Of the more than 300,000 home runs that have been hit in MLB history, a few soared a good bit further than the rest.
If it’s still true that chicks dig the long ball, then this recounting of MLB’s most mammoth mashes goes out to the ladies.
In typical baseball fashion, though, this list is inherently debatable.
Since 2015, we’ve had Statcast cameras to measure everything imaginable about batted balls, most notably launch angle and exit velocity, to tell us how far home runs (theoretically, mathematically) traveled. But before that, it was some combination of rough estimates and wild guesses — some of which were undoubtedly influenced by a well-timed gust of wind.
Even within the Statcast Era, you could argue that home runs clobbered in 2019 shouldn’t count toward this list the same as those in any other season, as the ball was clearly juiced that year. There were 6,776 home runs hit in 2019, compared to 5,585 the previous season — a more than 21 percent increase.
Goodness only knows how uniform balls and bats were decades ago, too.
Nevertheless, there is a mostly agreed upon list of the 10 longest home runs hit in MLB history, and we are forever waiting to see if anyone will hammer another ball that lands in the top five.
Understanding Home Runs: Key Facts and Insights
Back in the pre-Babe Ruth days of Major League Baseball, home runs were pretty rare. We’re talking “more than 40 hits per home run in every single season from 1897-1919” rare.
By the time Ruth was done mashing his way to 714 career home runs, though, the game was already trending toward the nightly home run derby that it is today.
That hits-per-home run ratio was pretty consistently in the 16-20 range throughout the 1930s. 1955 was the first year it dipped below 10.0. And though it did rise back into the 11-12 range for much of the 1970s and 1980s, the beginning of the Statcast Era changed baseball as we know it, with each of the nine lowest ratios of hits per home run (all 7.61 or less) coming since 2016.
Advancements in both bat/ball technology and the general understanding of how to hit a baseball very, very far were already gradually increasing the league-wide home run rate. But now everyone steps into the batter’s box knowing so much more than they did a decade ago about launch angles, spin rates, the opposing pitchers’ tendencies and more to help them swing for the fences.
For better or worse, baseball is all about the long ball now.
What’s curious about that, however, is that only one of the 10 longest home runs in MLB history was hit in the past two decades.
While players have been mastering the art of hitting balls over the outfield walls, they’ve apparently lost the ability to hit balls out of the stadium.
The Longest Home Runs of All Time
1. Babe Ruth, 575 feet (July 18, 1921 off Bert Cole)
Did The Babe legitimately hit a baseball 70 feet further than anyone in the past two decades has managed to hit one?
It seems crazy, but Ruth reportedly used a bat that weighed considerably more than even the heaviest models in use today. Aaron Judge generally wields a 33-ounce bat, but Ruth’s was reported to be anywhere from 38 to 54 ounces, the latter of which might as well be an actual sledgehammer.
It’s plausible he really did hit one just right to send it into orbit. It's certainly true that pitchers back then weren’t too worried about keeping the ball in the yard, as 1921 was the first season in MLB history with more than 760 total home runs.
2. Mickey Mantle, 565 feet (April 17, 1953 off Chuck Stobbs)
Probably the most mind-boggling part of this mythical "tape measure" home run is that it happened so early in the season. Moonshots typically occur in July and August when it’s nice and warm and the ball just seems to jump off the bat. But The Mick’s first home run of his age-21 season might have had a little frost on it by the time it traveled more than one-tenth of a mile at Washington’s Griffith Stadium. (Actually, historical weather data suggests it was a balmy, nearly 70 degrees that day, but still wild to nearly break the all-time record in mid-April.)
3. Reggie Jackson, 539 feet (July 13, 1971 off Dock Ellis)
Mr. October hit 563 regular-season home runs in his Hall of Fame career, but this longest recorded ball that he ever hit wasn’t part of that tally. Rather, this smash off the right-field roof of Tiger Stadium was hit during the 1971 All-Star Game. It’s still regarded as an all-time feat, even though it was a pinch hit in an exhibition game.
4 (tie). Willie Stargell, 535 feet (May 20, 1978 off Wayne Twitchell)
As you’d probably expect, hitting the cover off of a baseball is generally a young man’s game. Ruth was 26, Jackson was 25 and Mantle was only 21 when they hit the home runs that landed in the top three. Stargell, on the other hand, was 38 and nearly finished with his Hall of Fame career when he hit the only home run to reach the club deck of Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. (He homered in his next AB, too, for what was his lone multi-HR game of the 1978 season.)
4 (tie). Adam Dunn, 535 feet (August 10, 2004 off José Lima)
Since the day that disco died, Big Donkey clubbed MLB’s longest recorded home run. If you remember watching Dunn play, that’s none too surprising. No one swung for the fences quite like this star of the Cincinnati Reds who unofficially founded the Three True Outcomes club. During that 2004 campaign, he had 46 home runs, 108 walks and 195 strikeouts, doing one of the three in 51.2 percent of his plate appearances. And on that fateful August day, he demolished one over the batter’s eye at the launching pad known as Great American Ball Park.
6. Dave Kingman, 530 feet (April 14, 1976 off Tom Dettore)
When the winds are blowing out at Wrigley Field, sometimes the ball finds a jet stream. And while the longest *fabled* home run at Wrigley may have actually been one that Kingman hit three years later in a 23-22 homer-palooza, this is officially the record. This one also unofficially ended the opposing pitcher’s career, as Dettore made three more appearances that week before never pitching in the majors again. (Kingman was just getting started, though. This was No. 115 on his way to 442 in his career.)
