23 Jun

that’s a blast!

Luke Easter, slugging long homers well before the Statcast era, hit a bunch of bombs that are the stuff of legend. One of those came on June 23, 1950. The Jonestown native, who was the first black Mississippian to play in the major leagues, hit a ball over the auxiliary scoreboard in Cleveland’s old Municipal Stadium and into the second deck of seats. It was estimated at 477 feet and is regarded as the longest homer ever hit at the ballpark the Indians called home until 1994. The only other player reported to have hit one over that scoreboard was Mickey Mantle, who did it 10 years later. Easter, already 34 years old in 1950, hit 28 homers for the Indians that season and finished his brief MLB career with 93. He also hit 10 official Negro League homers. … For the record, the longest Statcast-measured bomb by a Mississippi product in 2021 is Mississippi State alum Nate Lowe’s 465-footer. Hunter Renfroe hit one 453, Mitch Moreland 444 and Austin Riley and Corey Dickerson both 432.