The 100 RBI Men

A reader makes the following observation:

"Carlos Delgado is currently on pace to get 100 RBIs for the Mets this year, despite sporting an abysmal .234 BA, 306 OBA and 359 SL%. This helps to make the case that RBIs are as much a team stat as an individual one, as the fellas hitting in front of Delgado (Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and David Wright) are pretty adept at getting on base, which allows Delgado to make outs 7 times out of ten and still accumulate a decent number of RBIs. Simply put, he is getting a boatload of opportunities. Delgado also is lucky enough to bat cleanup on a team that is doing very well in the standings, so the manager is unlikely to move him out of the cleanup slot anytime soon."

Well, assuming Delgago plays in 144 games this season as he did in both 2005 and 2006 he'll wind up with 91 RBI and won't break the 100 mark. And as of tonight Delgado's OPS is 665 and taking 2006 league norms for league OPS and the park effect of Shea Stadium that means that Delgado is on pace to have a league normalized and park adjusted OPS of 92. In any case, that doesn't directly bear on the question which follows...

"So, anyways, my question: Who are the worst hitters in MLB history to get 100 RBIs in a season in MLB? And what are their stories? Were these players in similar situations to Delgado, or do they have some other tale to tell?"

To answer the first part and take a crack at the second, here are the "top" 50 players with 100 or more RBI in a single season with the lowest normalized and park adjusted OPS. There are 1,543 players with 100 or more RBI in a single season since beginning in 1901.

Name                      Year      PA       G     RBI     OPS  NOPS/PF
Joe Carter                1997     668     157     102     683       89
Vinny Castilla            1999     674     158     102     809       92
Ruben Sierra              1993     692     158     101     678       93
Tony Armas                1983     613     145     107     707       94
Paul O'Neill              2000     628     142     100     760       94
Ray Pepper                1934     598     148     101     732       94
Marv Owen                 1936     655     154     105     750       96
Joe Carter                1996     682     157     107     782       96
Glenn Wright              1927     626     143     105     716       96
Joe Carter                1990     697     162     115     681       97
Travis Fryman             1996     688     157     100     766       97
Joe Randa                 2000     665     158     106     781       97
Jeff Francoeur            2006     686     162     103     742       98
Jeff Cirillo              2000     684     157     115     869       98
Tony Batista              2004     650     157     110     728       98
Torii Hunter              2003     642     154     102     762       99
Ray Jablonski             1953     640     157     112     735       99        
Joe Pepitone              1964     647     160     100     698      100
Ernie Banks               1969     629     155     106     725      100
Carlos Beltran            1999     723     156     108     791      100
Bill Buckner              1986     681     153     102     733      100
Bill Brubaker             1936     620     145     102     736      101
George Bell               1992     670     155     112     712      101
Garret Anderson           2001     704     161     123     792      101
Travis Fryman             1997     657     154     102     766      101
Andres Galarraga          1995     604     143     106     842      101
Chili Davis               1993     645     153     112     767      101
Eddie Robinson            1953     685     156     102     735      101
Wally Pipp                1923     634     144     108     749      101
Willie McGee              1987     652     153     105     746      101
Bing Miller               1930     654     154     100     795      101
Pinky Higgins             1938     603     139     106     794      101
Butch Hobson              1977     637     159     112     789      101
Andruw Jones              2001     693     161     104     772      101
George Kelly              1929     632     147     103     760      101
Gee Walker                1939     645     149     111     773      101
Moose Solters             1936     676     152     134     802      101
Ed Sprague                1996     670     159     101     821      101
Al Simmons                1924     644     152     102     774      102
Ruben Sierra              1987     696     158     109     771      102
Billy Rogell              1934     679     154     100     766      102
Richie Sexson             1999     525     134     116     818      102
Vernon Wells              2002     648     159     100     762      102
Pinky Whitney             1930     662     149     117     849      102
Pinky Whitney             1928     636     151     103     768      102
Matt Williams             1997     636     151     105     795      102
Glenn Wright              1924     662     153     111     744      102

