How are the home runs measured accurately in the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, and what is the longest home run recored in Major League Baseball history?

fpgjc

Longest: There is obviously no accurate measurement from the past as there are several disputed answers as to who and where the longest Home run was: On April 17, 1953, Mickey Mantle is credited with what many consider to be the longest HR in baseball history. He is estimated to have hit a 565-foot home run at Washington's Griffith Stadium off Senators pitcher Chuck Stobbs http://www.historicbaseball.com/qanda.html Jul 09 02, 11:28 AM

serpa

Let's suppose a home run is hit into the center field bleachers. Here's how the distance is calculated: 1. A spotter marks the exact location where the ball fell on the map. A horizontal distance from home plate can be easily measured by the spotter since the map is of a certain scale. Let's say the horizontal distance was 410 feet. 2. The spotter calculates the remainder of the distance that the ball would have traveled if it hadn't hit the stands. When the spotter marks the ball's location on the map, the map shows the elevation of that particular section of the stadium above home plate. 3. The third component is a subjective call. The spotter must decide into which of three categories the home run fits: * Line drive * Normal fly * High fly Each of the three categories has a particular cotangent value attached to it. Line drive is 1.2, normal fly is 0.8, and high fly is 0.6. In non-mathematical terms, the cotangent value approximates how many feet the ball would travel horizontally for each foot in elevation that the ball hit above ground. Using our example, let's suppose that the elevation was 58 feet above home plate and that the home run was classified as being a normal fly. To calculate the "Tale of the Tape," we use the equation: horizontal distance + (elevation * cotangent value) = total distance In our example, this comes out to a distance of 456.4 feet (410 + [58 * 0.8]). http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/question704.htm Jul 19 10, 11:49 PM