The longest ball hit by a Japanese player was hit by Futoshi Nakanishi on August 29, 1953, measured at 161 meters.
I think I've expounded on this before, but I saw some film footage of Nakanishi's homer when
Nakanishi was on one of the Japanese sports shows
and it's something that Mike Piazza would envy, a
cruise missile that got out in a blink, still one
of the hardest hit balls I have ever seen from any
player in any league.
As for Cabrera, some reports had his prodigious
blast at as much as 180 meters (about 580 feet),
which is absolutely unreal. And he did this on a
forkball! This wasn't like he was facing Matsuzaka
or Ishii and got a 95 mph heater ala McGwire taking Randy Johnson something like 550 feet. Whether it was 170 or 180 meters, it was one I'm
sure Cabrera will be bragging about for decades to
come and rightfully so.
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Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
In this the year of the long ball in the Pacific League, I was wondering if anyone has kept records of the longest homerun in Japan or in either league for that matter. I know this is a very subjective stat (and I still doubt Mantle's 600+ ft. ball was really still going up...).
My son (alias rithifrus) and I saw what was definitely the longest HR I've ever seen way back in the late 80's at Nishinomiya Kyujo by Boomer Wells of the then Hankyu Braves. It dwarfed the little foul pole as it flew well over it. It was estimated at about 528 ft. and I think I heard that it was at that time considered to be the longest?
Any help?