David Ortiz wonders whether Ted Williams’s 502-foot home run really happened
Big Papi has never been able to pull a ball 500-feet at Fenway himself.
Ted Williams is a Boston legend, and legends often take on larger-than-life qualities. David Ortiz is a Boston sports legend, too, but the powerful slugger has never been able to match Williams’ greatest feat, the fabled 502-foot home run in 1946. On Tuesday, Ortiz openly questioned its legitimacy.
“How come there’s no video of it?” Ortiz asked, via the Boston Herald. “I’ve seen videos of him everywhere. It was in a major league baseball game where he hit it. You’re going to tell me there’s not one video of it?”
Ortiz is correct in that there is no visual proof of Williams’s moonshot. There are newspaper reports that tell of how the home run went right through a fan’s straw hat, and as dedicated Red Sox fans know, the team marked the accomplishment by painting the chair red in 1984.
“You see how strong ballplayers are today. And I’m not saying Mr. Ted Williams wasn’t,” he told the Herald. “But you see how far guys are hitting balls today, and none of them can do it?”
About this, Ortiz is, again, correct. According to ESPN’s Home Run Tracker, in a season marked by an unusual number of home runs, the longest home run in the majors this season was hit 495-feet by Giancarlo Stanton. And Stanton is the most prolific power-hitter in the game.
“I’ve been hitting bombs for years and I haven’t come close,” Ortiz said. “Mr. Ted Williams was a great hitter. But as far as being strong, I don’t know if he was stronger than me and Mo [Vaughn].”
Ortiz added that even with an aluminum bat, he cannot reach the Red Seat. For what it’s worth, Alex Speier did a deep dive on this very matter using physics to prove that it was indeed possible, if highly implausible. However, as clearly evidenced by the way he always refers to him as “Mr. Ted Williams,” Ortiz has a lot of respect for the Splendid Splinter.
His disbelief could come down to his own competitive fire not allowing him to comprehend that Williams could not only put together arguably the best batting season of all time by hitting .406, but also surpass many of the greatest power-hitting achievements recorded.
“I’m not saying it didn’t happen,” Ortiz said. “Bottom line, you’ve got to show me something.”
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