OT: Coolest Home Runs You've Witnessed

[71buc]

I've seen most all of the TV HRs mentioned so far. My favorites I witnessed firsthand were McGwire's 60th and 61st in 1998. My son loved McGwire and we purchased tickets to those two games during the spring at his urging. The most impressive shot I ever saw was McGwire's blast off of Randy Johnson in 1997. We were in the left field upper deck and the ball sailed over our heads like a missile. I remember being stunned and then laughing when I saw my eight year-old boy wearing his A's hat and McGwire Tee-shirt dancing and pumping his little fists. Too bad that the PED revelations tainted it all. Oh well it still a great memory. By the way Johnson struck out 19, walked none, and lost on the way to setting a record for Ks in a game by a lefty.

The link below is to the video of that cartoonish blast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stUolWxG3wo&feature=kp

[cardswin53]

As a youngster, my dad took me to a game at old Busch Stadium (Sportsman's Park) and Hank Aaron hit a home run over the right field pavilion but was called out for stepping out of the batter's box to hit it. (He moved up to hit a slow curve ball from Curt Simmons). I believe it was in 1965.
Decades later at a charity autograph show in St. Louis I asked Mr. Aaron if my memory was correct. He said yes but still seemed upset at the call. Lou Brock overheard our conversation and started laughing. He chimed in that the catcher who called the umpire's attention to Aaron being out of the box was Bob Uecker!

[dabigyankeeman]

Bucky Dent - Aaron Boone - Chris Chambliss - Derek Jeter (Mr November) - Reggie's 3 (Mr October).

[Peter W Thomas]

1960 freshman at MIT last class @ 1:00 then to Fenway.

Williams last at bat drive deep into bleachers, landing about 50 feet from me. Not many in bleachers, but at least 10 closer to the ball. I think of it several times a year.

[pbspelly]

Not sure why radio-heard blasts aren't allowed. The most exciting home run I ever "witnessed" was Jayson Werth's game winning home run off of the Cardinals to force a game 5 in the 2012 NL divisional series. Werth fouled off pitch after pitch before connecting on the 13th pitch of the at bat to save the season for the Nats. I was listening in my car and going crazy. I'm lucky I didn't have an accident.

The second most exciting home run that I saw was Robin Ventura's grand slam "single" in game 5 of the 1999 NL series to win the game for the Mets in the 15th inning. I saw that one on TV.

[Deertick]

Most disappointing in person: Eddie Murray's two HR in 1983 WS.

Most impressive in person: Greg Luzinski hitting the Liberty Bell in 1975. I have never seen a replay.

Longest I have hit: Approx 470 ft @ "Doc" Lang field in Tampa. Just to the left of center (408') and one hopped the street (another 70').

Longest I have given up: A knuckle curve that started a little too high to a lefty and got a lot higher in a hurry. We were on Tampa Catholic's field, and the ball cleared the RF fence (335'), a two story field house (+20') behind the fence (+10') over the adjacent field's fence (+10') and wound up in the infield halfway to home plate (+200' ??). My teammates had a meeting on the mound because we couldn't stop laughing.

[Rich Klein]

One season at the Ballpark in Arlington, Juan Encarncion led off the season with a homer, we knew it was going to be another long season

At the double AA Frisco games

Delino DeShields blasting a homer and getting hit int he face the same game

Leonys Martin's first ever professional homer

[Beatles Guy]

Most of the TV ones from the last 30 years have already been mentioned. I did witness in person McGwire's 66th in 1998.

I also saw Chris Speier hit a walkoff for the Cardinals in 1986 I believe. I remember that one because my Dad would not stand up on a long fly ball when everyone else did. I asked him why and he said "I'll stand up when it's gone". Speier hit it and he stood up.

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by Deertick

Most disappointing in person: Eddie Murray's two HR in 1983 WS.

Most impressive in person: Greg Luzinski hitting the Liberty Bell in 1975. I have never seen a replay.

