Who Is The Fastest Baseball Player To Run From Home Plate To First Base?

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11 Answers

Oscar De La Huerte Profile
This is a difficult one to answer since there are no officially recorded times for speed between home plate and first base.

There are a number of forums and websites that claim that Mickey Mantle covered the distance in a record 3.1 seconds, so this might be the answer you are looking for.

The time from home plate to first base isn't a stat that is usually recorded by the major league, so any answer can only be purely subjective... An opinion rather than a fact.

On that basis, then, there are a number of possible contenders for speediest batsman:

Fastest batsman from home to first base

Fleetest of foot is probably Cool Papa Bell, but he never played in the major league. Without a doubt, though, the guy could run. And fast.

Among the other candidates for being quick off the mark to first are:

  • Mickey Mantle
  • Ty Cobb
  • Tris Speaker
  • Ricky Henderson
  • Joe Morgan.
Left-hander Ichiro (Ichiro Suzuki) probably has a pretty strong claim in major league baseball to being fastest between home and first base.

And according to analyst Joseph DelGrippo, Brett Gardner of the New York Yankees also gives the other a run for their money.

For the benefit of non-baseball fans, the distance between home and first is 90 feet. Most players should be able to cover it in around four seconds.
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Mickey Rivers.
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Brett Gardner.
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered

Glenn you are so right. I grew up watching baseball in the 50 and 60's
as a hater of the Yankee's. I watched the Yankees all the time as I
lived in upstate NY. I was a Dodger fan. 

I can remember, it
seemed every time the Yankees were behind by one run in the ninth with a
man on first Mantle would end the game with a HR.  I admire him now as
the best player I have ever watched.

Mark Brookshire Profile
Mark Brookshire answered
Willie Mays Hayes...HaHaHa...If you don't know him, you don't watch movies...
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Fastest player ever home to first... "Mick the quick" Mickey Rivers...Ex-Angel, Yankee, and Ranger.

Flat out...nobody faster out of the box to First Base.

J.C.
Fullerton, CA
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
You guys are all drunk.  Vince Coleman in the mid 80's as quick and fast as anyone,  his records show it.
Blah McJones Profile
Blah McJones answered
Ichiro has been timed at 3.7 seconds from home to first.

Waaaaay back when, Lefty O'Doul won a contest by making it from the plate to first in only 3.3 seconds.

That being said, Mickey Mantle was timed at 3.1 seconds, but was rumored to have done it in 2.9 seconds. Of course, rumors have a nasty habit of being untrue sometimes. . . .
thanked the writer.
Anonymous
Anonymous commented
Mickey Mantle and Ty Cobb? Two old-school white guys among the fastest to first base? Maybe if they took a lead :)
Glenn Craven
Glenn Craven commented
Oompah ... Read up on Mantle. He was one of the truly great athletes -- of any sport, and certainly any ethnicity -- of all time. A rare combination of brute strength and blazing speed who launched mammoth homers, made spectacular plays and reportedly could run the full circuit of bases in 13 seconds, all despite fragile legs that (coupled with his own drinking) would let him down time and again. ... Physically, as a total package, few ballplayers of any era have been in his league.

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