The Pecan Park Eagle

Hank Helf once caught a ball dropped from 708 feet.

Thanks to Bill Hickman of SABR, Hank Helf was the answer to our recent “Who Dat Brown?” question here at the Pecan Park Eagle. Native Texan Helf was a short-time catcher for the 1946 St. Louis Browns after briefly breaking into MLB with the Cleveland Indians in 1938 and doing something extra-curricular that season that would survive as his only memorable legacy to the game.

On a Saturday morning, August 20, 1938, Hank Helf became only the first of two Indians players that day to catch a baseball dropped from the top of the Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland. At 52 stories and 708 feet in height, the feat established a new record for distance height catches, breaking the old record first set by Gabby Street of the Washington Senators when he caught a ball dropped from the top of the Washington Monument, a height of 555′ 5″. Frank Pytlak also caught one after Helf that day in Cleveland, but no one since has broken the record. It is estimated that the ball was traveling at 138 mph at the moment of impact – or about forty mph faster than teammate Bob Feller’s fastball.

Click here for a really good account of how the catch was made and how it firs into the risky history of these ball-dropping stunts. The madness partially fed upon America’s early 20th century fascination with carnival tricks, and also the celebration of skyscrapers and airplane stunts. It’s not likely that any current high-priced players would be allowed to try for a new record.

That means that Hank Helf sits on the same shelf with Cy Young in the great Hall of Baseball History in one regard. One once caught a ball dropped from 708 feet. the other once won 511 games as a big league pitcher. Neither record will likely ever fall.

For a great account of Hank Helf’s big day, try this link to a 1985 Sports Illustrated column by Bruce Anderson:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1119227/index.htm

Hank Helf, 1946 St. Louis Browns

Helf’s MLB time was limited to 7 games with the 1938 and 1940 Indians and another 71 games with the 1946 Browns. It’s a good thing Hank caught the skyscraper ball because he only hit .184 with 6 HR as a major leaguer. Still, he got there – which is far more than most of us can say.

Thanks for dropping in today, Hank Helf. – And thank you again, Bill Hickman of SABR, for clearing up the mystery that “Hank Helf” is the name for our unidentified player in the “Who Dat Brown?” column I wrote last week.

This entry was posted on February 20, 2012 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.