On May 31, 1964 — Roberto Clemente’s fifth career home run off Sandy Koufax is a game-tying, bases-empty blast of epic proportions; following immediately upon the heels of a collective Piratesmeltdown transforming a three-run lead into a one-run deficit, It was No. 5 for the ex-Dodger chattel, and tied the score at 4 – 4.”
Clemente shot came when he leads off in the bottom of the 3rd against Sandy Koufax. With a 1-and-2 count on him, Clemente hits a prodigious home run,
“… Clemente aims a little higher this time and his aim is true; the only thing thwarted today is our desire to see how far this ball would’ve gone if unobstructed; on that matter, Dodgers’ beat writer Frank Finch ventures his own educated guess:
“Koufax also was bombed for one of the longest home runs in Forbes Field annals, which hark back to 1909. In the third inning, with a 1-and-2 count on him, Clemente touched off a moon shot that struck high on a light tower in center field, some 450 ft. from the plate. Had it missed the tower, it certainly would have sailed at least 500 ft.”
Koufax, for his part, offers no such guesstimate, but does make the following admission to Pirates’ beat writer Les Biederman:
“I can’t recall anybody hitting a longer homer off me than Clemente did Sunday on the ball that reached the center-field light tower.”
Three eyewitness reports as to the trajectory of this shot (including those of its two authors) lend support to Finch’s 500-plus-foot estimate.
Koufax, in his self-titled autobiography, written about one and a half years after the fact:
“Roberto Clemente hit an outside fastball that was still rising when it hit against the light tower in left center field, 450 feet away from home plate.”
Clemente, interviewed by Les Biederman approximately two years after the fact:
“This one hit a transformer on the left field light tower on the way up and it stopped. No telling how far it might have gone.”
Gregory M. Gyauch, his memorable visit to Forbes Field recalled more than 40 years later:
“Roberto Clemente hit a home run off Sandy Koufax. The ball was still rising as it hit the light tower in left center field.””
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