On May 22, 1963 is was looking like another Yankees romp over the Kansas City Athletics as they led by the score of 7-0 going into the eight inning. The A’s put up six unanswered runs in the eight inning and another in the ninth to tie the game 7-7. The game remained tied going into the bottom of the 11th inning with Mickey Mantle coming up as the lead-off hitter.
It was clear that Mickey and the entire Yankee team were embarrassed that they let a seven run lead get away and now Mickey was hoping to end it with one swing of the bat. Mickey swung so hard at Bill Fischer’s first pitch, a slow curve, that he nearly fell to the ground. The A’s bench gave Mickey “the business” which infuriated The Mick. Can you imagine a super strong athlete like Mickey pumped up on adrenaline? Fischer then tried to sneak a fast ball by him and Mickey unleashed a perfect swing at just the precise moment, with his bat speed at its maximum point in the swing, the baseball struck the dead center of the sweet spot of his bat and took off like a bullet heading for the clouds over right field. The ball struck the facade 370′ from home plate and 118′ off the ground for game winning, walk-off home run. It came within inches of being the first fair ball ever hit out of Yankee Stadium.
Years later, Tony Kubek wrote, “I do remember a few things about the ’63 home run by Mickey. When a home run is hit, especially 
because of the sound they made off Mickey’s bat, one popped pretty quickly off their seat in the dugout. Many of his home runs had an unusually loud crack. I guess that goes along with the distance he hit them. In my mind’s-eye view, I do not recollect it bouncing all the way back to second base. I can picture it landing on the outfield grass in right field about halfway from the low outfield fence and the dirt portion of the infield. It rolled, by my estimate, another 15 yards and stopped before it reached the outer edge of the infield. The thing that I recall most was that the ball appeared to be still rising on impact. Now – and memories play tricks – but I do know this, the ball was NOT coming down when it hit the tower. This was not a fly ball! This was a high line drive like no one else could hit ’em.”
As per Kubek’s comments, I still can remember the sound of Mantle’s long distance homers, as it was like no other. It was a very sharp crisp hi-pitched “crack” like a dry twig snapping, and very different from other batters hitting homers. One could never forget that distinct sound.
I was listening to the game……when he hit that ball, my radio sounded like static…..I could not hear any discernable voice/
the crowd had become so loud that the noise drowned out the announcer…..it was 20-30 seconds before you could male out the announcers voice because of the crown noise.
there were several coaches who had played with ruth,& all said they had never seen the like of that blast!
The Mick was setting up his path to Heaven and unfortunately he reached it (Heaven) much too early in his life! Still miss him every time I hear his name mentioned!
Launch angle 18.6 degrees.
I was nine years old and my aunt who was secretary to the Vice President of the First National Bank in Yonkers called and said she had Yankee Tickets of us. My Mom took the phone and I heard her say oh that’s a week night and he has school the next day. I must have started to act out really good because we got the tickets. Box seats in section 8 field level about 8 rows from the field between the Kansas City dugout and the screen behind home plate. When the game was tied in the ninth inning my parents wanted to leave, after all it was a school night but I was having none of it. We stayed. When Mickey hit the ball it disappeared into the light bank on top of the stadium and we never saw it come down. We thought he had hit the ball out of the stadium. It wasn’t until we were in the car listening to the post game show that we learned that the ball hit the facade.
I was a young twelve year old boy watching the game on WPIX channel eleven from Queens, NY. It was an unbelievable sot that at sixty nine I remember like yesterday. So close to leaving the stadium. Not a fly ball but almost a high line drive that did appear to be rising as it hit the facade. Bounced almost on to the infield. I do believe the ball might have gone seven hundred feet if it had not hit the facade! I treasure an autographed ball signed by Mickey. As I got older and he was not doing well after the liver transplant I realized he was a true hero when he told children not to imitate his life and send them on the right path! God rest your soul Mickey! Hope there is baseball in Heaven!
I was also 12 years old that day, and I also saw it live on WKIX TV, but from Southern Connecticut. And everything you say is true. All I can add is that my father, who was a Bronx native, and had driven me the 48 miles to see 6 games at Yankee Stadium in that fabled 1961 season, for which I will always be thankful, said a few seconds before Mantle hit the bomb that he was due for a long one. Mickey was healthy that month, and on a hot streak, and clearly was swinging for the fences.
And yes, it was a line drive, but it just kept going up. What an amazing home run.
