Neill Sheridan: Ex-outfielder was known for his 613-foot home run
Neill Sheridan, an outfielder in the old Pacific Coast League who supposedly hit the longest home run in history, died Thursday in Antioch.
Mr. Sheridan died peacefully while surrounded by family members a month after suffering from pneumonia, said his granddaughter Tami Hopkins.
“Ted Williams and I were talking, and Joe DiMaggio comes out and asks me if I’d like to meet Babe Ruth,” said Mr. Sheridan, reminiscing about a day in spring training for a Chronicle story published in January 2014.
A Sacramento native, Mr. Sheridan grew up in Berkeley, earned a football scholarship to USF and joined the Seals in 1943, playing for legendary manager Lefty O’Doul, whom Mr. Sheridan called “Mr. San Francisco.”
Pinch-hitting in the ninth inning during a 6-2 loss to the Yankees, Mr. Sheridan struck out looking, his only major-league at-bat.
According to accounts in the Sacramento Bee and Sacramento Union, a man said he had found the ball in the back seat of his car with the rear window smashed.
The Solons measured the distance at 620 feet and hired a local surveying company for a more precise reading: 613.8 feet.