A surviving ledger of the 1934 season shows the Pittsburgh Crawfords as the biggest draw, with revenue from ticket sales exceeding $1,000. Beyond the outfield there are monuments to soldiers from five wars and another to Belmar firefighters. "In each one of these parks, the person that they asked that question, they always said Josh Gibson." His hitting prowess is legendary, with stories of 700-foot home runs and eighty home run seasons. He unquestionably demonstrated extraordinary power with his bat and is variously credited with 800 to 962 home runs inclusive of exhibition games against … Details are in my books, Josh Gibson, Josh and Satch, and The Complete Book. It’s not a political statement, and there is no detailed analytical statistical proof that Gibson holds one of our most-cherished sports records. The longest home run ever recorded is a subject of longstanding debate among baseball aficionados. There, Gibson's legend only grew. “They were playing baseball here in the early 1900s,” Heulitt said. In fact, Trilli said he was standing by the backstop that day to catch foul balls before they ended up in the water. SHEA STADIUM “The ball cleared the center field fence and landed in the back yard of the post office,” Egbert said. There have been claims of 600-footers, substantiated to varying degrees. For a total of 126 home runs! End of an era: Belmar set to take over emergency medical services as first aid squad nears end. Josh Gibson is said to have hit a home run … Next to Satchel Paige , the barrel-chested catcher was the biggest attraction in black baseball. Details are in my books, Josh Gibson, Josh and Satch, and The Complete Book. In seeing where the ball first landed, that distance was also measured at 649 feet. Imagine how much farther it might have traveled! Lights were installed, although they had to be kept off during World War II per orders of the U.S. Navy. In 2007, I was talking via email with Dan Cohen, then curator of the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in Kentucky. "At that time, a 400-foot home run was a big deal because the baseball was not as live as they are now." If Josh Gibson is the home run king, recognize it." In 137 games with the Crawfords in 1933 he batted .467 with 55 home runs. " The home run was measured at a distance of 582 feet (177 m) … Top Answer. The longest actual homerun ever hit was by Josh Gibson.Gibson slugged one over the third deck next to the left field bullpen in 1934 for the only fair ball hit out of Yankee Stadium. On June 3, 1937, Josh Gibson, the Negro League great from the Homestead Grays, also hit a home run near the top of the facade that The Sporting News reported went 580 feet. Born Dec. 21, 1911, in Buena Vista, GA, Gibson and his family moved to Pittsburgh at age 10. He began as a pro at 18 with the Homestead Grays in 1930, and he also starred for the Pittsburgh Crawfords as Paige's battery mate in the mid-and-late-1930s when that team might have been the best team anywhere to have played the game . Gibson slugged long home runs -- 69 in 1934 -- and recorded astoundingly high batting averages. Josh Gibson photo is from a 1940s studio series showing his home run swing. The home run was measured at a distance of 582 feet (177 m) and was hit inside Denver's Mile High Stadium. That will not happen, for ample reason. Many say the longest home run hit against Kansas City came off the bat of Royal killer Jim Thome in July of 1999. In his letter, Leonard says: “Grays always bought Louisville Sluggers. Negro League statistics of the 1930s and '40s have been described in the kindest terms as sketchy. I wanted to know if Bradsby & Hillerich’s records show what size bats they had made for Gibson. The longest home run ever recorded is a subject of longstanding debate among baseball aficionados. Black History Month- Josh Gibson: Arguably the greatest home run hitter of all time. The hitter was Josh Gibson, a legendary slugger of the 1930s and 1940s known as “the Black Babe Ruth.” With Major League Baseball played by whites only, Gibson starred in the Negro leagues and on barnstorming tours. Unofficially, he may have homered close to 900 times in various settings. ( Log Out /  Barry Bonds referred to "Josh Gibson's 800 home runs" in his post-game press conference after hitting his 756th MLB home run. Facing Seattle’s Mike Moore in a … In 1930, Josh Gibson hit one of the longest home runs in the history of baseball. Months later, he found two 1975 letters in the company’s files, from Cool Papa Bell and Buck Leonard. At some point the anecdotal evidence simply becomes overwhelming, even if we know some of the