496 feet! Holliday blasts his way to the top of the list!

September 19, 2006

Two innings after taking a Matt Cain pitch in the back, Colorado’s Matt Holliday took him deep for the longest home run of 2006, a 496 foot home run to left field at Coors Field during a 12-4 win over the visiting San Francisco Giants.  Holliday’s blast left the bat at a powerful 116.8 mph and under standard conditions (70 degrees, no wind, sea level) would have traveled 443 feet, a notable but not especially long distance.  However, the game was at Coors Field, which is as far from standard conditions as you can get.  The wind, temperature and altitude added +6, +1 and +44 feet respectively (note: these numbers are rounded, which is why they don’t add to 496), turning Holliday’s homer into the longest of the year, dethroning Ryan Howard and his 491 foot blast that had stood up for 5 months…

Holliday knocked his previous long homer of the season, a 475 foot shot at Dodger Stadium, out of the top 5, but with 2 of the 6 longest homers of the year, one of which came on the road, Holliday is establishing himself as one of the premier long-distance hitters in the major leagues!

Written by mlblogshittrackeronline Posted in Dailies