Last Updated on July 1, 2023 by Matt Musico
Outside of asking “Who is leading MLB in home runs?” another commonly asked question about baseball on the internet is, “Who has hit the longest home run ever?”
Unlike the first question, this one is a little less straightforward because there wasn’t an accurate measuring system in past eras. We’ve been spoiled to have Statcast, which can not only give us accurate measurements on distances, launch angle, and exit velocity, but we can also get it in the blink of an eye.
That wasn’t the case not too long ago, and the Statcast era itself only dates back to 2015. With respect to guys like Babe Ruth (who hit his fair share of no-doubters) and Mickey Mantle (who holds the Guinness World Record for the longest estimated home run measured after the fact at 643 feet), we’re going to limit our list to measurements that were more verified.
First, we’ll talk about the longest verified home run ever, and then look at some moonshots from before and during the Statcast era.
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The Longest Home Run Ever
Joey Meyer on June 3, 1987: 582 Feet
The reaction from the booth to this bomb was just excellent. It’s also worth noting that while Joey Meyer had the potential benefit of the thin air at Denver’s Mile High Stadium to help him launch that ball as far as it actually went, he still had to generate quite a bit of power to make it happen. Especially considering the fact that this dinger came off a breaking ball.
Who exactly is this guy, though? Meyer spent parts of two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1988 and 1989. His MLB career consisted of 156 games played and 516 plate appearances. He slashed .251/.300/.416 with 18 home runs, 24 doubles, and 74 RBI during that time, sussing out to a 99 OPS+ and -0.1 rWAR. While the designated hitter/first baseman didn’t necessarily make a huge impact during his time in the big leagues, his journey to The Show was much louder and more powerful.
Specifically looking at his minor-league career leading up to his MLB debut, Meyer was a legit power threat at each level. Between 1984 and 1987, he slugged at least 24 homers and 92 RBI in each campaign, with two of them going for 30-plus. He also posted an OPS greater than .900 on three different occasions.
This titanic blast happened during his most prolific season regarding power production. Meyer only suited up for 79 games with Denver (334 plate appearances), yet he slugged 29 homers, collected 92 RBI, and slashed .311/.386/.682 in the process. He did enjoy one more powerful season in Japan during 1990, which included 26 homers and 77 RBI in 426 plate appearances. Meyer made it back to affiliated ball the following season in 1991, but after a .654 OPS in 310 plate appearances, that was it for him in the pros.
Some of the Longest Home Runs Ever: Pre-Statcast Era
The following home runs are in no particular order since the measurements are estimated and a little bit all over the place, and it’s by no means an exhaustive list. What they all have in common, though, is they were absolute tanks.
Glenallen Hill on May 11, 2000
When I think of iconic home runs from the late 1990s and early 2000s that are not from one of the usual suspects (Mark McGwire, Bonds, Griffey, etc.), Glenallen Hill‘s shot at Wrigley Field is the first one that comes to mind. He also brought quite the intimidating trot around the bases with him here. I do love seeing him take a peek out to left field before rounding third base, too. This was part of Hill’s fourth and final season of 20-plus homers, and the 27 he hit (11 with Chicago, 16 with the New York Yankees) were actually a career-high mark.
We go into more detail about his performance and career here.
Reggie Jackson on July 13, 1971
I mean, this technically doesn’t count because it happened in the All-Star Game. Even with that in mind, it’s hard to not include this blast from Reggie Jackson. How he tossed his bat down immediately after making contact was awesome. As you can see from the clip, he entered the All-Star break with 17 dingers, and he’d finish the season with 32 overall. It was his second of seven 30-plus homer seasons.
Darryl Strawberry on April 4, 1988
Darryl Strawberry is the Mets’ all-time home run leader, and he got there by hitting plenty of bombs, although this one was a little different than all the others. The ball scraped the top of Olympic Stadium, which would’ve been a classic “too high” moment from the movie, Major League. The 1988 season was one of Strawberry’s best — he won his first of two Silver Slugger awards and placed second in NL MVP voting. He slashed .269/.366/.545 with 39 home runs and 101 RBI.
Adam Dunn on August 10, 2004
Whenever I have a hankering for a real moonshot, I usually enjoy perusing through some Adam Dunn highlights. He proved to not just be a one-trick pony, either — he could hit them far and hit them often, as he’s on the Reds’ single-season home run leaderboard. He hit a career-high 46 home runs in 2004, and it was his first of five consecutive 40-plus homer efforts.
Cecil Fielder on August 25, 1990
Getting the ball up and/or over the roof at the old Tiger Stadium was quite a feat. The 1990 season was significant for Cecil Fielder because it was his first time back playing ball in the States since 1988, and he began the most powerful two-year stretch of his career. He led the league in homers both times (51 in 1990, 44 in 1991) while racking up consecutive Silver Slugger awards and All-Star Game appearances, as well as two straight second-place finishes in AL MVP voting for the Detroit Tigers. And, in case you were wondering, that 51-homer outburst earned him a spot on the Tigers’ single-season home run leaderboard.