anecdotes are less than 100 percent "true." Asked by Wiki User. It is said to be 800-1,000. They said it was the longest home run they'd ever seen. But what about the river shot? They were so named because the owner of the National League’s Boston Braves (today’s Atlanta Braves), Emil Fuchs, lived in the borough and donated the uniforms. “People don’t know what happened on this field. Hall of Fame catcher Josh Gibson is one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. Some accounts stated that he had over one thousand career homers, “Grays always bought Louisville Sluggers. average ranging between .300 and even .400 several times. Heulitt, a righthanded pitcher for Manasquan High in the 1960s, played there and coached his kids there. His production was so prodigious that his Hall of Fame plaque reads he had almost 800 home runs. It was 1930, Josh was 18, and it was the playoff for the Eastern title between Gibson's Homestead Grays and the NY Lincoln Giants. It is not exactly known how many home runs Gibson hit. Why would he lie about that homer in Monessen, the longest one he had every seen his … In a 1973 interview with the Coast Advertiser, former Braves catcher Dave Egbert recounted Gibson’s moon shot. Known as the black Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson was one of the best-known players in baseball’s Negro leagues. The longest actual homerun ever hit was by Josh Gibson. BELMAR - From home plate at Memorial Field you can see the American flag fluttering in the distance, beyond the center field fence and across Main … Taking Egbert at his word about the ball landing behind the building — he was a two-decade fixture with the Belmar Braves, a reputable guy by all accounts — and you’re talking about a 650-foot home run. Bo to us. One of Elijah “Lucky” Miller’s favorite stories was seeing Josh Gibson hit a monster home run out of Page Park in Monessen, Pa. Before I met him, when he was “only” 98, he told the story to Peter and Per Argentine in a video interview: He said then that the Homestead Grays catcher hit the ball over a steel mill and into the Monongahela River, a nice precursor to modern-day shots out of PNC Park into the Allegheny River. A boy picked up the ball some 715 feet away from home plate. In Mexico we asked for “Sluggers” and the longest home run I ever hit was in Yankee stadium in 1948 using a slugger.” Then he adds: “The longest homer hit by Josh Gibson was in Monessen, PA. while using your company’s bat.” Leonard was a very religious man, just like Lucky. ... It’s been a long fight and here we are talking about the same things a hundred years later in 2020. Bell’s letter says that he used a bat that was 35 inches long and weighed between 38 and 39 ounces. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. SHEA STADIUM JOSH GIBSON:Longest home run ever? "They would talk about the home run he hit at Griffith Stadium (in Washington) -- right center. Home plate at Page Park was close to the river and faced toward the mill. Josh Gibson has historically been credited as being the only player to hit a home run out of Yankee stadium, but there is controversy on the issue. As the years rolled by, Memorial Field hosted all manner of ballgames — Little League, American Legion, high school, over-40. “I’d like to see a plaque or something here,” Heulitt said. ESPN’s Home Run Tracker seems to have taken these into account when reporting their home runs. Josh Gibson has historically been credited as being the only player to hit a home run out of Yankee stadium, but there is controversy on the issue. Other Negro League superstars who wound up with busts in Cooperstown — Satchel Paige, James “Cool Papa” Bell and Judy Johnson — also strode the diamond in Belmar. Let’s consider for a moment that Gibson often played after enduring overnight bus rides that covered as much as 800 miles (Josh’s own words in a 1942 newspaper story) and staying in dumpy hotels. ( Log Out /  Gibson was said by Buck O'Neil to have created a particular sound like dynamite when he hit the ball that he had heard only three times during his lifetime in baseball. Gibson slugged one over the third deck next to the left field bullpen in 1934 for the only fair ball hit out of Yankee Stadium. The place always felt special for him, even though he didn’t learn its history until much later. In a section entitled, "the longest home runs hit in Yankee Stadium," Gibson is omitted entirely, although some of his home runs have certainly been among the longest balls ever hit in (or out of) that stadium. I always joke with my buddy Brent Stevens, who’s Babe Ruth’s great-grandson. His Grays teams won nine consecutive league titles at one point, and he played on too many all-star teams to count. Leonard often batted just before or after Gibson and sportswriters called them the Thunder Twins. Longest home run ever? A boy picked up the ball some 715 feet away from home plate. “If you walk it off, it has to be one of the longest home runs hit anywhere, anytime,” said Spencer Heulitt, president of the Belmar Historical Society. Change ), About the authors and illustrator of “Lucky Bats”, Lucky & Me Blog: The story behind the book. