re: T or F: Babe Ruth Hit longest dinger in MLB history (575 ft)

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I saw McGwire hit one to the top of the colored section in the Astrodome with my own eyes

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Jackie Robinson parked one 515 feet into the Italian section at Ebbets field once.

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I’m still waiting for the simple physics

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And I'm waiting on proof that a human can hit a baseball 575 feet. Tales from 100 years ago aren't proof.

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False. Old time sports claims a bunch of ridiculous feats. And nobody could call them out on it because they had no way to accurately measure.

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Babe Ruth threw a no-hitter without throwing a single strike, June 23rd 1917 vs the Washington Senators.

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Oh, wait, 99% of pitchers today still top out at 100 despite being juiced up. Almost as if there's a limit to how fast human tendons and ligaments can swing a bat or throw a baseball 

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Oh right, roids had nothing to do with 70 home run seasons lol.

I might be termed an "old geezer", but I have had the opportunity to watch baseball since 1951. I can honestly confirm that NO ONE hit baseballs as far as Mantle did or as often as he did. Just unbelievably strong, unmatched bat speed, and quickness.

What you may not know is that Mickey was also the fastest from home to first base than anyone. He could fly on the diamond, really unmatched until injuries took its toll on him. He was also one of the greatest drag bunters ever. When Mantle hit a slump, he'd just bunt his way to first base to keep his average up.

I never got to see the Babe, but my grandfather and great uncles did. He was just a freak of an athlete who could do it all, hitting home runs and pitching, before he put on weight over the years by breaking all kinds of gastronomic performances.

When Old Timers were asked who hit that ball further, Ruth or Mantle, one great Hall of Famer who played against the Babe and watched all of Mantle's games, pitcher Walter Johnson, had this to say about that controversy.

"Mickey hit more long home runs than anyone. But Ruth's ball got smaller quicker after he hit it than anyone I have ever seen."

An interesting thing about Walter "the Big Train" Johnson, who was the fastest pitcher of Ruth's era, came from fellow Hall of Famer Bob "Rapid Robert" Feller, who also threw as fast as anyone in the 1940s and 50s and watched all of the modern day hurlers like Koufax, Ryan, Gibson, etc., said that NO One threw as fast as Walter Johnson. He (Feller) saw Johnson pitch many, many times, too as a young man.

Incidentally, Ruth held the record for the most consecutive scoreless innings pitched in World Series play until Whitey Ford passed him in the 1960s. Ruth also held the pitching edge over Walter Johnson, beating him with regularity before playing just the outfield in the 1920s. Ruth, as a Boston Red Sock from 1915-1919, matched up with Johnson 9 times. Ruth won six games and lost three, pitching complete games. Three of those wins were by 1-0 scores.

In Babe Ruth's 1916 season as a pitcher, his record was 23 Wins and 170 Strikeouts, with a 1.75 ERA, 9 Shutouts and 23 Complete Games – a very impressive mark for even the best pitchers in baseball.


You could make the argument had Ruth pitched his entire career, he might be considered the best lefty ever. As it is, he is widely considered by many observers to be one of the ten best lefties ever to take the mound.

In the 1916 World Series between the Red Sox and Brooklyn Robins (eventually Dodgers), Ruth took on Sherry Smith in what would become one of the biggest pitching match-ups in history. The game was tied 1-1 through 14 innings until the Red Sox finally scored and won the game. Both Ruth and Sherry Smith pitched the entire game, which is still the longest World Series game ever played.

In the 1918 World Series, Babe Ruth pitched 29 1/3 scoreless innings, a mark that stood until 1961 when Whitey Ford finally broke it. It wasn’t until 1919 that Babe began his transition into a hitter, with 17 games pitching and 130 games hitting that year. In the four and a half seasons that Babe devoted to pitching, he amassed the following statistics:

ERA – Earned Run Average (2.28 career):
#1 in ERA in the American League (AL) in 1916.
15th overall for career ERA.

Wins (65 career):
Top 3 in the AL in 2 of his 5 full seasons as a pitcher.
Won the most games of any left-handed pitcher in the Majors from 1915-17.

Win/Loss% (.671 career):
12th on the list for best career win/loss percentage.

Strikeouts:
Top 5 in the AL in 2 of his 5 full seasons as a pitcher.

Shutouts:
#1 in the AL in 1916.

Dunno, maybe he did. Ruth seems like a statistical outlier.

If winds, temp, and humidity were all favorable, maybe he did.

yep

"Wild claims" about Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth??? It must be wonderful to put down those who you never saw. And as far as the Home Run Derbies of yesterday and today, the players hit off of live pitching. If you took a pitch that was a strike, that counted as an out in Mantle's day. The hitters back then couldn't sit back and wait for their handpicked "pitchers" to slowly lob the ball to the exact spot where they wanted it like they do today. Had today's players participated back then, they would have been very lucky to hit five or six total homers. No comparison in what a Home Run Derby was then to now!