Mickey Mantle covers Jimmy Piersall's back,
Hits "Longest Home Run Ever"
By James Rodrigues
For all the home runs Mickey Mantle hit, my favorite television memory of him involves something other than the "long ball."
Mantle was taking a lead from second base against the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe's centerfielder was Jimmy Piersall. He was known as the "head case" of the age. His anger and instability were large enough to inspire the dark film, "Fear Strikes Out." Piersall once, during a minor league game, pulled out a gun and shot an umpire for making what Piersall thought was a bad call. The fact that the realistic looking pistol was a squirt gun did not save Piersall from a lengthy suspension from baseball.
As Mickey Mantle moved from second base in my favorite memory of the idol, the relatively primitive T.V. camera focused on him. He suddenly took off. Not for third but toward centerfield. A view of Piersall in center showed him as he did battle with a pair of punks who had jumped from the stands and attacked him. By the time the battle came to a conclusion, Mantle and Piersall were kicking the punks in their butts as they scrambled back into the stands.
Jimmy Piersall is restrained in another rowdy incident
It showed me something about Mantle. He was obviously not a man to be "messed with." The 5' 10", 200 pounder from Spavinaw, Oklahoma had huge arms and when healthy was faster from home to first than just about anyone in the game. But what impressed me was how quickly he came to the aid of a fellow player. Even a player from the opposing team.
My favorite story about a Mantle home run was the description of the 565-foot shot he hit against the Washington Senators out of Griffith Stadium.
The switch-hitting Mantle blasted this one from "the right side of the dish."
According to the July 1962 issue of the always beautiful magazine, "Great Moments in Sports," as the ball went "up and out," enough time passed for somebody in the press box to exclaim, "My God! That ball is going halfway up the bleachers!"
Another replied, "Halfway, nuts! That thing may clear the bleachers!"
The ball was found by 10-year old Don Dunnaway in a backyard, "up the road a piece" from Griffith Stadium. A woman leaning out of an apartment window said, "Yeah, that's where it landed alright. We thought it was a flying saucer!"
Appropriately enough, the baseball's leather cover had been torn by Mickey Mantle's mighty swing.
Old-timer witnesses Casey Stengal, Bill Dickey, Buckey Harris and Clark Griffith agreed, "It was the longest home run in baseball history."