Tommy Birch

tbirch@dmreg.com

It didn't take Dan Vogelbach long to realize his first inning shot Monday night was going to be a home run.

Vogelbach knew even before it reached its destination a long, long, long ways away.

The Iowa Cubs first baseman connected on a mammoth three-run homer Monday that may have done some destruction. Vogelbach’s first inning shot smashed into the giant "A" in the "Principal Park" backlit nameplate above the Iowa Cubs videoboard. When the lights came on as the sun went down, the "A" in question stayed dark.

“I definitely knew it was a homer,” Vogelbach said.

Just how far did the homer travel? It’s hard to say, since there's no system at Principal Park to measure home run balls' distance. But it’s safe to say that Vogelbach’s bomb struck a spot on the board that is well beyond 400 feet.

Ryan Kalish back in baseball with the Iowa Cubs

The home run was the second of the season for the hard-hitting Vogelbach, who is a prized prospect in Chicago's minor league system. He said after the game he couldn't remember hitting a ball that hard or that far before.

“I got that one pretty good,” Vogelbach said.

Vogelbach said he didn’t even realize where the ball hit.

“I didn’t really watch it,” he said. “I just tried to hit it and once it was over, just run around the bases. I don’t like to pimp home runs and show other people up.”

Iowa Cubs radio broadcaster Randy Wehofer said it was among the top five longest hit home run balls he’s seen hit to right field at Principal Park.

Vogelbach didn’t take all the credit.

“It’s just one of those where I got the barrel on it and the wind was blowing out and the wind definitely helped it,” he said. “The biggest thing for me was it was a three-run homer and it put us ahead.”