Saturday afternoon Triston Casas hit one of the longest home runs we’ve seen at Fenway Park this season, a 429-foot bomb to right field that cleared the bullpens and made it well into the bleachers.
After the game Casas made a stir by saying the more home runs he hits to right field, the more he feels like the red Ted Williams seat is a myth and that there’s no way he could have really hit one that far.
The red seat, located at Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21, commemorates a 502-foot home run that Williams hit against the Detroit Tigers on June 9, 1946. Casas isn’t the first left-handed Red Sox slugger to cast doubt on the story’s veracity, Mo Vaughn and David Ortiz both have as well, but there have been recent examples of mammoth home runs hit at Fenway that belong in the same ballpark.
One of those was hit by Miguel Sano, who thinks his might even have Teddy Ballgame beat.
Three years ago, when he was playing for the Minnesota Twins, the 6-foot-4, 272-pound slugger one of the longest home runs in recent MLB history, smashing a titanic bomb to straightaway center field that cleared the center field flag pole and nearly hit the House of Blues across the street on Lansdowne. The home run was measured at 495 feet, making it the longest home run hit in the majors that season, and Sano believes it was even farther than Williams’ big shot.
“Mine I think is longer than that one. I think so 100%,” said Sano, who now plays for the Angels. “You already know who hit it over there so I don’t think they’ll give it to me, but I think my homer was farther.”
Miguel Sanò’s 495-foot long ball is tied for the longest HR since the start of the 2020 season (Acuña Jr.).
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Could Sano have a case? His shot was measured at 116.7 mph off the bat and, based on the video, certainly would have landed high up the bleachers had it gone to right field instead of straightaway center. Whether it actually would have topped Williams’ is unknowable — they didn’t have Statcast in 1946 and there’s no video footage of the game — but it is proof that kind of home run is within the realm of possibility.
There are other reasons to believe Williams’ legend isn’t just a legend too.
Back in 1946 Fenway Park hadn’t added its second or third decks, nor had the big green facade behind home plate housing the press box and broadcast booths been constructed. In those days the stadium topped out at roughly the same height as the Green Monster, so on windy days there was less cover and balls could fly farther.
Alex Cora joked pregame on Sunday that it must have been a very windy day, and contemporary accounts suggest that was the case, with a Boston Globe story from the following day describing the conditions as “sun drenched” and “wind whipped” and that the ball reportedly struck a fan in the head before bouncing several additional rows up the bleachers.
Either way, the red seat will no doubt continue inspiring debate until someone eventually smashes one a couple of rows farther up the bleachers. Until then Sano is confident in his own claim, even if it’s unlikely to be recognized any time soon.
