Going, going, gone: The 10 longest home runs in MLB history

For many fans, home runs in baseball are the most exciting part of the game. Some would argue that the most popular players in the history of the sport were, for the most part, the greatest home run hitters ever. It was Babe Ruth at first, for decades until Hank Aaron broke his all-time record in 1974. Then there was Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Reggie Jackson. They were eventually followed by Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds as the 20th century turned over into the 21st. Over the last handful of years, Giancarlo Stanton, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, and Pete Alonzo are among the most popular names who are playing right now, and they’re all dangerous home run-hitters.

Adam Dunn – 504 Feet, on September 27, 2008

Dunn was one of the premier home run hitters during his 15-year career that lasted from 2001 to 2014. He has eight opening day home runs, which ties him with Hall of Famers Frank Robinson and one of the best home run hitters in baseball history, Ken Griffey Jr. He finished his career with 462 home runs, putting him tied with Jose Canseco for 37th on baseball’s all-time career list.

This particular blast came late in the 2008 season, after his trade from the Cincinnati Reds to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He belted a shot to center field off of pitcher Glendon Rusch, of the Colorado Rockies. That blast traveled a total of 504 feet when it landed.

Giancarlo Stanton – 504 Feet, on August 6, 2016

Back before he started wearing Yankee pinstripes, Giancarlo Stanton was hitting homers for the Miami Marlins. He was with his original ballclub during the summer of 2016 when he crushed one into the thin, mile-high air of Denver, on the road against the Colorado Rockies.

That hit tied him with Adam Dunn for the tenth-longest home run in history at 504 feet. Stanton’s currently tied at 87th on the all-time list with 387, sharing that spot with Yankee legend Yogi Berra and Carlos Lee. However, Stanton sits fourth among active players.

Mo Vaughn – 505 Feet, on June 26, 2002

While this one ranks among the biggest blasts in the history books, this homer was one of the few bright spots in Vaughn’s career after leaving the Angels, to join the Mets in 2002. Despite earning an American League Most Valuable Player Award with the Angels in 1995, Vaughn’s exceptional play slowly deteriorated and by the time he was in New York, hits of any kind were few and far in between.

And in June, just at the time in the regular season when watching a game of baseball outside was perfect, Mets fans got to see this 505-foot home run from Vaughn hit the huge scoreboard at the old Shea Stadium in Queens. He would step away from pro ball a year later.

Jim Thome – 511 Feet, on July 3, 1999

The best slugger in Cleveland’s record books is undoubtedly Hall of Famer, Jim Thome. Of his 612 career home runs, this one is the longest bomb of his career. It’s also the longest in Progressive Field – Cleveland’s home ballpark. Believe it or not, there’s even a statue that’s been placed at the spot where the ball landed, to commemorate the legendary long ball.

Thome would also play for the Phillies, White Sox, Dodgers, Twins, and Orioles during his 22-year career but is still Cleveland’s all-time home run leader with 337. His 612 career homers have him eighth all-time.

Darryl Strawberry – 525 Feet, on April 4, 1988

During his heydays with the New York Mets, Strawberry hit this homer high, into the lights of Olympic Stadium in Montreal during the season opener that year. That was the first of his season and career-best 39 homers in a single year.

This bomber actually came about with the help of science. Joseph Durso of the New York Times reported physics professor Bob Moore’s explanation of the simple fact that if Strawberry’s hit hadn’t encountered the stadium’s lights, it would’ve landed 525 feet from home plate. And since baseball experts haven’t challenged this scientist’s claim, the projected mark still stands in the record books to this day.

Dave Kingman – 530 Feet, on April 14, 1976

First off, it must be stated that Kingman hit this one all the way out while playing at Wrigley Field in Chicago. This legendary location doesn’t have several outfield decks of seating, so Kingman’s blast ended up leaving the property and allegedly landing on a house, three spots in from the street that runs along Wrigley’s left field. That would put the home run at least 550 feet in distance.

However, a whopping length of 630 feet was actually reported by the New York Times right after it happened. This mark was slightly backed up by a man named Richard Keiber, a collector who grabbed the ball for himself, claiming to the Chicago Tribune that Kingman’s hit was at least 600 feet. The debate is still alive but everyone should agree that no matter what, that one was definitely “outta here!”

Adam Dunn – 535 Feet, on Aug. 10, 2004

Adam Dunn, the man they used to call “Big Donkey,” makes another appearance on this list. This one was said to have gone a little further than the first homer on this list at 535 feet. And as it went well over the 404-mark at the Great American Ballpark’s right-center field wall and couldn’t be caught by the broadcast television camera to definitely see where it landed.

Dunn went on to hit a career-best 46 home runs by the end of that season.

Willie Stargell – 535 Feet, on May 20, 1978

The biggest hitter Pittsburgh ever had – if you’re not counting when Barry Bonds was there, Willie Stargell, was known for hitting homers out of ballparks every now and then, during his 21-year career with the Pirates. In fact, he hit more home runs than any other player during the 1970s.

This one, like Strawberry’s on this list, was hit in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium and when it landed, it became the longest home run ever hit at that venue. It was estimated at 535 feet, with no possibility of dispute.

Reggie Jackson – 539 Feet, on July 13, 1971

Known for hitting some of the most famous home runs over the last 50 years, “Mr. October” also hit probably the most well-known, if somehow not the longest homer in All-Star Game history.

With a mighty swing, Jackson took Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis’s throw high out to right field. So high that it hit a transformer above the seats that kept it from going further than the estimated distance of 539 feet. Sadly, this one doesn’t count toward the 563 career homers that place him 14th all-time.

Mickey Mantle – 565 Feet, on April 17, 1953

Not just another legendary Yankee on this list but another legendary home run-hitter, Mantle was known during his time as a hitter that had hit serious long-distance shots. 10 years after this blast, he hit one that went at least 510 feet so it stands to reason that Mantle definitely had the ability to go long, relatively easy.

Legend has it, that a simple tape measure was used to determine the estimated 565-foot mark. Some baseball experts could argue that the outdated methods used to measure a home run’s distance are quite obsolete by today’s standards. But since a source like ESPN doesn’t challenge it, it still stands as the second-longest today.

Babe Ruth – 575 Feet, in 1921

Of course, his name is no surprise to be on this list but there’s no doubt that the technology was more than certainly lacking during Ruth’s era, thereby making it practically impossible for any one of Ruth’s 714 home runs to be accurately measured.

Ruth has the luxury of his own legend to back up any claims of how far he hit his homers. And there aren’t many records kept that can detail any sort of measurements whatsoever. There are old tales that claim Ruth hit a ball approximately 600 feet in 1926, but who really knows? Though it must be said again that with no one else at that time hitting as he did, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Ruth could belt one that far.

The homer that puts him at the top of everyone’s list is a 575-footer that was hit at Detroit’s Navan Field in 1921. Notice that even the exact date isn’t quite confirmed either. According to baseball historians, it was during this year that Ruth hit the most home runs which were claimed to be at least 500 feet and at least one of that length in every ballpark in the American League at that time.

It stands to reason that no one will ever dare challenge the iconic reputation that Ruth carried during his time so his place at the top will remain… At least until someone irrefutably hits one 600 feet someday.