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Mickey's Hardest HIt BallMantle's Home Run Came Within Six Feet of Leaving Yankee StadiumOn May 22, 1963 Mickey Mantle came within six feet of hitting a fair ball out of Yankee Stadium. Mickey hit a 2-2 Bill Fischer pitch off the upper facade in right field.
On May 22, 1963 Mickey Mantle came within six feet of hitting a fair ball out of Yankee Stadium. In the eleventh inning of a strange game, Mickey hit a 2-2 Bill Fischer off the right field upper façade to give the Yankees an 8-7 victory. The façade was 108 feet high and the distance from home plate was 374 feet. The ball was rising when it hit. Mickey thought it was the hardest ball he had ever hit.“…though I knew it would be well up there, I didn’t think it would go out of the park.” Players Were in Awe of the BlastThe next day, former Yankee Norm Siebern expressed the feelings of everyone who ever saw Mantle play. “He ought to have a league of his own. He’s too much for everyone else.” Bill Fischer, who yielded the blast, was realistic. “He gets $100,000. He has to be making it for some reason.” And Kansas City manager Eddie Lopat, who had been with the Yankees when Mickey came up in 1951, said simply, “I’m a pitcher. I know the sound. I just turned my back.” Different Estimates of the Distance the Ball Would Have GoneThere have been many estimates with respect to how far the ball would have traveled, ranging from 506 to 734 feet, with a value of 636 in the middle. No one can hit a baseball 700 feet. Six hundred and thirty six feet appears reasonable, but HitTracker calculates the distance as 506 feet. However, it used the distance from home plate to the façade where the ball hit as 372 feet and the height as 102 feet., wich are approximations. Regardless, it was one of the most awe-inspiring home runs ever hit. "Let's Go Mets"The Yankees scored 7 runs in the second inning and as late as the eighth inning, still led 7-0, when a substantial number of the 9,727 paying customers began to chant, “Let’s go, Mets.” It is not known if they were Mets’ fans visiting enemy territory or bored Yankees’ fans trying to amuse themselves at the expense of second year expansion team, but in any event, the A’s woke up. They scored 6 runs, aided by two Yankees’ errors, knocking out starter Bill Stafford. Marshall Bridges came in and he was KO’s as well. Starter Ralph Terry RelievesThe Yankees couldn’t afford to lose the game. They were in third place, trailing the Orioles and White Sox by a game. Yankees’ manager Ralph Houk brought in starter Ralph Terry, a move that would be incomprehensible in 2008. Terry finally got out of the inning, pitched the ninth, pitched the tenth, and was taken out for pinch hitter Yogi Berra in the bottom of the tenth. Steve Hamilton retired the A’s in the eleventh and then Mickey hit the game winning home run. If Mickey Played TodayBill Fischer is 77 years old and is the Royals’ senior pitching advisor. He recently said, half jokingly, “Of course if Mickey Mantle was playing at Yankee Stadium today, with the bleeping fences in, with center field at 400 feet, he’d hit 800 bleeping homers.” There are times when hyperbole is not an exaggeration. This might be one of those times. References:Drebinger, John. “Mantle’s Homer Subdues A’s, 8-7; Clout in 11th Almost Clears Stadium.” New York Times. 23 May 1963, p. 59. McGowen, Deane. “Mantle’s Homer Viewed With Awe; Ball Within 6 Feet of Being First Hit Out of Stadium.” New York Times. 24 May 1963, p. 46.
The copyright of the article Mickey's Hardest HIt Ball in Baseball is owned by Harold Friend. Permission to republish Mickey's Hardest HIt Ball in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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