Thursday, August 10, 2017

An unbreakable record?

In 1930, Hack Wilson of the Cubs drove in an amazing 191 runs. The closest anyone has come to that since the season was lengthened to 162 games is 165 ribbies by Manny Rameriz in 1999. That is 26 RBIs short, and they had an extra six games in which to do it! Consider further that of the top twenty single-season RBI totals, nineteen of them were in 1938 or before, and again, those were all with a shorter season.

This raises the question of whether or not Wilson's record now falls into the "unbreakable" category. Times have changed. Batters' attitudes are different today. Maybe the RBI has gone the way of the rebound in basketball.

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