The pitcher, Cleveland's Luis Tiant, peered in for the sign and delivered a fastball, low and inside. Frank Robinson swung from the heels. The crowd of 49,516 rose as one to watch as the ball soared over the left-field wall — and kept climbing. It cleared the football press box, 50 rows of bleachers and a 12-foot TV camera stand sitting at the top of Memorial Stadium before it disappeared.
The place exploded. On May 8, 1966, in his 19th game as an Oriole, Robinson had done the unthinkable, becoming the first (and only) player to hit a home run out of the ballpark.