The natural question was, how far? Some guessed 600 feet. Some said the home runs were measured and that the ball had traveled more than 600 feet.

It was all great fun back then, said Seymour Siwoff, general manager of the Elias Sports Bureau Inc., official statistician of Major League Baseball.

Who knows if someone measured to where Ruth’s ball rolled or what. But it shows you that people have always been interested in prodigious home runs.

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Baseball has changed in 70 years. The obsession with distance hasn’t. But now, there is no guessing.

Or, at least not as much guessing.

One of the newest and most popular statistics is the distance of a home run. Major League Baseball and MCI Inc. co-sponsor a tale-of-the-tape competition, based on the estimates at each ballpark.

Turn on ESPN. See a home run. Hear the score, the players’ home run total for the season. Then hear the distance.

An official stat? Not according to the official stat-keeper.

Maybe for some people, but never in my lifetime, Siwoff said. We would never involve ourselves in something like that. It will never be put in the record books. If people want to have fun with it, that’s fine. But it’s not precise.

Indeed, the words approximation and estimate are used when distances are announcedwhether during games or when the tale-of-the-tape figures are released. This season, Eric Anthony of the Cincinnati Reds (465, June 25) has the longest home run. Mark McGwire has two of the 10

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see HOMER, page 11