I know many of you had an inkling that Joe Carter would take the top spot. He also appears at numbers 8 and 10 (and number 53 for his 1987, 104 for his 1989 season, 110 for his 1993 season, and number 146 for his 1994 season...you get the idea). But given the poor light in which RBI have been cast in recent years, perhaps surprisingly only 17 times (a little over 1%) has a player ever driven in 100 runs while not being at least league average. So while getting to 100 RBI doesn't ensure that the hitter is an elite offensive performer, it is a pretty good proxy. Put in another way, one needn't be a great hitter to accrue 100 RBI but great hitters often get to 100 RBI. And so in the absence of better metrics it's not surprising that 100 RBI became shorthand for a great offensive performance. This is illustrated by the fact that the "average" 100 RBI man had NOPS/PF of 125 and the histogram belows which shows their distribution:



Contributing to the idea that RBI equals greatness is the ongoing debate over the significance and prevalence of clutch hitting. A player with alot of RBI is often automatically assumed to be a clutch performer as Joe Carter was.

That said, given that we now have much more granular means (with OPS actually being on the lower end) of estimating the run contribution of individual hitters, that usage should wane some although it may take generational turnover to bring about its demise. For a little deeper perspective on traditional and more modern methods of gauging a player's contribution see chapter 1 of Baseball Between the Numbers.

But in getting back to the question at hand, perusing the list you see a few factors that certainly play into reaching the century mark:

Performance - As mentioned above there is no doubt that in large part getting to 100 RBI requires a strong performance. From the graph above (the pink cumulative line that uses the y-axis on the right) you can see that fully 75% of those who have driven in 100 runs were 15% or more above league average and 60% were 25% or more above average.

Park - Vinny Castilla and Jeff Cirillo in the top 20 show that playing in a park where lots of runs are scored certainly helps, and of course by adjusting for park we don't give them any benefit

Era - Twelve of the top 20 players either played in the 1930s or since 1993 which were the two highest scoring eras in modern baseball history. Just like playing in a park where runs are more plentiful allows lesser hitters to drive in more runs, playing in an expanding offensive environment devalues the 100-RBI mark.

Teammates - Certainly the reader makes a good point about teammates having to be on the bases. You could probably make a case that Paul O'Neil in 2000 with the Yankees, Marv Owen for the Tigers in 1936, Glenn Wright with the Pirates in 1927, and Bill Buckner with the 1986 Red Sox all fall into this category where the individual was part of a strong offensive team from top to bottom.

Lineup Position - It probably comes as no surprise that many of the players on this list and that accrue 100 RBI generally are middle-of-the-order hitters. It probably comes as a bit more of surprise that, as shown in the graph below, the number three position in order actually hits with relatively fewer runners on base than does any other lineups positions save the leadoff and second spots in the order.

Plate Appearances - More generally the latter two contributing factors as well as this one fall into the category of opportunity. A player has to come to the plate often enough to reach the 100 RBI mark. Probably no one in this list better exemplifies these is Ruben Sierra's 1993 performance with the Oakland A's. In that season Rickey Henderson hit leadoff for half the year and he hit third in an AL lineup which increases the opportunities for the third hitter and racked up almost 700 plate appearances. On the average, the 100 RBI men had 651 plate appearances. Yes Rudy York did drive in 103 runs in just 417 plate appearances for the 1937 Tigers but all told just 213 players (14%) have ever driven in 100 runs while not coming to the plate at least 600 times.

So will Carlos Delgado get to 100 RBI and if so what does it mean? Speaking only in generalties and knowing only that about this performance, we'd have to guess that he was a pretty good hitter. However, that doesn't completely rule out the possibility that his park, era, teammates, lineup position, and playing time all conspired to his breaking the 100 RBI barrier.