via Mitchell and Ness
It may be nothing more than just a batting practice exhibition, but each MLB season, the Home Run Derby is always one of the best events in baseball.
Pitting some of the game’s most dominating sluggers against one another, the contest is a spectacle that has given fans some incredible moments, like Ken Griffey Jr’s warehouse blast and Josh Hamilton’s ridiculous display of strength in Yankee Stadium.
Giving the heavy hitters who take part in the competition free reign to swing as hard as they possibly can, the Derby might have some of the most incredible homers, but they aren’t always the ones that travel the furthest.
Sure, Miami Marlins’ baseball destroyer Giancarlo Stanton’s homer in the 2014 Home Run Derby was marveled at, but it would still be 35 feet short of the all-time record in the stadium where this season’s contest is, the Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ball Park—with the record being a towering shot from Adam Dunn in 2004 that traveled a whopping 535 feet.
In fact, thanks to the above graphic and info from Mitchell & Ness, you can see just how far each dinger has traveled in every MLB ballpark, no doubt getting you amped for what tonight’s Derby brings.
While watching tonight’s slugfest, see if any ball travels farther than these, top-3 distances on the list:
- Dave Kingman, Wrigley Field – 550 Feet (1979)
- Adam Dunn, Great American Ballpark – 535 Feet (2004)
- Jim Thome, Progressive Field – 511 Feet (1999)
Oh, and while you’re enjoying the moonshots that grown men swinging baseball bats are putting on display, don’t forget to drink up, as we’ve got the Official 2015 Home Run Derby Drinking Game, which will surely get you fucked up.
[H/T Mitchell & Ness]