A few days ago Paul Hagen of the Daily News profiled Chase Utley's hitting prowess -- a "This is Your Life" of his hitting stroke.
In the article, a story is recounted about when Utley, as a high school player, hit a ball over the scoreboard in right-center field at Long Beach State's Blair Field. When I read that, I immediately thought of when I went to Google Earth and measured the length of twelve-year old Ryan Howard's prodigious shot at Red Lobster.
A quick Google search locates Blair Field and for some reason, the aforementioned scoreboard is not there, but there is one in left-center field. Either way, the field is fairly symmetric and it would take quite a bomb to carry over a scoreboard.
My guess? 420 feet.
Not as impressive as Howard's feat as a pre-teen, but still pretty darn good.
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