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

[Harry Dresden]

I don’t have to. They didn’t have that technology in 1919. They weren’t there. What they had was way better. They knew the starting point and ending point. They could physically measure which is the most accurate.

until the ball leaves the stadium....then its guess work.....

 

[Cougarbear]

until the ball leaves the stadium....then its guess work.....

There was no stadium where Ruth was. Just grass.
With McCovey or McGuire or Mantle, it still doesn’t matter if you know exactly where the ball landed. Any mathematician can quickly figure it out. You can still use any one of the methods I stated.

 

[22lcidw]

Mays was 5'10", 185lbs. Two of the hardest homers he hit I saw when attending a game at Dodger Stadium in 1970 happened against Drysdale. The first was a line drive about 15-20 feet off the ground that stayed level to the dead center seats 420 feet. That ball would have gone maybe 470 feet. At least that was what was calculated using higher math. Vin Scully was dumbfounded how quickly that ball got to the seats. Then, the next time he was up to bat, he hit a high fly ball up to the lights. Vin Scully was saying as the ball was in the air, "Hi fly ball to strait away center field. Davis going back. (as if it was going to be a routine fly ball out)...Still going back... He's at the track now...to the wall....IT'S GONE! What just happened! There's no way that a ball can be hit that high and that deep!" I mean, I saw Barry Bonds hit homers there too and never like what Mays did.

With different men playing the game, there is also bat velocity...the speed of the swing. That era had some power with arguably tougher pitchers and pitching.

 

[Cougarbear]

With different men playing the game, there is also bat velocity...the speed of the swing. That era had some power with arguably tougher pitchers and pitching.

Harry just doesn't get the topic. It's not about power, the pitchers and velocity. It's about calculating the distance Ruth hit his 572 foot home run in an exhibition game during spring training. There were no walls, stadium. Just grass. It's as simple as Ruth standing at Point A and the ball lands at Point B. What is the distance between A and B? A reporter said he walked it off with a 3 foot stride. He took 190 and a bit more which meant 572 feet. There are no videos of this so we can't figure the bat speed. We can't know the density and hardness of the bat and ball. We know he used a heavy bat (Typical back in those days). And, we would need to know the distance first to calculate the velocity. So, I proposed a few ways to check the distance:
1. Walk it off like the reporter
2. Use a tape measure and physically measure the distance
3. Use simple triangulation method with similar triangles or use Trig
4. Get blueprints of the field and it should be easy to figure out.

I agree with you about players of yesteryears. They said Dizzy Dean's fastball looked like a pea coming to the plate. It's why he won 30 games.

 

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

As a kid, I saw Frank Howard hit a monster home run that nearly left RFK stadium. He never got much recognition but he was fun to watch. RIP

Frank Howard, former All-Star, home run champ and World Series winner, dies at 87

Former major leaguer Frank Howard has died at the age of 87. A spokesperson for the Washington Nationals confirmed the team was informed of Howard's death Monday by his family.

apnews.com

Rest in peace. Should Howard have been inducted into the Hall of Fame?

 

[Weatherman2020]

As a kid, I saw Frank Howard hit a monster home run that nearly left RFK stadium. He never got much recognition but he was fun to watch. RIP

Frank Howard, former All-Star, home run champ and World Series winner, dies at 87

Former major leaguer Frank Howard has died at the age of 87. A spokesperson for the Washington Nationals confirmed the team was informed of Howard's death Monday by his family.

apnews.com

When the game was fun.

 

[Cougarbear]

Rest in peace. Should Howard have been inducted into the Hall of Fame?

I don’t think he has the numbers to make it in.