ATTEMPTS TO CATCH BASEBALL DROPPED FROM EXTREME HEIGHTS

YEAR	NAME	DROPPED FROM	DISTANCE	DETAILS
1884	Paul Hines	Washington Monument	542 Feet	1884 was the year that the Washington Monument was completed. The attempt was made after project superintendent bet Providence Grays outfield Hines that he could not make the catch. Three balls were dropped but none came close enough for him to make the catch. Hines was attempting to make the catch barehanded as baseball was being played barehanded in 1884.
1890	Marty Sullivan and Steve Brodie	Washington Monument	542 Feet	Sullivan and Brodie played for the Boston Beaneaters. Three balls were dropped, but none were caught.
1894	William Schriver	Washington Monument Observation Level	505 Feet	Schriver was a catcher for Chicago Colts. Initially reported that he caught ball on second attempt. Later reported that the ball hit his mitt, but he could not hold it.
1908	Charles “Gabby” Street	Washington Monument	555 Feet	Street was a catcher for the Washington Senators. He missed first two balls thrown, but made solid catch on the third one. Story subsequently circulated that the ball broke numerous bones in his hand, but it is not true. Street said that it numbed his hand momentarily. He played in a game against the Tigers that afternoon
April 1, 1930	Gabby Hartnett	Blimp Los Angeles, CA	800 Feet	Hartnett was a catcher for the Cubs, and is a HOF member. Cubs were playing their farm team in a spring training game. Hartnett caught two balls in a row. According to one report, Hartnett was wearing a suit and tie without any protective gear. (This is not a particularly well document event).
1932	Billy Sullivan	Washington Monument		Sullivan was a catcher for the White Sox. He caught 3 of 11 balls dropped.
1938	Frank Pytlak and Henry Helf	Terminal Tower Cleveland, OH	708 Feet (52 Stories)	Pytlak and Helf played for the Indians. Helf made the first catch after three attempts and Pytlak caught one three tries after Helf’s catch. Three other players participated, but did not make a catch. Reports indicate that missed balls that hit the pavement bounced 6 stories high. *
1939	Joseph Spirnz	Blimp San Francisco	800 Feet	Spirnz played for the San Francisco Seals. This was an attempt to duplicate Hartnett’s feat as he too was wearing street clothes with no protective gear. On the fifth attempt, the ball slammed his glove hand into his face with such force that he broke his upper jaw in 12 places, fractured 5 of his teeth and was rendered unconscious. Unfortunately, he also dropped the ball. *
July 2, 2012	Zach Hample	Helicopter LeLacheur Park Lowell, MA	312 Feet 562 Feet 822 Feet	Hample is a professional “baseball collector”. He claims to have collected more than 10,000 baseballs from major league stadiums. Due to his aggressiveness in going after balls he has been banned from 3 stadiums. After the third catch, the FAA halted further efforts due to high winds. There were dozens of missed balls. Balls that hit the turf were almost completely buried.
July 13, 2012	Zach Hample	Helicopter LeLacheur Park Lowell, MA	1,050 Feet	See video below.

*The accounts of catching a baseball from great heights sometimes claim the ball speed at time of the catch or impact with the ground as being as high as 154 mph. According to The Hardball Times the terminal speed of a baseball dropped at any height is about 100 mph. In the graph below, the red line represents the speed of a falling baseball without drag (air resistance), and the blue line represents actual speeds achieved over a distance of 1500 feet when it reaches its terminal velocity.