[brian1961]

Many thoughts come to mind.

I was a minister in the late 80s, and visited a dear lady all alone one October evening. She enjoyed watching baseball, and she invited me to join her. I said sure, I'd be glad to, even though I had not seen a World Series since game 3 of the '78 series. So, here it was exactly 10 years later, and we're watching game 1 ........ It was precisely as you described; Kirk Gibson literally hobbled to the plate. How could the man swing the bat well, I wondered? Then.... KERBLAMO!! I somehow knew this one was special. Gibson was interviewed right after the game and said, appropriately, "I thank God for this beautiful moment." Amen.

I remember seeing Hank Aaron break Ruth's lifetime home run record. I just shook my head. Wow, he really did it---amazing.

I think Roger Maris's 61st home run rates right up there, knowing all the odds were against him.

However, the home run I would have loved to have seen that I know would have had a profound impact on me, since it has affected me deeply without seeing it, was the young emerging New York Yankees star, Mickey Mantle, crushing a Chuck Stobbs fastball 565 feet way over Washington's leftfield wall. The park's dimensions most assuredly did not favor a right-handed hitter, yet young Mickey exploded that ball! From EXPLOSION!, Paul Gallagher's well-researched book about Mickey Mantle's home runs, Paul interviewed various people who were present at the game. They said everybody in the press box was screaming; they could not believe their eyes. One scribe asked himself, "Did that just happen?" The following day, headlines and wire-photos with dashed trajectory lines were run in virtually every paper from coast to coast. Young Mr. Mantle just made himself a household name! With his World Series heroics the previous fall, fans everywhere figured he was the new Yankee star. That gigantic home run in Griffith Stadium underscored, punctuated, and more than confirmed everyone's hopes and expectations.

I imagine EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU IS VERY WELL AWARE OF THE GIST OF THIS HOME RUN. In all honesty, as I pondered the OP, that magnificent clout made a fresh, deep impression on me. Therefore, I believed it was worth articulating once again on this august forum.

Back to our "neighborhood", every baseball card-lovin' youngin' wanted any baseball card they could get their hands on of Mickey Mantle. Some were easy to get, and oh-so-beautiful! Others were relatively unknown, but deeply desirable, such as Dormand postcards, and especially the new Stahl-Meyer Franks promotion going on in Metropolitan New York, as well as the three New York ballparks. The aforementioned meat card required you be at the right place, at the right time, to seize the moment it was available in perfect condition.

I know---this thread is about the most memorable home run of all time. The April, 1953 Washington blast and all those great '53 Mickey Mantle cards became available at the same time! Perfect timing.

Cheers. --- Brian Powell