Gil Carter of the Wichita Truckers softball team is shown in this snapshot believed to have been taken in the 1960s. The Truckers twice finished second in the national slow-pitch tournament while Carter was a member of the team. Carter played slow-pitch softball from the mid-1960s into the 1980s, after several years of playing minor league and semi-professional baseball. As a minor leaguer, Carter was an outfielder in the Chicago Cubs organization for three years. He played for the Carlsbad Potashers in 1958-59, and for the St. Cloud Rox in 1960. He is best known for his home run on August 11, 1959 in a Potasher game against the Odessa Dodgers. The official scorekeeper put the home run distance at 650 feet. However, estimates based on aerial photograph measurements were reported at 700-733 feet, which would make it the longest home run in baseball history. Carter was born and raised in Topeka. He lived in Wichita for nearly four decades before returning to Topeka in 2000. Digital reproduction of the photograph was accomplished through a joint project sponsored by the Kansas Historical Society and the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame.

Date: Between 1963 and 1970