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Gibson remains a Paul Bunyanesque figure – part historical figure, part myth – seven decades after his passing. Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. How popular were these affairs? Longest home run ever? You wonder: Did a man really hit a baseball that far? By his own account he hit the longest home run of his career on May 22, 1963 at Yankee Stadium. He also had a powerful, compact swing that produced tape-measure home runs (many Gibson reportedly launched one 580 feet at Yankee Stadium in 1937. Longest home run ever? ( Log Out /  This is an exhibition, as (was) Josh Gibson, not a real major league game. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. The longest measured home run in MLB measured where it first hit the ground was by Babe Ruth on July 18, 1921, at 575 feet. “I don’t think anybody has ever hit a ball that hard,” Trilli said. Almost everyone in attendance believed that the ball was still rising when it was interrupted in midflight by the roof structure. It would have meant so much more if I had known that when I was participating in games here.”. Quickly after the announcement, there was some level of discussion on the possibility of the late, great Josh Gibson becoming baseball's new, officially recognized home run king. I've been asked about Josh Gibson's famous Yankee stadium home run. I spoke with Trilli again today (April 21) and got more details. You hear about the home run in Yankee stadium -- 580 feet – the longest home run ever in Yankee Stadium. A study of the facts would indicate that perhaps he did not. “In 1921 the town paid $20,000 for the block, to keep it as an athletic field — as a tribute to those who fought in World War I.”. Ruth’s 575-foot blast against the Detroit Tigers in 1921 often comes up. I believe it's the first ball … By John B. Holway. Gibson got his revenge the next night in Hamilton, Ontario, hitting a home run over the center field fence. Gibson was discovered while playing in an Industrial League All Star game in 1928. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Both were Gibson’s teammates and later inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Beneath the flag, at the corner of 13th Avenue, is the borough’s post office. It’s another 150 feet to the front steps of the post office, which opened in 1936 — Gibson’s final season with the Pittsburgh Crawfords. I used the story in a newspaper article in 2009 and received a call from Art Trilli of North Belle Vernon, now 94, who said he was there that summer day in the early 1930s. “Josh missed immortality and a chance to endorse breakfast food by being born on the wrong side of the social structure.” — Jimmy Powers, New York Daily News, 19371 Josh Gibson was the most dominant power hitter in the Negro Leagues from 1930 through 1946. In the opening doubleheader, Josh hit one over the centerfield wall at Forbes Field, home of the Pirates. And according to their new system, the longest home run in recent years has been from Adam Dunn. Belting home runs of more than 500-feet was not unusual for Gibson. • Gibson played baseball in the United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Mexico, with a lifetime batting average of .354–.384, depending on which statistics are counted. 1930s crowd photo at Greenlee Field in Pittsburgh’s Hill District by Charles “Teenie” Harris. But it also seems likely that Gibson's 1930 home run (and perhaps the 1934 homer) ranks as one of the longest ever hit at Yankee Stadium, along with a famous homer by Mickey Mantle in 1963 that came within a few inches of leaving the stadium well beyond right field (see Mantle’s 734 feet Homer). His Grays teams won nine consecutive league titles at one point, and he played on too many all-star teams to count. By Jason Lewis (Sentinel Sports Editor, [email protected]) Published February 21, 2013. The twins, named Helen and Josh Jr., survived, but Josh could not stay with them for long. The company had no records on that, but Cohen did say that long-ball hitters often used bats of different weights depending on the speed of the pitcher they faced. It was “the longest home run ever hit in the House that Ruth Built,” biographer John Holway writes. The greatest power hitter in black baseball, Josh Gibson led the Negro National League in home runs for 10 consecutive years; credited with 75 home runs in 1931. “To find out the players who played here, I have so much more reverence for this field now.”