Frank Howard, home run hitter and a friendly giant dead at 87,

[Harry Dresden]

They only hit them 505ft now.

you couldnt hit one 200 ft so dont get to cocky...

 

[francoHFW]

look at the history of the ball franco.....in the dead ball era they would play with the same ball until the cover came off...at least in Ruths time they used a couple of different balls per game........

at least. The homer was king after Ruth.... I basically memorized the baseball encyclopedia in 1962. Even more so the averages 1961. LOL Stan the Man. how about Bill Mazurowski? I loved that. Best homer ever...said ESPN too.

 

[Harry Dresden]

at least. The homer was king after Ruth.... I basically memorized the baseball encyclopedia in 1962. Even more so the averages 1961. LOL Stan the Man. how about Bill Mazurowski? I loved that. Best homer ever...said ESPN too.

in 61 as a little kid i seen Maris hit his 49th and 50th homer and mantle hit his 48th and 47th...in Cleveland....

 

[Cougarbear]

only within the stadium....and yea sure they couldnt...why dont you prove that....balls were made differently over the years....sometimes they were made harder sometimes not so hard....and Ruth at 6'2 215 was considered a big guy back then.....now they have many guys bigger than that....so dont tell me they cant hit the ball as hard....

Then why can’t they hit them farther than Ruth. Ruth played in the dead ball era. Popped one 572 feet. Mantle 555.

 

[francoHFW]

They only hit them 505ft now.

There is probably something wrong with their algorithm...smartasses lol....

 

[Cougarbear]

you couldnt hit one 200 ft so dont get to cocky...

Are you losing more gray matter? Pre frontal lobotomy? What do I have to do with hitting home runs?
Now, I can still hit balls hard with my 53 years in the martial arts with my feet

 

[francoHFW]

in 61 as a little kid i seen Maris hit his 49th and 50th homer and mantle hit his 48th and 47th...in Cleveland....

I hated the Yankees but I liked 1961 and was for Maris. Good movie too lol. The only major league game I saw was Minnesota Twins with Zoilio Verallies beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium 1965. But I threw my arm out in 1963. I don't think they allow side armers in little league now. Probably a Don Drysdale thing.... They never did hit me- more often I hit them. hit them LOL came in from way over on the right side lol...
, first in 15 years
15 years later I played for the town team. I got three beautiful line drive hits and almost the home run, then they gave me #13 and I didn't get another hit in 16 games.....The next year in that town I got run over first pitch and played a full game concussed. Had no recollection of ten hours 7 drinking and carnival lol......etc etc....

 

[francoHFW]

in 61 as a little kid i seen Maris hit his 49th and 50th homer and mantle hit his 48th and 47th...in Cleveland....

...Mistake on the lake...HUGE!!

 

[MarathonMike]

I never met Frank Howard but I used his bat the only time I ever took BP with the big boys , Joker Marchant Stadium, spring training 1974. I think he played for the Tigers the year before and when I got to the stadium, Davy Johnson threw me one of Frank's old bats and said, you're up rookie. It had a big barrel, medium handle but it was pretty light for a big guy like Frank. Probably 33-34 ounce. I really liked the bat and hit good with it. When I was done, the pitcher, Joe Coleman, took the bat and smashed it on a steel pole. He said he didn't like bats that hit him that good. Well, that's my story and very likely my 10 minutes of fame too. RIP Frank.

Great story bro! Did you ever make it to The Show?

 

[wamose]

Great story bro! Did you ever make it to The Show?

Nope. The day I went to the stadium, Detroit had what they called a split squad. Half the team went to Clearwater for a game and half got to stay in Lakeland. Kaline, Northrup and Gates Brown were some of the big names who stayed behind. I was at the minor league complex when I got called to the stadium over the loudspeaker. Needless to say, I was a little starstruck. Playing college and minor league baseball gave me a lot of experiences-stories but no money. Correction to the original story. Eddie Brinkman threw me the bat. Davy Johnson is another story from when I was in Baltimore in the summer of 70.

