Tales of the Tape

Last Updated 26 January 2002

Here are some stories about the long ball. Below, you'll find the longest ball hit at each Pittsburgh ballpark and some information about three Pirates sluggers. The source for this page is the Official 1995 Magazine and Scorecard:

Index: | Exposition Park | Forbes Field | Three Rivers Stadium | PNC Park | Ralph Kiner | Roberto Clemente | Willie Stargell |

On June 20, 1907, The Flying Dutchman hit the longest ball at Exposition Park.... and it wasn't even a home run. In the third inning, Wagner drove one far over the head of Philadelphia's Roy Thomas into the deepest corner of centerfield. While running the bases, Wagner suffered a controversial charley horse that the Pittsburgh Dispatch described as "an ailment that was greatly aggravated by (Philly firstbaseman Kid) Gleason... when he deliberately bumped Wagner as the latter was turning first base." Wagner painfully limped around to third on what should have been an easy four bagger.

Ruth, Mantle, Kiner, Aaron, and Mays all brought their mighty bats to Forbes, but only one player ever cleared the deepest part of the ballpark....Dick Stuart. Against Chicago on June 5, 1959, Stuart pounded a Glen Hobbie offering well over the batting cage for an estimated 500-foot home run. Hobbie watched it sail and shook his head in disbelief, later calling the pitch "a sinker that didn't sink" and thanking Stuart for not hitting it lower because, "I might not have been here to talk about it." Both Danny Murtaugh and Pie Traynor called it the longest ball ever hit at Forbes. Pirate shortstop Dick Groat said the players on the bench were "numb" and "bewildered" watching it. And Stuart's reaction? "It was one of my best shots, but I can't really say if it was my very best." Score one for modesty.

Here's a list of long balls that cleared the Right Field Roof at Forbes.

Robinson hung a curveball and Luzinski promptly deposited it 483 feet away in the first row of the yellow 600 level seats in left field. It was the first Three Rivers upper deck shot by an opposing player and only the second to left field (Bob Robertson reached it in 1971). As Robinson watched the ball sail, he said he wasn't even sure the stadium would hold it and opposing pitcher Randy Lerch labelled the drive "awesome - there is no other word." Back then, home run hitters rarely paused to admire their blasts like today's power brokers commonly do. Maybe the trend was officially started by "The Bull" on that April night in Pittsburgh. Luzinski described it as "The first one I ever watched. I just flipped my bat. I didn't even know where first base was."

***During the 1994 All-Star Game's Home Run Hitting Contest, Chicago's Frank Thomas smashed a ball 519 feet into the upper deck at Three Rivers. The Pirates have placed a star on the upper deck facade in left-center field to represent where the ball hit.
Here is a list of all the upper deck home runs at Three Rivers.

Kiner is credited with the longest drives ever hit at Braves Field in Boston and New York's famed Polo Grounds. At home, his most extraordinary blast may have occurred on April 22, 1950. In a game against Cincinnati, Kiner connected off Kent Peterson and sent one sailing over the 25 foot tall scoreboard in left field, clearing it by a good 50 feet and still rising as it left the park. The ball carried well into Schenley Park and finally came to rest after caroming off the "Pipes of Pan" statue. Pirate beat writer Les Biederman described it as "the longest and hardest ball that ever flew off his mighty bat... the crowd gasped as the ball started for home run territory and so did Peterson." Ralph Kiner had a habit of making fans and opposing pitchers "gasp" at his power. It was magnificent.

• In Chicago's Wrigley Field, no batter has ever hit a ball off the centerfield scoreboard. Over the park's 81 years, no batter has reached the scoreboard that sits above the bleachers some 500 feet away from home plate - but Clemente came very close. On May 17, 1959, Clemente came as close as you can get - the baseball barely missed the scoreboard on the left field side as it sailed out of Wrigley Field and landed on Waveland Avenue. Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby described it as the longest ball he had seen during his 45 years in baseball.

• On May 6, 1960 at San Francisco's Candlestick Park, Clemente launched a shot off Sam Jones into a strong Bay-area wind. Despite the wind, the ball carried into the remote bleacher area well beyond the left field fence. Clemente and Ernie Banks are the only two opposing players to reach that remote area of the park (along with two Giant players).

• On May 31, 1964 at Forbes Field, Clemente crushed a Sandy Koufax offering 30 feet high off the light tower in centerfield. Koufax said he couldn't recall anyone hitting one longer off of him.

• On June 5, 1966 also at home, Clemente took Houston's Turk Farrell deep to right center (the opposite field); the ball left the park between the 435 foot sign and the Barney Dreyfuss Memorial. It stopped in the backstop of a Little League diamond outside the park. Four days later, Roberto pounded one off the Cardinal's Al Jackson to almost the exact same spot. Cardinal's outfielder Curt Flood was awestruck and remarked, "I just didn't think anyone could hit a ball that far."

• He slammed seven (of the 18) home runs over the 90 foot high right field roof at Forbes Field, including one off Hall of Famer Tom Seaver in 1969 that Willie called, "The best one I ever hit."

• He was the first player ever to hit a baseball out of Dodger Stadium - and he did it twice. In 1969 and 1973, Stargell cleared the 50 foot high right field pavalion. Note: During the 1997 season, the Dodger's Mike Piazza hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium, and Mark McGwire of St Louis duplicated the feat in 1999. Stargell remains the only player ever to hit a ball over the right-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium, with his 506-foot, 6 1/2-inch blast off Alan Foster in 1969 still the longest home run ever hit at the stadium. He cleared the pavilion again in 1973 with a 470-foot shot off Andy Messersmith.

• He's responsible for the longest home run at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, where a gold seat in the second deck of right field still commemorates his blast.

• At old Jarry Park in Montreal, Stargell hit a legendary shot that ended up in a swimming pool beyond the right field fence.

• At Three Rivers Stadium, Willie hit four of the dozen-or-so upper deck home runs. Only one other player (Jeff Bagwell) hit two upper deck shots at Three Rivers.

• In the 1965 All-Star Game, Stargell launched a home run against Mudcat Grant that landed in the right center field bullpen. A band was located there and the ball landed inside a tuba. (Source: Twin Killings, The Bill Mazeroski Story, by John T. Bird)

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