Longest I have hit: Approx 470 ft @ "Doc" Lang field in Tampa. Just to the left of center (408') and one hopped the street (another 70').

Longest I have given up: A knuckle curve that started a little too high to a lefty and got a lot higher in a hurry. We were on Tampa Catholic's field, and the ball cleared the RF fence (335'), a two story field house (+20') behind the fence (+10') over the adjacent field's fence (+10') and wound up in the infield halfway to home plate (+200' ??). My teammates had a meeting on the mound because we couldn't stop laughing.

I always hit like a pitcher, so it was good that we had the DH for most of my career.

I never really thought about it until I read your post, but I honestly do not remember ever giving up a homer. That may sound like I'm bragging a lot, but maybe I have selective memory loss, too. I was a full-time pitcher for over a decade, so it must have happened at least once.

[Tabe]

Here's one more:

I'm watching some random Expos game on ESPN one night and Andres Galarraga hits a grand slam for the Expos to win the game in extras, I think. I could have some of the details mangled. Anyway, for whatever reason, I was really into that game despite not being a fan of either team. The home run pumped me up and I ended up jumping out of my chair with a fist raised. Well, I hit the bleeping ceiling fan/light fixture over my head and shattered part of it. The glass rained down on me, cutting my elbow, leaving a 1/2" scar that is still plainly visible to this day.

Oh yeah, my parents were already asleep so I had to clean up and then try and explain it to them the next day. Ugh.

[sb1]

Aaron 715 for me, watched it on TV, had newspaper clippings before and after.

[Duluth Eskimo]

I was at game 6 of the 1991 World Series when Kirby Puckett hit the home run that took it to game 7 and their eventual win. The crowd was going absolutely bananas. It spilled over in to the streets and was pandamonium. I have seen some pretty great home runs in my time, but it would be hard for me to believe anything will top that. Jason

[mets41]

I'm a long-time Met fan and fillie and yankee hater so:

1960 Mazeroski's hr to beat the yankees

1993 Joe Carter's hr to beat the fillies

1999 Todd Pratt's hr to beat the D'backs

1967 Bud Harrelson (Mets vs. Pirates) hit a fly ball down the left field line. The ball was ruled fair and rather than play the ball, Al ("bonehead") Luplow argued the call, and Bud wound up with an inside the park hr.

1995 Ricky Otero (Mets vs. fillies) hit for the cycle. The homer was an inside the parker (this was the only one of these that happened when I attended the game--the others I saw on tv)

1966 at Connie Mack Stadium, Phila.--Bill White of the visiting Cardinals hit a homer that got my father and me on tv\

[Thromdog]

1998, Sammy Sosa's 66th and final home run off Jose Lima in the old Astrodome.

His monster home run landed in my seat....but I wasn't there. I passed over the ticket to my buddies an hour before the game....."had to go see about a girl."

Married 13 years now.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Thromdog

1998, Sammy Sosa's 66th and final home run off Jose Lima in the old Astrodome.

His monster home run landed in my seat....but I wasn't there. I passed over the ticket to my buddies an hour before the game....."had to go see about a girl."

Married 13 years now.

Very cool story!

In 1999 I seen Sammy Sosa's #63 and Mark McQwire's #64 & #65 in person. I was one of several people that paid insane money for bleacher seats in St Louis for the last 3 games of the season when they were both on pace to break the home run record again.

[itjclarke]

I had season tickets in the RF Arcade at AT&T Park for a few years as Bonds closed out his career. I saw just about every meaninful HR/milestone, including 756. Controversial or not, it was pretty crazy to witness.

Other memorables seen at the ballpark- Pablo hitting 3 bombs (2 off Verlander) in game 1 of the 2012 WS. JT Snow hitting a 3 run HR with 2 out/2 strikes in the bottom of the 9th to tie game 2 of the 2000 NLDS vs the Mets. Ichiro hitting an inside the park HR that smacked off the bricks in front of me in the 2007 AS game. Andres Galleraga hitting the longest HR in AT&T (PacBell) history, I think 474 ft. Ray Durham hitting 2 HRs to my seat in right center in back to back games.

