Mickey Mantle

In 1952 he became the Yankees starting center fielder, soon known around the league as a prodigious power hitter. In fact, the length of Mantle's home runs became the stuff of legend. In 1953 he hit a 565-foot home run at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., one of the longest home runs ever hit in the major leagues. The ball sailed over 460 feet in the air, clearing the fifty-five foot wall and sixty foot sign, then landing in someone's backyard. Yankee pitcher Bob Kuzava said of the homer, "I never saw a ball hit so far. You could have cut it up into fifteen singles." The ball and bat are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.