Monagan: Here’s the real story of Babe Ruth’s 587-foot home run in Tampa
From Matt Monagan at MLB.com’s Cut4 on April 4, 2019, with mention of SABR member Bill Jenkinson:
Babe Ruth has hit a lot of home runs. He’s called them, he hit one into a pond of hungry alligators in Arkansas, he hit one clear out of a prison yard in upstate New York. But when you Google search “Babe Ruth’s longest home run,” there’s one that pops up before all of the others: The Red Sox slugger’s mammoth blast at Tampa, Fla.’s Plant Field — exactly 100 years ago today.
Newspapers fawned over the dinger the next day. The Tampa Morning Tribune called it a “wallop stupendous,” which is a phrase that I will now use to describe every home run hit from here until eternity.
The most descriptive account, though, came from opposing Giants manager and baseball lifer John McGraw. He talked about the moment in an autobiography years later, likely prompting that plaque seen near the field today.
Read the full article here: https://www.mlb.com/cut4/babe-ruth-s-longest-home-run
Originally published: April 5, 2019. Last Updated: April 5, 2019.