List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders

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Lou Gehrig briefly held the single-season RBI record with his 175 in 1927 before Hack Wilson topped this total with 191 in 1930. In total Gehrig was responsible for three of the nine seasons in which a player hit 170 or more RBI.[1]

In baseball, a run batted in (RBI) is awarded to a batter for each runner who scores as a result of the batter's action, including a hit, fielder's choice, sacrifice fly, bases loaded walk, or hit by pitch.[2] A batter is also awarded an RBI for scoring himself upon hitting a home run.[2]

In Major League Baseball (MLB), a player in each league[L] wins the "RBI crown"[3] or "RBI title"[4][5] each season by hitting the most runs batted in that year. The first RBI champion in the National League (NL) was Deacon White; in the league's inaugural 1876 season, White hit 60 RBIs for the Chicago White Stockings.[6] The American League (AL) was established in 1901, and Hall of Fame second baseman Nap Lajoie led that league with 125 RBIs for the Philadelphia Athletics.[7] Over the course of his 27-season career, Cap Anson led the NL in RBI eight times.[8] Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner have the second- and third-most RBI titles, respectively: Ruth with six, and Wagner with five.[9][10] Several players are tied for the most consecutive seasons led with three: Anson (twice), Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Ruth, Joe Medwick, George Foster, and Cecil Fielder. Notably, Matt Holliday won the NL title in 2007 by one RBI over Ryan Howard, only overtaking Howard due to his performance in the 2007 National League Wild Card tie-breaker game.[11] Had Howard won the 2007 title, he would have led the NL in a record four consecutive seasons from 2006 to 2009.[12] The most recent champions are Kyle Tucker in the American League, and Matt Olson in the National League.

Sam Thompson was the first to set a single-season RBI record that stood for more than three seasons, hitting 166 in 1887.[13] Thompson's title that season also represented the widest margin of victory for an RBI champion as he topped the next highest total by 62 RBIs. The single-season mark of 166 stood for over thirty years until Babe Ruth hit 171 in 1921.[13] Ruth's mark was then broken by teammate Lou Gehrig six seasons later in 1927 when Gehrig hit 175 RBI.[13] Finally, Hack Wilson set the current record mark of 191 RBI in 1930 with the Chicago Cubs.[1] The all-time career RBI record holder is Hank Aaron with 2,297, 84 more than Ruth in second place.[14] Aaron led the National League in RBI four times, never consecutively. The 1930 season when Wilson set the record saw four players hit more than 160 RBI: Wilson, Gehrig, Chuck Klein, and Al Simmons.[1] A player has batted in 160 or more runs 21 times, with 14 of these seasons occurring during the 1930s and only twice since 1940.[1] The lowest RBI total to ever lead a major league was 49, by Deacon White in the National League's second season.[12]

  1. ^ a b c d "Single-Season Leaders and Records for Runs Batted In". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Official Rules: 10.00 The Official Scorer". MLB.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2007. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
  3. ^ Kurkjian, Tim (July 20, 2009). "Pujols pushing for Triple Crown history". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on August 29, 2010. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
  4. ^ McCalvy, Adam (October 4, 2009). "Fielder homers twice as Crew sweeps". MLB.com. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
  5. ^ Sexton, Joe (October 7, 1991). "Baseball; Whiff! Cone Puts a 19 Next to '91". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
  6. ^ "Deacon White Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  7. ^ "Nap Lajoie Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  8. ^ "Cap Anson Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on February 12, 2010. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  9. ^ "Babe Ruth Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  10. ^ "Honus Wagner Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  11. ^ "Holliday comes through big to take first batting title". ESPN.com. October 2, 2007. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
  12. ^ a b "Yearly Leaders and Records for Runs Batted In". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on February 12, 2010. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  13. ^ a b c "Progressive Leaders and Records for Runs Batted In". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on October 3, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  14. ^ "Career Leaders and Records for Runs batted in". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2010.

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