... and probably my favorite since it was with my dad and one which is known by Giants fans. The late September Brian Johnson homerun that beat the Dodgers and tied division race in 1997.

Go Giants!!

[slidekellyslide]

In Person:

Around 1995: Jed Dalton, University of Nebraska....hit one out of the park and into the window of a moving car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCSq8x6SqAc

[vthobby]

We had snuck down to the front row by the batters circle. We were on the visitors side. Felix came up with the bases loaded and cranked a shot towards center over the CF's head. As I was watching the ball sail, I caught a glimpse of Felix rounding second and thought "did he even go to first?!?!"

He was literally catching up to his teammates on the bases! He slid into home and there was a cloud of dust and the safe sign. I am a Red Sox fan but that was clearly the most amazing and exciting home run related thing I have seen in person at a baseball game.

Well.....I was at game 6 last year but that homer by Felix still amazes me and it had to be over 25 years ago.

mike

[powderfinger]

This one is probably from the mid-70s as I remember that's approximately when Allen was with the White Sox. My buddies and I lived in the south suburbs of Chicago and were going to various colleges in the area and working part-time. I was working at a bank and because we worked half-days on Saturdays, we always had Wednesdays off (Imagine that - a four and a half day workweek - of course, we were paid buttons). My buddies arranged to have Wednesdays off as well, because Bill Veeck always worked with the league to have day games on Wednesdays.

Anyway, Yankees v. Sox and the Yankees bring in Lindy McDaniel in relief. Allen takes a cut and McDaniel literally ducks on the mound so the ball doesn't take his head off. The amazing thing is the ball keeps going and eventually lands more than 400 ft. away, beyond that big, green wall that used to be in center field at old Comiskey. I don't think I ever saw a ball hit harder or father.

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by vtgmsc

We had snuck down to the front row by the batters circle. We were on the visitors side. Felix came up with the bases loaded and cranked a shot towards center over the CF's head. As I was watching the ball sail, I caught a glimpse of Felix rounding second and thought "did he even go to first?!?!"

He was literally catching up to his teammates on the bases! He slid into home and there was a cloud of dust and the safe sign. I am a Red Sox fan but that was clearly the most amazing and exciting home run related thing I have seen in person at a baseball game.

Well.....I was at game 6 last year but that homer by Felix still amazes me and it had to be over 25 years ago.

mike

I was at that game but missed the homer! We had tickets courtesy of the Boston Globe. Before Junior hit it my girlfriend and her friend (who worked at the Globe) asked to leave early, since the Sox were behind. We got out to the MBTA and a guy with a radio told us what had happened. Still, my first (and only) trip to Fenway was the main attraction for me.

[HoggZilla]

I remember sitting on the first base line in a mid season game between Texas and KC. Bo Jackson hit a line drive the shortstop jumped for, and it kept rising over the left fielder into the seats. Amazed me his strength.

[bnorth]

Was at game 2 of the 2005 World Series and seen Scott "BLEEPING" Podsednik hit a homer off Brad Lidge in the 9th to beat the Astros. My only World Series game and was a Astros fan because Clemens was playing there.

[BleedinBlue]

I grew up in Southern California and am a lifelong LA Dodger fan. I was going to UC Berkeley during the 1988 World Series and went out to a bar with a few of my friends to watch Game 1 of the World Series. My friends were giving me quite a ribbing as the game went later and later. They kept saying that as soon as Eck got in the game was over. Well, things got down to the last out and Gibson limped up to the plate. The crowd in the bar was loudly cheering for Eckersley to finish off Game 1. When Gibby connected I let out a primal gutteral yell of pure joy. The rest of the bar got deathly quiet. It was an amazing momemt.

Until I had to walk home. Scariest walk of my life.