191 Runs Batted In by Hack Wilson
The slugging center fielder holds the distinction of being one of the few players not remembered for his home run records (all though he did lead the league for three straight years). He is best remembered for his 1930 season where he had one-hundred ninety-one runs batted in, good for the all time record ahead of fellow Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig (one-hundred eighty-four), Hank Greenberg (one-hundred eighty-three), and Jimmie Foxx (one-hundred seventy-five). Even in today’s slug-it-out world of long ball RBIs, the only player to even come within thirty runs of Wilson is Manny "Mr. RBI" Ramirez with one-hundred sixty-five.
Wilson was no stranger to RBIs. He had over one-hundred of them in during six of his twelve Major League seasons. 1930 did, however, turn out to be his career year. He set a new National League record for single season home runs at fifty-six, which stood until the 1998 Sammy Sosa / Mark McGwire war. Strangely enough, Wilson never had a grand slam in 1930. Also, Wilson's record stood at a mere one-hundred ninety ribbies until research in the 1980s found that a run batted in attributed to Charlie Grimm actually belonged to Wilson, rewriting the record at one-hundred ninety-one.
Wilson never saw his total go above the one-hundred ninety mark. He died in 1948, his life cut short due to his infamous battle with alcoholism. Wilson's record stands as one of the unreachable marks in baseball’s history.
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