Minnesota Twins slugger Joey Gallo is no stranger to hitting monster home runs, but arguably none have been stranger than the huge blast he hit Saturday.
Gallo hit a three-run shot off Chicago Cubs starter Hayden Wesneski in the third inning. Just watching video of the homer is awe-inspiring. Gallo uncorked a huge swing and fans in the second deck bleachers appeared to immediately look overhead and behind them trying to find the ball. Wesneski turned, screamed and stared, mouth open, in shock.
So we know Gallo’s mammoth blast went a long, long way. Normally, baseball fans check Statcast to find out such details.
Statcast did not know. It did not track the exit velocity, or the distance traveled. That led to wild speculation that Gallo hit this ball harder — and possibly farther —than any other home run in the Statcast era.
Joey Gallo just hit this ball so far that there’s no recorded distance yet pic.twitter.com/VPXIkVpXRU
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 13, 2023
Wait, the story gets stranger. Around noon Sunday, Statcast finally posted a distance of 422 feet for Gallo’s homer. Many fans were extremely skeptical.
There is zero chance Joey Gallo’s homer yesterday traveled only as far as Alex Kirilloff’s CF shot. pic.twitter.com/SWjmdLPzBk
— Ted (@tlschwerz) May 14, 2023
Baseball fans had tons of fun with this story on Twitter, guessing how far the ball traveled. Some of the guesses were obviously ridiculous.
The ball just landed! pic.twitter.com/6n1Cx0slji
— The Proud Rebel (@the_proud_rebel) May 13, 2023
— Griff (@Jram2TBJ) May 14, 2023
I think it took over a day to get the accurate distance for trouts homer in Oakland last year, my guess is 480
— angels b. goode (@halosandwine) May 14, 2023
500 feet at least
— Ian Minnesota Twins Enjoyer (@PrimeWallner) May 14, 2023
OH MY JOEY GALLO.
IS THAT 500 FEET?
— Alec (@Riichter) May 13, 2023