. Why would he lie about that homer in Monessen, the longest one he had every seen his friend hit? Josh Gibson was known as "the Babe Ruth of the Negro Leagues." He said Gibson’s screamer easily cleared a garage in deep left field that was marked 465 feet, sailed over a driveway and struck the side of a building in the American Chain and Cable plant, Page Division. For his “official” career, Josh Gibson hit 107 home runs and batted .350. Gibson’s impressive bat put him on nine East-West All-Star squads and ranked him second only to Satchel Paige as the best-known Negro League player. The ball struck the facade on the right-field roof approximately 370 feet from home plate and 115 feet above field level. It’s one of the few slips I’ve found in Lucky’s incredible memory. Teasley finally made it to the Negro National League in 1948 when he signed with the New York Cubans. The only way Gibson’s hit could have ended up in the river is if it was a foul tip. Most of all, there should be some kind of historical marker. Then about 12 years old, he believed it was a game against the House of David, a Michigan team that he said played the Grays once a year in Monessen. The Guinness Book of World Records lists Gibson's lifetime home run total at 800. It was during a Negro League game, though, so if you go to Google you’ll learn that baseball’s longest home run is Babe Ruth’s 575-foot shot in Detroit in 1921. Ken Burns' award-winning series, Baseball, states that his actual total may have been as high as 950. Trilli confirmed what other Monessen old-timers had told me years ago. Considering Gibson played the majority of his career in Forbes Field with a center field measured at 457-feet and Griffith Stadium, whose center rests at the 421-foot mark, his home run totals could have been higher had he played in some of the less challenging stadiums of the league. 0 0 1. Josh Gibson was one of the most famous baseball players in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, even though he never played in the Major Leagues because owners would not sign black players. The second occurrence was in a recent New York Times article about Barry Bonds and his quest for the Major League home run record. For his “official” career, Josh Gibson hit 107 home runs and batted .350. Grass is poking through the basepaths. The Belmar Braves called Memorial Field home in the 1920s and '30s. If Josh Gibson is the home run king, recognize it." Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. At some point the anecdotal evidence simply becomes overwhelming, even if we know some of the anecdotes are less than 100 percent "true." Fans at Yankee Stadium react during Josh Hamilton’s 2008 Home Run … There, Gibson's legend only grew. Negro league slugger Josh Gibson's Baseball Hall of Fame plaque says he hit "almost 800" home runs in his career. Josh Gibson and the incredible history of Belmar Memorial Field. It’s a long, long way from the batter’s box. What was josh Gibson longest home run? "It was 402 feet," Teasley remembers. The four-time Negro League batting champion, Gibson is credited with a .345 career average on Baseball Reference. That will not happen, for ample reason. Bonds hit precisely 762. A study of the facts would indicate that perhaps he did not. It was 1930, Josh was 18, and it was the playoff for the Eastern title between Gibson's Homestead Grays and the NY Lincoln Giants. In 1987, Joey Meyer of the Denver Zephyrs hit the longest verifiable home run in professional baseball history. I've been asked about Josh Gibson's famous Yankee stadium home run. That building was at least 550 feet from home plate, he said. Aerial view: Path of a legendary home run at Belmar's Memorial Field, Aerial view: The path of a legendary home run at Belmar's Memorial Field, Jerry Carino, Thomas P. Costello and Mike Davis, Asbury Park Press, Belmar set to take over emergency medical services as first aid squad nears end, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. In 1987, Joey Meyer of the Denver Zephyrs hit the longest verifiable home run in professional baseball history. Belmar’s First Aid Squad built bleachers as crowds numbered in the thousands. 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