Mo Vaughn on June 26, 2002
Mo Vaughn‘s tenure with the Mets wasn’t as fruitful as anyone was hoping for, as he slashed .249/.346/.438 with 29 home runs and 87 RBI in 654 plate appearances. Looking back on it, though, his 2002 season wasn’t terrible, as 26 of those homers and 72 of those RBI came during that campaign, and it was accompanied by a .805 OPS. It wasn’t Vaughn in his prime, but for his age-34 season and after missing all of 2001 with an injury, it wasn’t too shabby. What was vintage Mo, though, was this blast.
Ken Griffey Jr. on April 12, 1996
What’s better here: the blast from Ken Griffey Jr. or the call in the booth from Dave Niehaus? It’s pretty close, but since Junior Griffey was the one who made the call possible, we’ll give him the nod. This was actually part of a three-homer performance for the Hall of Famer. After being limited to 72 games in 1995, Griffey came back with thunder in 1996, as he slugged 49 homers with 140 RBI while posting a 1.020 OPS. It was his first of four straight seasons with at least 48 dingers, and he obviously owns many spots on the Mariners’ single-season home run leaderboard.
Barry Bonds on June 8, 2002
I remember the excitement of Barry Bonds coming to Yankee Stadium leading up to this series, and my goodness he made it worth everyone’s while with that blast. Those people halfway in the upper deck weren’t expecting to walk away with a souvenir, that’s for sure. Bonds slugged 46 home runs and collected 110 RBI on the way to winning his second of four straight NL MVP awards, and he paired those numbers with a .370/.582/.799 line. And no, that’s not a typo.
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The Longest Home Runs in the Statcast Era (2015-Present)
Since we’ve now shifted into the Statcast era, the following homers will be in order, starting with the longest. We’ll only be touching on regular-season taters, though.
Nomar Mazara on June 21, 2019: 505 feet
Nomar Mazara could flash his power with a single swing like the one we see here, but he could never translate it consistently over the course of a full season. His first three years with the Texas Rangers included 20 home runs each, and then he followed that up with 19 in 2019. Between the 2020 and 2021 campaigns, Mazara hit just four dingers.
Trevor Story on September 5, 2018: 505 feet
Trevor Story‘s mammoth 505-foot homer was part of an incredibly powerful three-homer night. His dingers traveled a combined distance of 1,380 feet. At this point in his career, the 37 homers and 108 RBI are both single-season career-high marks for the middle infielder.
C.J. Cron on September 9, 2022: 504 feet
As you’ll see by scrolling down a bit more, this blast from C.J. Cron is the fourth (!) homer of 490-plus feet hit at Coors Field in 2022. And, it’s also the second time it’s happened within the same week. While Cron’s overall offensive production has gone down compared to last season, he’s poised to pass his power numbers in short order thanks to racking up more plate appearances in 2022.
Through 547 trips to the plate in 2021, Cron collected 28 homers, 92 RBI, and 70 runs scored. At the point of this dinger, the first baseman has slugged 27 dingers with 92 RBI, and 72 runs scored. It’s his fourth season of 20-plus homers since 2018, and he’s likely to collect just the second effort of 30-plus homers (he hit 30 with Tampa Bay in ’18).
Giancarlo Stanton on August 6, 2016: 504 feet
Giancarlo Stanton is no stranger to hitting absolute tanks. While this happened the season before he went berzerk by hitting 59 homers in his NL MVP performance in 2017, this specific homer came not too long after he won the 2016 Home Run Derby in San Diego. Stanton finished the year with 27 home runs in 470 plate appearances.
Christian Yelich on September 6, 2022: 499 feet
Christian Yelich – Milwaukee Brewers (12) https://t.co/nWhmphkft8
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) September 7, 2022
Oh, look — it’s another absolute moonshot of a home run at Coors Field. It’s like that place is a special one for hitters or something like that. I love how the camera immediately lost sight of the ball and its trajectory into the third deck.
This is interesting because before 2022, I don’t remember seeing left-handed hitters clobber tanks to that part of Coors. And as you’ll see a little further down, this is the third time a player has done that. This bad boy had a 109.9 mph exit velocity and a 35-degree launch angle on its way out of the park.
Overall, the 2022 campaign has been another down year for Christian Yelich, who seems very far removed from the back-to-back 7.0-plus fWAR campaigns he posted in Milwaukee between 2018 and 2019. Prior to this blast, his slugging percentage was on track to be under .400 for the second straight year. He’s really struggled at the plate (especially compared to 2018-19) since 2020, which was the first season of a nine-year, $215 million extension he signed with Milwaukee.
Miguel Sanó on September 17, 2019: 496 feet
Check out Sanó’s blast here, and it won’t be the last time we’ll be seeing him on this list. Despite appearing in just 105 games for the Minnesota Twins, it was the third baseman’s most productive season at the plate thus far. He slugged a career-high 34 homers while also posting a career-high .923 OPS.
