Where no man has gone before

Boog Powell, the behemoth of a 20-year-old rookie playing in left field for the Orioles, becomes the first player 62 years ago today to hit a home run over the hedges beyond center field at Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium.

The homer, measuring at 489 feet, by Powell, himself measuring at 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, comes off Boston’s Don Schwall in the second game of a Friday night doubleheader before a crowd of 14,452.

The homer leading off the bottom of the seventh inning helps the Orioles tie the score at 2 before winning the game 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth on a two-run homer by Hobie Landrith off reliever Dick Radatz.

The homer is the seventh in Powell’s rookie season on his way to 339 in a career that ends in 1976.

Powell, now 82 is last seen beyond the right field wall at Baltimore’s Camden Yards, serving up barbeque and chatting with fans born before, during and long after his All-Star career.