I was also 12 years old at the time. Except I was living in Honolulu Hawaii as I was born and raised there. But I remember reading about it in Life magazine a few months later while I was waiting to get drilled by my dentist with no Novacaine.
Us folks were tougher back then.
I was in bed listening to my transistor radio. My recollection from the announcers’ description is that the ball did not hit the facade, but rather hit the inside back wall behind the top row of Yankee Stadium. I definitely agree with Tony Kubek that the ball was still rising and that it hit whatever it hit so hard that it landed all the way back into medium RF and then bounced and rolled toward the infield. The harder concrete wall is much more likely to have compressed the baseball into rebounding that far than the wooden facade would. If the stadium were larger, the ball might have gone out because it was still rising.
I am a GIGANTIC Mickey Mantle fan and have actually met the LEGEND in his last year 1968 at the stadium, I think I have seen every one of Mickey’s 536 HR’s. But the picture that shows the longest one that hit the facade at Yankee Stadium and was measured at 370 ft long and 118 ft upwards in the picture is WRONG.
The HR was hit in 1963 against the KC A’s and the score was tied 7-7 in the 11 inning, when Mantle led off the inning and hit THE SHOT off Bill Fischer to a walk-off win.
The problem is the picture itself. Look at it closely. First, look at all the defensive players. The first basemen, second basemen, the pitcher and the right fielder (running in) is looking towards LEFT field, not right. Second, it shows at least (2) offensive plays on the base paths (running from 1st to 2nd and one coming home from 3rd base. The ballplayer who hit the ball is NOT #7. Remember, the HR was a WALK-OFF with nobody on base.
At least, they could have used a right field home run picture to explain the SHOT OF A LIFETIME!
VERY SAD!
The Facade was Copper, not wood.
I was 12 with my Dad, sitting in the box seats right by the 3rd base line. I do not remember much. But I do remember that shot. When it struck the bat, it made a distinctly loud “crack” and my Dad jumped up and yelled “it’s going out of the park !!!”. I watched it as it hit the facade and there was no doubt about it, it was still going up when it hit. It definitely was a once in a lifetime moment and something both my Dad and I spoke about for years.
Exit-velo off the charts. Enough to give guys like Stanton whiplash. Nobody hit HRs the way The Mick did.
Michael Kay oohs and aahs at 425 ft home runs that would be lazy fly balls in the old Yankee Stadium. I wonder what he’d say if he saw this HR — probably offer some nonsense about “exit-velo.” One thing’s for sure: Nobody hit ’em like The Mick.
I was 7 when Mickey hit that shot. He was no slouch because this was the 2nd time he did it; both times hitting the facade. I have vague memories of that shot. I was living in the Bronx and I remember my grandma and my cousin was watching the game on and old BW tv set. I remember my cousin saying “holy shit” and I saw the ball rising and rising. That’s all I can recall as everyone was going nuts in the living room talking about it.
He was undeniably the greatest of all time. To play like that every day bandaged hurt he was something supernatural. If he wasn’t hurt took care of himself and played his whole career not just 18 years and in perfect health god only know what he would have done
I was 17 and saw it on tv with Mel Allen announcing. I never saw a ball fly so quickly off a bat like that. Truly wonderful to watch. I wish I could see it again.
Was that the actual radio broadcast or was it a studio re-creation?
Recreation
I have read that it left a dent in cooper on facade. Why didn’t the morons save that piece when they tore down old yankee stadium. What a shame.
I have read that it left a dent in cooper on facade. Why didn’t they save that piece when they tore down old yankee stadium. What a shame. That could have been,at least, in yankee museum.
With all his flaws the Mick was rumored. to have heart as big as his home runs
I was at this game. I was 16 years old and a huge Mantle fan. I ended my career as a center fielder for Annapolis ’69. Actually was a switch hitter, too. I got beat out, but as a catcher all my life, and in right field as a senior in high school, to be put in center field at Navy, even for a short time, was poetic justice. I was also in Yankee Stadium the day Mantle died, watching David Cone pitch a shut out. There was a ceremony before the game.
My aunt had free tickets from her company, so we went, and stayed to the end. Not too many people left, as a night game mid-week. I had my seat along first base, so got a good view. Ball was definitely rising when it hit the facade. Would have gone 732′ unimpeded per the experts. Mantle said it was the hardest ball he ever hit, which means the hardest ball hit in baseball history, of course.
Such a giant event in the history of The Game of Baseball, and so unfortunate that there is no film of the Mick’s magnificent HR.