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- ⚾ Mickey Mantle bends a bat in his hands
⚾ Mickey Mantle bends a bat in his hands
Mantle would tell many his HR in 1963 was the hardest he ever hit
May 22, 1963 -- At Yankee Stadium, New York blows a 7 - 0 lead and allows Kansas City to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Mickey Mantle, leading off the 11th, is fooled by Bill Fischer on a slow curve, then cannons a 2 - 2 pitch that almost clears the RF roof. "The hardest ball I ever hit," Mantle later comments, a ball that, by some accounts, is still rising when it strikes a foot below the top. It is conservatively estimated by Dr. James McDonald, a physicist who studies long-ball trajectories, that the ball would have traveled 620 feet if it had not struck the façade. "That was the only homer I ever hit that the bat actually bent in my hands," Mantle tells Dale Long, from whom he borrowed the bat.
Mantle will give an interview discussing this Homerun below.
Today’s line up: Click to Listen
May 22, 1966 New York Mets vs San Francisco Giants
May 22, 1967 Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Mets
Did you know?
May 22 , 1965 — The Astrodome appears on national television for the first time. Viewers of ABC’s Game Of The Week watch Willie Mays blast a mammoth shot into the center field tunnel as the Giants pummels the Astros, 10-1. Chris Schenkel and Leo Durocher are the announcers. In the untelevised nightcap of the day-night twin bill, Nellie Fox drives home Rusty Staub in the eighth for a 3-2 Houston victory. Joe Gaines homers.
See highlights below.
TRIVIA:
Who was named Baseball America Freshman of the Year and the next year Baseball America College Player of the Year?
Hint: #1 He hit the first of almost three hundred major league home runs off Roger Clemens.
Hint: #2 He is the only player to hit two grand slams in a single game AND hit grand slams in each game of a doubleheader.
Hint: Answer below
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May 22, 1933, in a 3-0 win behind Lefty Gomez over Cleveland, Joe Sewell of the New York Yankees strikes out for the first time on the season. Sewell, the 34 year old future hall of farmer, playing in his final season, will strike out only three more times in 524 at-bats. Listen to Lefty!
May 22, 1937 — Facing Wes Ferrell in Boston, Hank Greenberg hits a long centerfield home run out of Fenway Park. It exits to the right of the flag pole and is called the longest home run ever hit at Fenway. Gee Walker has three hits to run his hitting streak to 26 straight games, but the Red Sox counter with 14 hits of their own to win, 11 – 9. Walker’s streak will end on the 24th after 27 games. Hank’s highlights.
May 22, 1946 -- Josh Gibson's historic home run helps the defending Negro National League Champion Homestead Grays prevail against the New York Black Yankees. Gibson, reports the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, "hit one of the longest home runs ever poled at Forbes Field when he thrilled the crowd of 5,000 by driving one 450 feet over the left-center wall." This estimate is almost certainly understated, and perhaps by quite a bit.
May 22, 1957 -- The Red Sox set an American League record by smashing four home runs in the 6th inning in an 11 - 0 win over Cleveland. Gene Mauch, Ted Williams, Dick Gernert and Frank Malzone do the honors. All of these come on the first 16 pitches from Cal McLish. Williams had set the record with Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin and Jim Tabor in 1940. Ted William’s Homerun Highlights
May 22, 1969, Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron is lifted for a pinch-hitter for the first time in his major league career. Mike Lum, batting for Aaron in the seventh, hits a pinch-hit double in the Braves’ 15-3 blowout of the New York Mets. Aaron had come to bat 9,015 times in his career before being removed for a pinch-hitter. Aaron interview
May 22, 1985 Pete Rose becomes the all-time leader in the National League for runs scored when he crosses the plate for the 2,108th time in his career. The Reds' player-manager surpasses Hank Aaron when he tallies a run in the sixth inning of a 7-4 loss to Chicago at Wrigley Field.
May 22, 1988 -- At Dodger Stadium Pedro Guerrero throws his bat at David Cone after being hit by a pitch in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 5 - 2 loss to the New York Mets. He will be suspended for four games by National League president Bart Giamatti.
May 22, 1999, may well be the reason the Los Angeles Dodgers would one day hire Mark McGwire as their hitting coach. McGwire sent the ball thrown by then-rookie Jamie Arnold in the eighth inning 483 feet to left-center field for his second homer of the night. The ball bounced off the top of the Left Field Pavilion and even prompted Vin Scully to proclaim, “Woah!”
Quote of the day:
"That was the only homer I ever hit that the bat actually bent in my hands," Mickey Mantle tells Dale Long, from whom he borrowed the bat.
Milestones
Birthdays:Highlights: Al Simmons | Debuts:Notable: Dickie Thon |
Final Games:Highlights: Heinie Manush | Passings:Notable: Lefty Grove |
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