Aaron Judge on September 30, 2017: 496 feet
Aaron Judge didn’t just hit a then-MLB-rookie-record 52 homers during 2017. He made sure to hit some moonshots in the process. He also led the league in runs scored (128), walks (127), and strikeouts (208) on his way to winning AL Rookie of the Year honors.
Jesus Sanchez on May 30, 2022: 496 feet
Is it shocking to see a blast from Coors Field on this list? Hardly — it’s one of many. What makes this moonshot from Jesus Sanchez different is that he did it from the left-handed batter’s box. I honestly only recall right-handed hitters putting the tape measure to good use in Denver. This ball flies off Sanchez’s bat and lands in a spot that very rarely — if ever — sees baseballs land.
This was the longest home run in May of 2022. It’s got a good chance to be the longest home run of the year, as well. The 24-year-old entered the year with 14 career homers to his name. Through June 20, 2022, he’s already slugged eight dingers. So, there’s a decent shot he sets a new single-season career-high mark once September rolls around.
Ryan McMahon on August 9, 2022: 495 feet
You never see baseballs go where this ball went. 😱
(MLBStats x @GoogleCloud) pic.twitter.com/jSC1ypPu1O
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 10, 2022
Ryan McMahon hasn’t yet put together an above-average year on offense since debuting for the Rockies in 2017. One thing he’s done consistently, though, is hit some absolute tanks at the friendly confines of Coors Field.
If you’re thinking you’ve seen this man on one of our lists before, it’s because you have. McMahon slugged one of the 10 longest homers of 2021, and this 495-foot moonshot all but guarantees he’ll be among that group once again for 2022. This does continue to solidify that Denver is a tremendous place to hit baseballs. As if we weren’t already sure of that.
At the time of this blast, McMahon sported just a 96 wRC+, and his .154 ISO was on track to be the lowest of his career when given a full season’s worth of plate appearances. This homer could be a sign of his bat coming alive, though. McMahon hit exactly two homers in each month between April and July. Through seven games in August, he already hit three dingers.
Ronald Acuña Jr. on September 25, 2020: 495 feet
Fresh off a 30/30 campaign (and nearly going 40/40), Ronald Acuña Jr. needed just 46 games to slug 14 home runs in 2020, with this one obviously being the longest of the pandemic-shortened year. With a .987 OPS, he placed 12th in NL MVP voting and won his second (of what will probably be a few) Silver Slugger awards.
Joey Gallo on July 20, 2018: 495 feet
This moonshot from Joey Gallo came right in the middle of his second straight season with 40-plus homers for the Rangers. Interestingly enough, Gallo failed to post an OPS greater than .800 in five of the six months during 2018. The one time he did? It happened in August when it was up at 1.040.
Aaron Judge on June 11, 2017: 495 feet
Why hit just one ball 490-plus feet when you can do it more than once? That’s clearly what Judge was thinking here. What strikes me the most about this blast is it looks like he barely even swung. Judge’s stroke appears to be nice and easy, almost as if he was taking batting practice. That dude is strong.
Miguel Sanó on August 25, 2021: 495 feet
This blast from Miguel Sanó was the longest home run of the 2021 season and as we’ve seen with many players on this list, he waited until August/September to make it happen. His 30 homers marked the second time he reached that number in his big-league career, but unlike in 2019, his OPS was down at .778.
Shohei Ohtani on June 30, 2023: 493 feet
4️⃣9️⃣3️⃣ feet for No. 30!
Shohei Ohtani is UNREAL! pic.twitter.com/W7TxBembrj
— MLB (@MLB) July 1, 2023
Is there anything this guy can’t do? Let’s not forget that he’s also one of the game’s best pitchers. It’s just not fair how good he is.
Gary Sánchez on August 22, 2017: 493 feet
It wasn’t just Judge hitting tanks during the 2017 season for the New York Yankees — Gary Sánchez got in on the fun, too. At this point, Sánchez was a year removed from his ridiculous rookie campaign, and he followed it up with another 33 homers, his first Silver Slugger award, and his first All-Star Game appearance.
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What about Mickey Mantles long Homer’s,where do you rate them?
I didn’t include them here for a couple of reasons:
1. We don’t know exactly how accurate they were because from what I read, they were measured after the fact.
2. There are no videos of those reported moonshots, so it wouldn’t be as fun to discuss as the ones mentioned here.
However, his power is indeed legendary and would probably warrant its own article!
If you haven’t already done so, I suggest you read Bill Jenkinson’s book “Ultimate Power.” The quality and extent of his research on the game’s longest home runs would rival that of a PhD thesis. One of his conclusions (as I recall): of the 100 longest home runs ever hit, Babe Ruth had 29 of them.
Very interesting — thanks for the tip! Will most certainly add that to my reading list. Sounds cool!