Allen’s Monster Home Run
Richie Allen, as he was called early in his career, was known for titanic home runs that exploded off his 42-ounce bat.
One that stood out happened on Saturday afternoon, May 29, 1965, at Connie Mack Stadium. Following consecutive first-inning doubles by Tony Gonzalez and Johnny Callison, veteran Chicago Cubs right-hander Larry Jackson tried to sneak a 1-1 changeup past Allen who was in a 3-for-24 eight-game funk.
Allen’s bat made loud contact, sending the ball skyward. It kept going and going over the red-and-white Coca-Cola billboard atop the left-center-field roof. Only those of us in the press box mounted under the home-plate roof could follow the ball as it left the old ballpark. It didn’t take long to disappear.
Sandy Grady, the talented sports columnist at the Evening Bulletin, sat down next to me in the press box.
“Any way we can find out how far that traveled?” he said. After some discussion, we decided to see if we could investigate. We left the press box, headed for a long, narrow catwalk that took us to a rickety, old elevator that held six people at the most.
Once in the main concourse on street level, we left the ballpark, walked down 21st Street to the left-field corner, made a right on Somerset Street looking for any sign of the ball or anyone who was a witness. Our body language caught the attention of a male resident sitting on the front porch of his red brick row home on Woodstock Street. Pointing to his left, he said, “It landed over there.”
Great, we had a starting point. Well, an approximate starting point.
Walking in three-foot length strides, we crossed Somerset and a wide sidewalk. We were now face to face with the back of the left-field stands. Sandy wrote the distance we had walked in his notebook. Reporters back then always carried a notebook.
As we headed on 21st Street for the ballpark’s Lehigh Avenue entrance, we first walked off the depth of the left-field stands. Well, the approximate depth. Secretary Sandy recorded our latest estimate. Once in the ballpark, we took the elevator back to the press box. (You always tried to avoid climbing the steps all the way up to the last row in the upper deck. Trust me.)
Back in the press box. We know the distance to the left-field stands is 334 feet. But the ball didn’t travel down the left-field foul line. It went over the roof in left-center. Another approximate estimate.
Trusting Grady’s math, we came up with 529 feet.
But wait.
Allen Lewis’ Philadelphia Inquirer story the next morning stated: “Publicist Larry Shenk did some fast calculation on the scene and came up with an estimate of approximately 500 feet.”
So, which is accurate 500 or 529? Well, I don’t really know.
I do, however, know the process Grady and I used. Yes, it was grossly unscientific. I don’t know what Sandy wrote as I don’t have access to the Evening Bulletin archives. I do have access to the Inquirer archives. I also know the Inquirer back then had an early edition. Perhaps Lewis wrote 500 before Grady and I returned from our adventurous expedition.
Fast forward to 1979. Lewis and I co-authored a book, “This Date in Phillies History.” Listed on page 39: “May 29, 1965: 3B Dick Allen hits a measured 529-foot home run completely over the Coca-Cola billboard atop Connie Mack Stadium’s left-center-field roof off RHP Larry Jackson. The first-inning blast sends the Phillies to a 4-2 win over Chicago.”
Long live 529 feet.
Paid attendance was 4,962 plus another 9,000 kids who got in free as part of the Phillies’ Knothole Day. Over the years, a lot more fans have claimed they witnessed the transcontinental comet.
Inquirer Excerpts
From Lewis’ story: “Top of the soft drink sign is approximately 80 feet above ground” ... “Asked if that was his longest home run, Richie Allen said, ‘I don’t know. I didn’t clock it, but I knew I hit it good. ... You mean it went over the billboard?' said Jackson, who didn’t follow it all the way and was aghast that Allen hit the ball that far.”
Other Allen Monsters
July 8, 1965, 2nd game: Hit his first Major League grand slam, a majestic shot over the 75-foot-high Ballantine Beer scoreboard in right-center field at Connie Mack Stadium. It came off San Francisco’s Jack Sanford in the first inning. Willie Mays and Willie McCovey homered for the Giants’ runs in a 4-2 Phillies win that took 1 hour, 56 minutes. The 37,110 crowd was the Phillies' largest at home for the season.
July 9, 1967: He became the first player to hit a home run over the center-field fence between the stands and the flagpole at Connie Mack Stadium since the fence was raised to 32 feet in 1934. This monster came off St. Louis reliever Nellie Briles in the eighth inning. The two-run homer tied the game, 3-3. The Phillies won in 10, 4-3.
July 11, 1967: In the top of the second inning of the All-Star Game, he hit a solo homer over the 393-foot marker in center field at Anaheim Stadium. The homer gave the NL a 1-0 lead. The Senior Circuit won, 2-1, in 15 innings. He became the second Phillies player to go deep in an All-Star Game, joining Callison (1964). It would be Allen’s only home run in five All-Star Games (16 at-bats).
Then there’s one I remember in Allen’s first Spring Training (1964). I have no idea of a date. It happened in a game at Al Lopez Field in Tampa, home of the Cincinnati Reds. He crushed a ball that crashed into the lights of a tall light tower in left-center field. The ball fell to the earth like a dead bird.