 

[wamose]

I never met Frank Howard but I used his bat the only time I ever took BP with the big boys , Joker Marchant Stadium, spring training 1974. I think he played for the Tigers the year before and when I got to the stadium, Eddie Brinkman threw me one of Frank's old bats and said, you're up rookie. It had a big barrel, medium handle but it was pretty light for a big guy like Frank. Probably 33-34 ounce. I really liked the bat and hit good with it. When I was done, the pitcher, Joe Coleman, took the bat and smashed it on a steel pole. He said he didn't like bats that hit him that good. Well, that's my story and very likely my 10 minutes of fame too. RIP Frank.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Then why can’t they hit them farther than Ruth. Ruth played in the dead ball era. Popped one 572 feet. Mantle 555.

Ruths home run time was not in in the dead ball era.....and those are estimates...

 

[Harry Dresden]

Are you losing more gray matter? Pre frontal lobotomy? What do I have to do with hitting home runs?
Now, I can still hit balls hard with my 53 years in the martial arts with my feet

unlike you i checked on those distances....they had to estimate anything out of the stadium in those days...since 2015 they have Statcast,which accurately measures the distance of home runs, providing precise information about how far a ball was hit......even outside the stadium....

 

[MarathonMike]

Nope. The day I went to the stadium, Detroit had what they called a split squad. Half the team went to Clearwater for a game and half got to stay in Lakeland. Kaline, Northrup and Gates Brown were some of the big names who stayed behind. I was at the minor league complex when I got called to the stadium over the loudspeaker. Needless to say, I was a little starstruck. Playing college and minor league baseball gave me a lot of experiences-stories but no money. Correction to the original story. Eddie Brinkman threw me the bat. Davy Johnson is another story from when I was in Baltimore in the summer of 70.

I remember all those guys. My Dad's family was from a small town outside Detroit. My favorite pitcher as a kid was Denny McClain.

 

[22lcidw]

I remember in an all-star game in the late 1960's they were calling out the names as they ran to the foul line. his name was called, and he ran and stood next to Harmon Killebrew who was no short man. He still was much higher and patted Killebrew on the head.

 

[wamose]

I remember all those guys. My Dad's family was from a small town outside Detroit. My favorite pitcher as a kid was Denny McClain.

He wasn't there when I was but he great. I think he was the last guy to win 30. I did get to catch Mickey Lolich, who was at the end of his career. He was trying to learn the knuckleball to add a few years to his career but that didn't work out. He kept throwing it too hard. Well, it was good talking to you, MM.

 

[MarathonMike]

I remember in an all-star game in the late 1960's they were calling out the names as they ran to the foul line. his name was called, and he ran and stood next to Harmon Killebrew who was no short man. He still was much higher and patted Killebrew on the head.

If I remember Killebrew was about 5' 11, Howard was 6' 7.

 

[Cougarbear]

unlike you i checked on those distances....they had to estimate anything out of the stadium in those days...since 2015 they have Statcast,which accurately measures the distance of home runs, providing precise information about how far a ball was hit......even outside the stadium....

You don’t know that even in those days they knew the dimensions of parking lots and walk ways to simply add to know the distances? Why would they give numbers like 578 or 572 or 555 if they could not add. Oh, and in those days, they had trigonometry and geometry to figure those distances out. Just like today.

 

[Harry Dresden]

You don’t know that even in those days they knew the dimensions of parking lots and walk ways to simply add to know the distances? Why would they give numbers like 578 or 572 or 555 if they could not add. Oh, and in those days, they had trigonometry and geometry to figure those distances out. Just like today.

you should learn what a statcast is and how it works with compared to estimating.....

 

[Cougarbear]

you should learn what a statcast is and how it works with compared to estimating.....

It uses trig. Face it. Even today, with eyewitness evidence and the dimensions known of the old parks, we can accurately calculate those distances. Take a few high school math classes and get educated