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After watching Yoenis Cespedes' 462 foot SHOT on Friday night, it got me thinking about long home runs at the Coliseum.
Before that, however, let's take a moment to watch it again:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=20411309&c_id=mlb
Being one of the hardest places to hit HRs in the major leagues, it stands to reason that this was one of the longest HRs hit at the Coliseum in recent years. So, where does Cespedes' shot rank in recent Coliseum history? Well, here it is, with help from the folks at www.hittrackeronline.com (now owned by ESPN)
Top 10 HR distances at O.co Coliseum/Oakland Alameda County Coliseum/McAfee Coliseum, 2006-2012:
Date
Hitter
HitterTeam
TrueDist.
04/06/12
Cespedes, Yoenis
OAK
462
08/13/08
Pena, Carlos
TB
453
04/20/10
Rodriguez, Alex
NYY
452
06/08/09
Cust, Jack
OAK
449
09/03/09
Hall, Bill
SEA
448
09/22/06
Kendrick, Howie
LAA
448
08/29/07
Overbay, Lyle
TOR
448
08/06/09
Blalock, Hank
TEX
447
07/15/11
Willingham, Josh
OAK
446
09/20/11
Beltre, Adrian
TEX
445
As you can see, Cespedes’ HR is easily the longest one hit in Oakland since 2006. Of course, most of the big bombs belong to A’s visitors, with the exception of Willingham’s mammoth 2nd deck shot last year and a Jack Cust drive. Some people on here and on Twitter also referenced Cespedes’ blast being Thomasian. Actually, while Thomas definitely hit some long HR during his stint in Oakland, his most titanic blast was 27 feet short of Cespedes’:
Frank Thomas 400 foot+ HR's, 2006, McAfee Coliseum
| Date | Hitter | HitterTeam | TrueDist. |
| 07/06/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 435 |
| 08/28/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 423 |
| 07/28/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 422 |
| 09/05/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 420 |
| 08/14/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 416 |
| 05/07/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 415 |
| 05/19/08 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 412 |
| 06/01/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 411 |
| 07/26/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 408 |
| 04/15/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 407 |
| 04/03/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 406 |
| 09/17/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK | 406 |
| 04/14/06 | Thomas, Frank | OAK |
405 |
(I also asked the A’s for historical home run distance data, but according to Bob Rose (A’s PR Director), these data were never kept. I guess the in-stadium reported distances were only for fun? To be honest, I always thought they undersold distances anyway.)
I can recall two in-game HR I saw in person that really made my jaw drop, aside from Cespedes’ blast:
- Around 1999 or so (when he was good), Ben Grieve hit one well up into section 243-4 or so during a game. If my memory serves me correctly, and my estimate of the location is accurate, that would be well past Cespedes’ blast. 485 feet or so? I want to say it was against the Orioles, but it was 13 years ago – shoot me!
- A couple years before that Bill Hasselman took one into the walkway between Mt. Davis at the old structure in dead LF, well below the flagpoles but in that direction.
What are the longest Coliseum HR you’ve seen? Feel free to describe it, whether it was pre- or post-Mt. Davis.
Join me shortly before 7:05 for a game thread!
