About Geoff Expertise Huge baseball trivia lover! I will attempt to answer anything you can think of when it comes to major league baseball. I have a large reference library of all things baseball. Try to stump me!
When the announcers et al are informing us about "how far did it fly" for the distance of a home run what are they using for markers? I would guess that home plate is the start but do they use a mathamatical formula for where the ball would have landed if it hadn't hit the upper deck facade? Do the outfield seats count as the point of landing or do the math wizard estimate actual land? How was Mantles' 500 plus measured back when video and modern equipment were only a dream? Any ideas here. Thanks.
Answer Hi Frank,
Baseball announcers just tell us what they are told when it comes to home run distance. Kind of like how they tell us pitch speed.
Ballparks all have radar guns on pitches and all have a procedure they follow to help estimate home run distance as well.
Here are a couple of links that explains how distance should be estimated:
