Astrophysicist D. Meredith Wills claims Oneil Cruz's 432-foot home run that hit the top of the foul pole is harder to achieve than a moon landing. This unprecedented feat occurred during a game against the Texas Rangers.

Astrophysicist claims Pirates' Oneil Cruz's top-of-the-foul-pole HR is harder than a moon landing originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
There have been plenty of fun storylines for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season. Paul Skenes rebounding from an awful Opening Day outing, Konnor Griffin's call-up to the big leagues, and Oneil Cruz's breakout have been the biggest stories of the year.
During Cruz's breakout, he might've hit a home run that's never happened before in MLB history. Against the Texas Rangers, he clobbered a baseball 432 feet that, somehow, hit the top of the foul pole in right field, leaving a clear mark on top of the pole.
It was a ridiculous feat, and Jayson Stark of The Athletic set out to add context to just how improbable this homer was. And Stark, in talking with Astrophysicist D. Meredith Wills of SportsMEDIA Technology Corp, got the answer he was looking for: this Cruz HR might be more difficult to accomplish than the moon landing.
Oneil Cruz hit a 432-foot home run that struck the top of the foul pole, marking a unique event in MLB history.
Astrophysicist D. Meredith Wills suggests that the difficulty of hitting Cruz's home run may surpass the challenges faced during the moon landing.
Cruz's home run traveled 432 feet before hitting the top of the foul pole in right field.
Jayson Stark of The Athletic spoke with astrophysicist D. Meredith Wills to analyze the improbability of Cruz's home run.
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"Frankly, it's like comparing it to us sending a spacecraft up and having it land on, like, an asteroid or something," Wills said.
That alone is a remarkable comparison for Cruz's homer, which is such an incredible feat that it's likely never happened before in baseball history.
When asked if Cruz's homer that hit the top of the foul pole was easier to accomplish than landing on the moon, she answered with the following:
"Well, let's put it this way," Wills said. "I actually think they're of the same order of difficulty. If he was trying to do it intentionally, then yeah, it's a hell of a lot harder to do with a baseball than planting something on the moon."
Obviously, this is strictly looking at the probability of which is possible, as landing on the moon is a far more impressive feat than hitting a home run in a unique spot.
But that doesn't change the fact that hitting a homer on top of the foul pole is not just a rare feat, it's one that's so difficult and precise that it's mathematically comparable to landing on the moon.
So much needs to go right for a homer to hit the top of the foul pole, as Wills noted, "launch angle, trajectory, meteorological conditions, drag on the baseball, angle of flight as it approached the foul pole... and so on."
The actual probability of hitting a homer off the top of a foul pole is not a simple calculation, as there's a ton that goes into how a baseball acts in the air, and to make it land at a precise spot like the top of a foul pole is incredibly difficult.
This feat from Cruz might never be replicated again, as hitting a home run off the top of a foul pole is something that might never have happened before in baseball history. Wills likened it to landing on the moon, which shows just how improbable this HR was.