Pitchers with 100 career RBI and runs scored
Posted by Andy on March 28, 2011
Yesterday I noted that Bob Feller finished his career with both 99 runs scored and 99 RBI. Not very many pitchers have reached the century mark in both categories:
| Rk | Player | Year | RBI | R | From | To | G | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | Pos | Tm | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Carlton | 1988 | 140 | 123 | 1965 | 1988 | 745 | 1877 | 1719 | 346 | 49 | 6 | 13 | 41 | 413 | .201 | .223 | .259 | .482 | *1 | STL-PHI-TOT-CHW-MIN-CLE |
| 2 | Jim Kaat | 1983 | 106 | 117 | 1959 | 1983 | 968 | 1362 | 1251 | 232 | 44 | 5 | 16 | 63 | 367 | .185 | .227 | .267 | .494 | *1 | WSH-MIN-CHW-PHI-NYY-STL |
| 3 | Bob Gibson | 1975 | 144 | 132 | 1959 | 1975 | 596 | 1489 | 1328 | 274 | 44 | 5 | 24 | 63 | 415 | .206 | .243 | .301 | .545 | *1 | STL |
| 4 | Robin Roberts | 1966 | 103 | 107 | 1948 | 1966 | 688 | 1782 | 1525 | 255 | 55 | 10 | 5 | 135 | 372 | .167 | .238 | .226 | .464 | *1 | PHI-BAL-TOT |
| 5 | Warren Spahn | 1965 | 189 | 141 | 1942 | 1965 | 783 | 2055 | 1872 | 363 | 57 | 6 | 35 | 94 | 487 | .194 | .234 | .287 | .520 | *1 | BSN-MLN-TOT |
| 6 | Early Wynn | 1963 | 173 | 136 | 1939 | 1963 | 796 | 1903 | 1704 | 365 | 59 | 5 | 17 | 141 | 330 | .214 | .274 | .285 | .559 | *1 | WSH-CLE-CHW |
| 7 | Bob Lemon | 1958 | 147 | 148 | 1941 | 1958 | 615 | 1330 | 1183 | 274 | 54 | 9 | 37 | 93 | 241 | .232 | .288 | .386 | .674 | *1/859 | CLE |
| 8 | Dizzy Trout | 1957 | 110 | 99 | 1939 | 1957 | 535 | 1047 | 961 | 205 | 28 | 7 | 20 | 59 | 226 | .213 | .260 | .319 | .579 | *1 | DET-TOT-BAL |
| 9 | Bob Feller | 1956 | 99 | 99 | 1936 | 1956 | 570 | 1485 | 1282 | 193 | 28 | 13 | 8 | 100 | 505 | .151 | .214 | .211 | .425 | *1 | CLE |
| 10 | Bucky Walters | 1950 | 234 | 227 | 1931 | 1950 | 715 | 2149 | 1966 | 477 | 99 | 16 | 23 | 114 | 303 | .243 | .286 | .344 | .630 | *15/47 | BSN-BOS-TOT-PHI-CIN |
There are quite a few more pitchers who did it pre-1950, when pitchers got a lot more plate appearances in a season.
Since Steven Carlton, only one pitcher has reached 100 career runs or RBI, and that's Greg Maddux with 103 career runs scored.
Among active pitchers, Mike Hampton (who actually just retired) leads the way with 97 runs scored, followed by Carlos Zambrano with 64. For RBI it's Hampton with 79 and Livan Hernandez with 78.
March 28th, 2011 at 8:45 am
It's an even more select club when you consider both Bob Lemon and Bucky Walters spent a decent amount of time playing the field.
March 28th, 2011 at 8:49 am
Actually looking at splits Lemon"s numbers weren't affected. Walters did have most of his offensive value while a position player however.
March 28th, 2011 at 9:51 am
Why didn't Wes Ferrell make the cut? He exceeded both totals by a margin.
March 28th, 2011 at 9:52 am
Whoops. Just read the note below saying that it was 1950 and later.
March 28th, 2011 at 10:13 am
@2, Jamie -- Not sure what you mean about Walters. In his years as a position player (1931-34), Walters had negative offensive WAR (-1.1). In his pitching years, his oWAR was 7.6.
His OPS was a bit higher as a position player. But "value" has to be measured in positional context.
March 28th, 2011 at 10:33 am
I would think the switch to a five man rotation and the reliance on relief pitching and the DH would make this almost impossible in post 1973 baseball.
I was kind of surprised that Rick Rhoden and Don Robinson didn't come closer to making this list.
March 28th, 2011 at 10:38 am
I think the original poster was saying that being a position player increases your counting stats considerably because you play every day. Walters had 83 R and 88 RBI through 1934 despite the fact that he had a paltry OPS+ of 72. That's a decent head start on the rest of his career. Pretty easy to get to 100/100 as a pitcher from that point.
We don't have positional batting splits from almost all of Walters' career, but we do have a split for batting-order position. Walters had 130 R/130RBI from the #9 position. So assuming that's all P/PH (rough estimate) then he likely would have made the list anyways.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:49 am
Who would be the pre-1950 leader? I thought the obvious answer was "Cy Young", but then I looked up Bob Caruthers, and he's got Cy beat in both categories.
I guess you need to define how large a % of non-pitching games a pitcher could have; if you take this to the point of absurdity, the answer could be "Babe Ruth".
March 28th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
I immediately thought of Earl Wilson, but he just missed (95 R / 11 RBI).
March 28th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
DH in both leagues please. Watching pitchers (not)hit and/or bunt is stupid.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Was Kaat used a lot as a PR? I noticed his PA's were a lot less than a lot of the guys on the list and his OPS was pretty lousy (career OPS+ of 37). IN 1961 he scored 10 runs, even though he was on base on 19 times via hit and walk. in '64 it was 11 runs with 25 H+BB; in 1970 it 17 R/21 H+BB and even in 1978 it was 4 R, 7 H+BB.
His splits show him scoring 16 runs while in the 1-8 spot in the batting order, with only 2 hits in 15 ABs with no walks.
March 28th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Post-1900, it will be difficult to beat Walter Johnson's numbers (241/255)
March 28th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
LJF -- Your speculation is correct. Kaat appeared 85 times as a pinch-runner, and scored 18 runs in that role (3 each in '61 and '70).
Also, a pitcher with enough baserunning ability to be used that way should score at an above-average rate (as a percentage of times on base) in his regular batting appearances, because he's followed by the top of the order.
March 28th, 2011 at 8:55 pm
Interestingly, Carlos Zambrano has 64 runs and 64 RBIs. Not only that, but with his 21 career homers, that means that almost a full third of his runs and RBIs came off scoring himself!
Over his career he has averaged about 8 runs/RBIs per year, so if he can keep that up, he will be over 100 on each in the next 4.5 years.
If he can get healthy/sane he should be able to make it.