How majestic was it?
The two-run homer Detroit Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder hit Friday night at Tropicana Field off of Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Cesar Ramos would’ve cleared the roof at Tiger Stadium with about 10 yards to spare.
Rays vice president of communications Rick Vaughn answered my email request for the height of the catwalk location Fielder connected with as “roughly 125 feet” above the playing field.
Tiger Stadium’s roof was 94-feet high. Light towers and their transmitter boxes did claim several homers that cleared its roof, and Reggie Jackson’s 1971 All-Star Game homer was the most notable. However, Fielder’s shot in the eighth inning at Tropicana likely was pulled enough to have missed the light tower closest to the foul pole at Tiger Stadium.
There were 35 homers hit by 25 players from 1938 – the year the stadium’s upper decks were expanded to the outfield – until Tiger Stadium closed 61 years later in 1999. Ted Williams hit the first on May 4, 1939 and Jeromy Burnitz connected for the last on July 9, 1999.
While 31 homers went out to right field, which was about 15 feet closer to home plate than left field, only four went out to left.
And one of those was hit in 1990 by Prince’s father, Cecil. The others blasted over the left field roof were by Harmon Killebrew, Frank Howard and Mark McGwire.
Miguel Cabrera hit the Tropicana catwalk in left field with another monstrous homer on Aug. 3, 2008 against former Tigers pitcher Troy Percival. That one was just as impressive and actually would’ve cleared Tiger Stadium’s left field roof.
