The Longest Home Run in Twins History

[Matt Johnson]

Image courtesy of © Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

Harmon Killebrew hit the longest home run in Twins history on Jun. 3, 1967—a prodigious 522-foot blast off 40-year-old Angels pitcher Lew Burdette. Rod Carew had a heckuva perspective, leading off second base. The wallop continues to fascinate Twins fans to this day.

The Twins painted the spot on the bench seat that the ball crashed into bright orange, standing out in a sea of green as a testament to the legendary power of the Killer—and as a warning to opposing pitchers. Today, Mall of America sits on the site of Metropolitan Stadium. Visitors may notice a single chair mounted high on a wall overlooking the mall’s seven-acre indoor amusement park, marking the approximate spot in space where Killebrew’s home run landed.

For perspective, the giant bronze glove on Target Field Plaza outside Gate 34 is 522 feet from home plate.

The home run was originally announced at 435 feet—the distance of a straight line between home plate and the upper deck seat that the ball struck. Befuddled—and a little incredulous—Bob Allison called official scorer (and longtime Twins PR man) Tom Mee from the phone in the dugout, wanting to know how on Earth that home run could be measured at only 435 feet.

That same day, Mee phoned a University of Minnesota physics professor to recalculate the actual distance the home run would have traveled if Metropolitan Stadium hadn’t gotten in the way. 

The next day, immediately after the revised distance of 522 feet was announced, Killebrew crushed another one over 500 feet. To this day, people swear the ball was still rising when it collided with the facing of the second deck at the old Met. 

The only other player to ever hit one to the upper deck at Met Stadium was Bobby Darwin in 1972. 

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[LambchoP]

I bet Wallner hits a few bombs that threaten to go just as far this year if he stays healthy and gets hot....

[Linus]

Didn’t Harmon hit one completely out of Tiger Stadium back in the day?  I believe he is the only one to have done it. 

[RpR]

1 hour ago, LambchoP said:

I bet Wallner hits a few bombs that threaten to go just as far this year if he stays healthy and gets hot....

Not likely, but back in the day of Sano, it may have been challenged.

In this day of more common 100mph pitches, well, the faster it comes to the batter, the farther from the batter it will go with a solid wood connection.

[Road trip]

It's a good story, and likely the longest home run ever hit by a Twin even though calculation methods were pretty primitive by today's standards.

Longest home run in all of MLB in the Statcast era is 505 feet by Nomar Mazara in Arlington.

Sano's longest: 495 at Fenway

Wallner's longest (so far): 463, which is also the longest ever at Target Field.

[arby58]

1 hour ago, Linus said:

Didn’t Harmon hit one completely out of Tiger Stadium back in the day?  I believe he is the only one to have done it. 

He did - one of four players to do so: Cecil Fielder, Frank Howard, Harmon Killebrew, and Mark McGwire.
Those all are/were some big dudes.

[arby58]

I remember going to games at the Metropolitan stadium and seeing the orange seat - you had to see it to comprehend just how far (and high) from home plate it was.

[AceWrigley]

2 hours ago, arby58 said:

He did - one of four players to do so: Cecil Fielder, Frank Howard, Harmon Killebrew, and Mark McGwire.
Those all are/were some big dudes.

I think Reggie Jackson hit one that would have cleared the stadium but the ball hit one of the lighting transformers or something to keep it "in the stadium". Tiger Stadium was a great place to watch baseball; good fans too. I miss that place.

[AceWrigley]

I saw Bobby Darwin's colossal smash. More like a T-shot than a majestic arch. I think it was 1974 and he hit it off Fergie Jenkins of the Rangers, but I could be wrong. And as it continued to travel we were thinking OMG its heading for Harmon's seat. Nobody up there. Ball rattled around the seats then the awe turned to yay, a homerun.

[Matt Johnson]

7 hours ago, LambchoP said:

I bet Wallner hits a few bombs that threaten to go just as far this year if he stays healthy and gets hot....

When he hits the ball, it stays hit.

 

[twinstalker]

5 hours ago, arby58 said:

He did - one of four players to do so: Cecil Fielder, Frank Howard, Harmon Killebrew, and Mark McGwire.
Those all are/were some big dudes.

They were also extreme fly ball hitters, and I think you forgot Reggie Jackson in the 1971 all-star game.  High fly balls could clear that stadium.  Surprised Kingman didn't do it at some point.

Funny, I couldn't tell you a thing about any of the all-star games after Torii robbed Bonds, but that 1971 game stood out for so many reasons.  I think it might be the only AL win during a many, many year period (like 18-20 years?).  Look it all up, I didn't do so.

[RpR]

Sano's longest at Target field was Sept. 17, 2019 -- 496 ft.

[purplesoldier4u]

I once hit one of the roof of a house, across the street, of the Acorn Park Field in Roseville. I was 12 years old and that thing sailed about 325 feet!🤣🤣🤣

[purplesoldier4u]

16 hours ago, RpR said:

Sano's longest at Target field was Sept. 17, 2019 -- 496 ft.

The one he hit out of Fenway had to have been well over 500 feet, but the scaled it down to less that that.

[arby58]

On 6/6/2025 at 4:09 PM, AceWrigley said:

I think Reggie Jackson hit one that would have cleared the stadium but the ball hit one of the lighting transformers or something to keep it "in the stadium". Tiger Stadium was a great place to watch baseball; good fans too. I miss that place.

I believe that was in an All Star game played at Tigers Stadium - and has been said to be the longest HR ever in the history of the All Star game (at least since they began recording HR distance).

[arby58]

On 6/6/2025 at 7:48 PM, twinstalker said:

They were also extreme fly ball hitters, and I think you forgot Reggie Jackson in the 1971 all-star game.  High fly balls could clear that stadium.  Surprised Kingman didn't do it at some point.

Funny, I couldn't tell you a thing about any of the all-star games after Torii robbed Bonds, but that 1971 game stood out for so many reasons.  I think it might be the only AL win during a many, many year period (like 18-20 years?).  Look it all up, I didn't do so.

Jackson's didn't leave the ballpark, as it hit the lights extension. It would have, sure, but it didn't.

[AceWrigley]

On 6/7/2025 at 6:07 PM, purplesoldier4u said:

I once hit one of the roof of a house, across the street, of the Acorn Park Field in Roseville. I was 12 years old and that thing sailed about 325 feet!🤣🤣🤣

Awesome. Childhood exploits are the best. In grade school they decided I might have baseball possibilities when during a throwing test, I threw the ball and it left the playground in the air and went through the front window of the house across the street. I don't think the house owner was all that impressed though.