Josh Hamilton that fell several rows short, but if IIRC they said that if the wind conditions had been the same as when Ted hit his, Hamilton’s would have gone farther.

addendum so Hamilton’s went 469 feet.Vlad I hit one 484 in 2006. Yaz hit that one to the right of the CF flagpole

also- wind gusts up to 21 mph towards RF on the day of the Williams blast.
That's the longest one I've ever seen to right field. Don't remember Vlad's. I've always heard back and forth on whether Ted's was apocryphal or not. Having been up there a couple of times, I've always been skeptical that he actually hit one that far. I was at a game in may '77, first half of a double dip with the brewers, where the (at the time) combined HR's by two teams in one game record was set. Evans crushed one that day that hit the old back retaining wall in left/center. Probably the hardest ball I've ever seen hit live. Caveat: I remember it pretty vividly, so I don't think my mind is telling me a fish story.
 
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geoflin

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Max Power

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Realistically, it's hard to believe that the longest home run in Fenway Park history was hit in 1946; when you consider the modern athletes, the faster pitching velocity and the launch angle revolution. I think before the statcast era, people thought 500+ homers were more common than they ended up being; there have only been two since 2015 when they first started tracking them.
I can believe it. Players used to use gigantic, heavy bats and moved toward lighter ones to increase speed through the zone. If the extra velocity doesn't make up for the decrease in mass, there's less momentum. Pitch speed doesn't seem to matter as much. If you think of the longest homers you've ever seen, they're usually off hanging sliders rather than 100 MPH heat.
 

GB5

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I have no idea what the measurement was but the longest HR I recall seeing in person was Manny’s walk off piece vs KRod in the playoffs. I know there have been 1,000 poems written about it here, but that was my number 1, perfect pitch, perfect swing. Always hard to estimate when you don’t see a ball land, but that ball was absolutely crushed.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Bo hit a similar shot in Spring Training off Oil Can Boyd. I can’t recall if it was Winter Haven or where KC used to train, the old Boardwalk and Baseball complex.
 

biollante

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Vlad hit one in a playoff game that went over my head in the left field bleachers behind the Sox bullpen. I think that was the longest I saw in person.
 

snowmanny

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I have no idea what the measurement was but the longest HR I recall seeing in person was Manny’s walk off piece vs KRod in the playoffs. I know there have been 1,000 poems written about it here, but that was my number 1, perfect pitch, perfect swing. Always hard to estimate when you don’t see a ball land, but that ball was absolutely crushed.
It was crushed and while I’m not sure of the distance I am pretty sure future friend Mike Napoli set a record for fastest time between a pitch getting thrown and a catcher making it to the dugout.

edit obligatory gif
7FA0BB23-B08F-4F0F-8DCD-277116515C48.gif
 

Jordu

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I was also there for the Bo Jackson shot. I was actually shocked.by how fast it left the park. It wasn't a high, arcing "moonball." More like a gunshot: a straight line drive.
I’d never seen pitch hit that hard and that far. I kind of hold it in my mind, all these years later, as the standard by which I measure long screaming line drive home runs.
 

InstaFace

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Not at Fenway, but the biggest moonshot I remember seeing (on TV) was Manny at the Skydome.

Edit: here it is....God I miss Manny.
I seem to remember one Manny hit to dead centerfield at the Skydome that was even more monstrous. Like, same distance up, but to dead center.

Manny in 2001 was really at the height of his powers. If only he hadn't gone to the pharmaceutical dark side in order to cling to the major leagues in 2008-2009, we'd have been celebrating his joyously zany career in Cooperstown one of these recent years.

...well, I can't find it, but here's a few minutes of joy:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOa_uBCWIRs


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoSZrllExnI
 

mwonow

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Gotta love the Skydome homer. When you look at that section from inside the building, it's impossible to believe that anybody could hit a ball that far.

And LOL at the announcer saying that the Jays fans were cheering. Sox fans were always very well represented at those games.
 

GB5

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Sidetracking this thread..what were Manny’s biggest home runs:

KRod?
Zito game 5 in Oakland
St. Lou 1st inning in Game 4
Off David Wells in 8th inning Game 7 in 03?

I am sure I am missing a bunch
 

BuellMiller

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Sidetracking this thread..what were Manny’s biggest home runs:

KRod?
Zito game 5 in Oakland
St. Lou 1st inning in Game 4
Off David Wells in 8th inning Game 7 in 03?

I am sure I am missing a bunch
I think Papi hit that one off of Wells
 

Kliq

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Not sure if it was a different configuration, or just the power of steroids, but guys used to hit into the fifth deck at the Skydome back in the day. In addition to Manny here is Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJHbH-3wljE


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B4wTervTWQ


Andres Galarraga with a similar style monster home run at Dolphins Stadium:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ArDKjEr_EE


The furthest home run I think I've ever seen was Adam Dunn off of Jose Lima, who hit the ball over the centerfield wall, out of the stadium and into the Ohio River, where it allegedly rolled across the banks and into Kentucky:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A77LRaVgpOs
 

pjheff

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Sidetracking this thread..what were Manny’s biggest home runs:

KRod?
Zito game 5 in Oakland
St. Lou 1st inning in Game 4
Off David Wells in 8th inning Game 7 in 03?

I am sure I am missing a bunch
St. Louis was Game 3 and just a few seats away from me. To quote Billy Crystal from When Harry Met Sally, he took me to a place that wasn’t human.
 

Hoya81

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Not sure if it was a different configuration, or just the power of steroids, but guys used to hit into the fifth deck at the Skydome back in the day. In addition to Manny here is Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire:
View: https://youtu.be/2P2EyOUorZI

This youtube comp is a few years old, but theres a bunch of more recent upper deck shots from Encarnacion and Donaldson. There's even one from Napoli that I'd forgotten about.
 

joe.daggett

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This thread, dealing with long home runs at Fenway, brought back my personal memory of the longest ball I ever saw hit there.
It was in April, 1957, Red Sox vs. Yankees. Moose Skowron of New York had a pair of homers in the game and one of them is forever etched in my mind.
It went like a rocket out over the louvered wall in slightly-left-center field. That wall is now obscured by a message-and-marketing board.
It was to the right of, and way above, the flagpole, which in those days was still down on the field at the 379 notch.
My friend and I watched it disappear, then turned and looked at each other in silent, open-jawed amazement.
I have a feeling that recency bias has consigned a lot of feats like this, unrecorded on video or even photos, to oblivion.
Various discussions I've seen over the years have mentioned it, along with gargantuan wallops by Foxx and a guy named Don Lenhardt.
Does anyone have a memory (mine goes way back; I'm 82) of this, or have you ever heard of it?
The mythical distance standard in those days was a homer by Mantle off Chuck Stobbs at Griffith Stadium.
It was "measured" by a Yankee publicist at 625 feet, obviously a gross exaggeration.
I might end by saying I'm a lifelong admirer of Ted Williams.
Thirty years ago I took my daughter to Fenway, got there early, and visited the famous Red Seat.
You who frequent this board and feel the deep emotions and memories that Fenway Park can inspire, will understand how moving and memorable an experience that was.