7. Darryl Strawberry, 525 feet (April 4, 1988 off Randy St. Claire)
The Straw Man had one of the sweetest swings in baseball history, which had him on the fast track to the Hall of Fame until cocaine derailed his career. And on Opening Day of the 1988 season, that sweet swing connected for a tank job that might still be flying to this day if that doggone ceiling of Montreal’s Olympic Stadium hadn’t gotten in the way.
8. Jim Thome, 511 feet (July 3, 1999 off Don Wengert)
Thome might be the greatest home run hitter who often gets forgotten about in the conversation about the greatest home run hitters. That’s largely because the No. 8 player on the all-time list with 612 dingers only led the league in HR once in his career, simply really good at homering for a long time and getting lost a bit in the shuffle of a steroids era in which he was never implicated. And he crushed this particular ball further than any confirmed/suspected juicer ever did.
9 (tie). Nomar Mazara, 505 feet (June 21, 2019 off Reynaldo López)
This one is just so baffling. Every other player in this top 10 hit at least 328 career home runs. Yet, the Statcast Era record for longest home run belongs to…Nomar Mazara? Not Aaron Judge…not Giancarlo Stanton…not Shohei Ohtani, Bryce Harper or Mike Trout…not even the first Nomar that springs to mind in baseball lore. But for one glorious moment, the Rangers outfielder with 85 career home runs became a legend.
9 (tie). Mo Vaughn, 505 feet (June 26, 2002 off Kevin Gryboski)
Vaughn had one of the more distinctive batting stances in baseball history — one that fans of a certain age can probably still remember trying to imitate in a neighborhood game of stickball. It was almost rattlesnake-like, the way he would hide his face from the pitcher before unleashing a venomous strike. And even though he was well past his prime by 2002, he still had one great bite left in him, darn near clearing the scoreboard at Shea Stadium with this titanic blast.
How Does Home Run Distance Impact Fantasy Baseball?
Unless you’ve created some kind of gnarly fantasy league that awards bonus points for home runs that travel at least 450 feet, it might not seem like home run distance makes any sort of difference.
Park factors and dimensions are very much a thing worth taking into consideration when building a lineup, though.
Games played at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, Texas’ Globe Life Field, New York’s Yankee Stadium and Colorado’s Coors Field have long been more likely to produce home runs than games played at San Francisco’s Oracle Park or Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium.
In fact, in 2024, there 2.79 home runs hit per game played at Yankee Stadium compared to 1.68 at Oracle Park. That’s a massive difference.
Granted, one of those venues had both Aaron Judge and Juan Soto playing in nearly every game while the other very much did not. But there’s little question that your average hitter is more likely to homer @ NYY than @ SFG, which is a big thing to keep in mind if considering a DFS stack.
It’s also something to think about if a player changes teams, either in free agency or via a midseason trade. Not only do we have park factors, but Statcast can tell us exactly how many home runs a player theoretically would have hit if each ball had been hit at that particular stadium.
Take Willy Adames, for example. Statcast says that the former Brewers shortstop would have hit 154 home runs in his career if every game was played at Milwaukee’s American Family Field, and only 121 if all those games were played in what is his new home at Oracle Park. Might be something to keep in mind on draft day.
Conversely, new Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger? Statcast says he would’ve hit 24 home runs last season at Yankee Stadium as opposed to his actual total of 18. Perhaps he is primed for a bounce-back year?
The little things, little things, they always hang around. But the little things, little things, can be the difference that help you win your league/pool.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is considered the farthest home run ever hit?
Though the official MLB record belongs to Babe Ruth, there are tall tales of Josh Gibson of Negro League fame hitting home runs that sailed 600 feet, as well as a story of Joey Meyer hitting one over 580 feet at Mile High Stadium while playing at Triple-A Denver.
What is Aaron Judge’s longest home run?
Somewhat shockingly, Judge has only hit two home runs in his career (through 2024) that traveled more than 477 feet, both of which came during his AL Rookie of the Year campaign in 2017.
He had a 495-foot bomb off Logan Verrett in June of that year, and he topped that ever so slightly in his next-to-last AB of the regular season via a 496-foot smash off Marcus Stroman.
Where have all the 500-foot HRs gone?
A fantastic question for which we don’t have an answer.
Home runs are happening more frequently in the Statcast Era, but the only 500+ foot homer from 2020-24 was a C.J. Cron shot in September 2022 at Coors Field that traveled 504 feet.
Perhaps MLB’s practice of storing baseballs in a humidor is serving as something of a restrictor plate, not necessarily making it more difficult to homer, but making it more difficult to really obliterate the ball.
Elevate Your Fantasy Baseball Experience with Sleeper!
The vast majority of us will never know the joy of hitting a mammoth home run, but you can hit one out of the park by making Sleeper your one-stop shop for all things fantasy sports.
The app is top notch, and the fantasy offerings are plentiful, from breaking news, to Sleeper Picks to season-long leagues.
If you’re still relatively new to the world of baseball or just looking to expand your knowledge of the game, we’ve got all sorts of articles to help you out, from baseball rules for beginners, to an explanation of baseball statistics, the most popular teams, a primer on the positions in baseball and, of course, tips for playing fantasy baseball.
