In 1930 a little known player whom history rarely speaks of set what looks like one of the most insurmountable records in baseball history. One of the games truly great characters once commented after see a worm die instantly upon being dropped into a glass of whiskey: "If I keep on drinking, I'll never get worms." This same man hit the staggering sum of 191 RBI in 1930. This number coupled with 146 runs scored gives him a total run production number of 337 runs. Below you will find the amazing year Mr. Wilson put together.
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG TB
1930 30 CHC NL 155 585 146 208 35 6 56 191 3 0 105 84 .356 .454 .723 423
During the last ten years we've seen the explosion of home runs and runs scored due to diluted pitching, small strike zones, beefier player and band box stadia that produce runs in bunches. We also see very high batting averages. One would think the RBI production would increase as well but it doesn't. In fact, no one can get close to this 191 number. You would think that with the run production, high batting averages and home run hitting at Coors Field you would think a Rockie might have sniffed the record but they have not.
Below is a brief table displaying the best run production season for a smattering of hall of fame players. You will note that not one of them is close to Hack Wilson.
Name Year Runs scored RBI Run production(RS+RBI) Hack Wilson 1930 146 191 337
Ted Williams 1949 150 159 309
Babe Ruth 1930 150 153 303
Barry Bonds 2001 129 137 266
Stan Musial 1948 135 131 266
Mickie Mantle 1961 132 128 260
Willie Mays 1955 123 127 250
Below is another table detailing just the top RBI production seasons of all time.
You will come away thinking that perhaps Lou Gehrig was the greatest hitter in history and perhaps he was but he only gets close once. The hitters on this list are all hall of famers and we suspect Mr. Ramirez will be in the future. We all agree that Manny Ramirez is the greatest RBI producing in the last ten years but he isn't even close to the magic 191 number. We note that the 30's appeared to be special year's for RBI production as of the top 14 years, 8 of them occurred in the 30's.
Name Year No. of RBI
Hack Wilson 1930 191
Lou Gehrig 1931 184
Hank Greenberg 1937 183
Jimmie Foxx 1938 175
Lou Gehrig 1927 175
Lou Gehrig 1930 174
Babe Ruth 1921 171
Hank Greenberg 1935 170
Chuck Klein 1930 170
Joe DiMaggio 1937 167
Sam Thompson 1887 166
Lou Gehrig 1934 165
Manny Ramirez 1999 165
Since the 1930's appear to be a special decade for hitting gobs of RBI's we thought it would be worth a look at comparing the amount of runs teams scored in the 30's compared to today's game. Below is a year by year scoring for a few comparison years.
Year Team Runs scored
2004 Boston 949
2003 Boston 961
2002 Yankees 897
2001 Seattle 927
2000 Chicago 978
1999 Cleveland 1009
1998 Yankees 965
1997 Seattle 925
1996 Seattle 993
1995 Cleveland 840
1941 Boston 865
1940 Detroit 888
1939 Yankees 962
1938 Yankees 966
1937 Yankees 979
1936 Yankees 1065
1935 Detroit 919
1934 Detroit 958
1933 Yankees 927
1932 Yankees 1002
1931 Yankees 1067
1930 St.Louis 1004
Between 1995 and 2004 the leading team in the league scored 944 runs per year. Between 1930 and 1939 the leading team scored 985 runs per game. This is a 41 run scored difference and amount to .25 runs per game. The one man, Hack Wilson, hit 41 RBI's more by himself than they do now.
As you can see in the 30's they didn't score that many more runs than they do now but yet they hit RBI's in boat loads.
In every hitting category there is, today's hitters have huge stats except for RBI's and there is no obvious explanation for this variance so we here at Roxhead have a theory that we've put forth in other articles and it is this. In the 1930's a pitcher pitched about 50 games and many of them were complete games and there was very little in the way of middle relievers and closers. When a pitcher was given the ball at the beginning of a game he was expected to finish the game.
In 1930 Lefty Grove started 50 games and completed 22 of them. Additionally, he had 9 saves. The Athletics had 11 pitchers on their staff. They had four pitchers who between them pitched only 46 innings and basically road pine. They had seven pitchers who were all starters. Three of whom were primary starters and three who threw half as much. Lefty Grove pitched 291 innings and another starter went 296 innings. In 1931 Mr. Grove started 41 games and finished 27 of them, pitched 288 innings and saved another five games. In 1933 the Yankees had at various times, 13 pitchers on the roster, 5 of those were consistent starters. The remaining eight pitchers got their innings by starting games not relieving them and every starter recorded saves. Finally, all the pitchers with few innings got them by starting games. Every pitcher on a roster started games. Our research concludes that teams had three of four key starters and three lesser starters who filled in and around the primary starters.
By comparison, Kurt Schilling, who is considered a horse, only went 206 innings last year. Five complete games lead the league last year. Randy Johnson who is another horse went only 245 innings.
There is no way that the athlete/pitcher that existed in the 30's was stronger or fitter than the one that exits today. It is common thinking that today's hitter is bigger, stronger & faster than yesterday's hitter. It can't be that the same thing doesn't exist in pitching. In fact in every sport there is, athletes are bigger, stronger and faster. It would be impossible that this same thing would not happen to pitchers as well. I don't believe that Hack Wilson was God's gift to athletes but rather he was someone who for a couple of seasons had an absolute mastery of hitting. He was, like all hitters in the 30's and 40's the recipient of what I believe were tired pitchers and he was able to hit RBI's at greater rates in late innings. I also think that pitchers paced themselves more during the game so they could finish a game and this would allow greater hitting ability. Today's pitcher is pitching at essentially a 100% level every pitch, there is no pacing. Today's pitcher goes for as long as he can and then the relievers take over.
I also believe that the travel schedule was easier back in the 30's and 40's. All of the teams were on the east coast and within easy train travel. The trips weren't as frequent and not as hectic. Yesterday's player also played in numerous double headers which allowed for many more days off. For example, in the 1930's teams played double headers on Sunday's and took Monday's off. Today's player has to hop all over the continent and play in day games, then night games and in 15 different stadiums.
As it stands today, Alex Rodriguez has 49 RBI's in 51 games so he is on pace to hit about 160. He will though poop out as the season progresses and he will end up with about 140 RBI's. Hack Wilson's record is safe for another season. Hitting RBI's is a mentally and physically taxing feat to accomplish and in fact we believe it is much harder to hit an RBI than one would think.
In the end I can only take stabs at explaining the one awesome season Mr. Wilson had. The 30's were also a freak decade for RBI hitting. In the end his one great season could have been the freak season to end all freak seasons. In the end though, I wish his record got more discussion in the media as it is rarely discussed and should be. If a current team had one player hit 191 RBI, I guarantee that team would be in the playoffs and perhaps even in the World Series.
