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The I in Team

Posted by Raphy on December 3, 2009

This past season, Randy Ruiz of the Toronto Blue Jays drove himself in with a  home run 10 times, but only drove in 7 other players. Ruiz's 17 RBI are tied for the 14th most in a season among players who have driven themselves in more than they have driven in others (HR>.5*RBI) .(Ruiz's RBI are third most among players with a ratio of RBI:HR of 1.7 or less.)

Here are the leaders:

Rk Player RBI HR Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B BB IBB HBP SF BA OBP SLG OPS Pos
1 Barry Bonds 137 73 2001 36 SFG NL 153 664 476 129 156 32 2 177 35 9 2 .328 .515 .863 1.379 *7/D
2 Chris Duncan 43 22 2006 25 STL NL 90 314 280 60 82 11 3 30 0 2 2 .293 .363 .589 .952 *793/D
3 Kevin Maas 41 21 1990 25 NYY AL 79 300 254 42 64 9 0 43 10 3 0 .252 .367 .535 .902 *3D
4 Scott Hairston 31 17 2008 28 SDP NL 112 362 326 42 81 18 3 28 2 3 2 .248 .312 .479 .791 87/4
5 Bill Schroeder 25 14 1984 25 MIL AL 61 226 210 29 54 6 0 8 2 2 2 .257 .288 .486 .774 *2/D3
6 Ellis Burks 24 13 1994 29 COL NL 42 165 149 33 48 8 3 16 3 0 0 .322 .388 .678 1.066 *8
7 Eric Anthony 22 12 1996 28 TOT NL 79 218 185 32 45 8 0 32 2 0 1 .243 .353 .481 .834 97/8
8 Luis Aguayo 21 12 1987 28 PHI NL 94 234 209 25 43 9 1 15 1 5 2 .206 .273 .431 .703 *6/45
9 Russell Branyan 20 12 2008 32 MIL NL 50 152 132 24 33 8 0 19 4 0 1 .250 .342 .583 .925 *5/3
10 Sal Fasano 20 11 2005 33 BAL AL 64 174 160 25 40 3 0 9 0 5 0 .250 .310 .475 .785 *2/D3
11 Todd Greene 19 10 2002 31 TEX AL 42 118 112 15 30 5 0 2 0 1 2 .268 .282 .580 .862 32/D7
12 Dave Ross 18 10 2003 26 LAD NL 40 140 124 19 32 7 0 13 0 2 1 .258 .336 .556 .892 *2
13 Wayne Gross 18 11 1985 33 BAL AL 103 264 217 31 51 8 0 46 0 0 0 .235 .369 .424 .793 *5/3D
14 Randy Ruiz 17 10 2009 31 TOR AL 33 130 115 25 36 7 0 10 0 4 1 .313 .385 .635 1.019 *D/3
15 Gil Hodges 17 9 1962 38 NYM NL 54 142 127 15 32 1 0 15 1 0 0 .252 .331 .472 .803 *3
16 Joe Pignatano 17 9 1958 28 LAD NL 63 163 142 18 31 4 0 16 1 2 0 .218 .306 .437 .743 *2
17 Kirk Gibson 16 9 1980 23 DET AL 51 189 175 23 46 2 1 10 0 1 2 .263 .303 .440 .743 *8
18 Buddy Bradford 15 8 1973 28 CHW AL 53 187 168 24 40 3 1 17 1 2 0 .238 .316 .411 .726 *8/97
19 Dave Nicholson 15 9 1962 22 BAL AL 97 202 173 25 30 4 1 27 0 1 0 .173 .289 .364 .653 798
20 Andres Mora 14 8 1978 23 BAL AL 76 246 229 21 49 8 0 13 1 1 1 .214 .258 .354 .612 *7
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/3/2009.

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On the opposite end of the spectrum are players who have driven themselves in more than they have been driven in by others (HR>.5*R). This is a lot more common, particularly among big hulking power hitters.(Mark McGwire did it 8 times in his career and Dave Kingman 7.) Here are the players with the most runs scored to accomplish this feat.

Rk Player R HR Year Tm Lg G PA AB H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB SO HBP BA OBP SLG OPS Pos
1 Mark McGwire 130 70 1998 STL NL 155 681 509 152 21 0 147 162 28 155 6 .299 .470 .752 1.222 *3
2 Barry Bonds 129 73 2001 SFG NL 153 664 476 156 32 2 137 177 35 93 9 .328 .515 .863 1.379 *7/D
3 Mark McGwire 118 65 1999 STL NL 153 661 521 145 21 1 147 133 21 141 2 .278 .424 .697 1.120 *3
4 Sammy Sosa 114 63 1999 CHC NL 162 712 625 180 24 2 141 78 8 171 3 .288 .367 .635 1.002 *98
5 Ryan Howard 104 58 2006 PHI NL 159 704 581 182 25 1 149 108 37 181 9 .313 .425 .659 1.084 *3
6 Jim Thome 101 52 2002 CLE AL 147 613 480 146 19 2 118 122 18 139 5 .304 .445 .677 1.122 *3D
7 Mark McGwire 97 49 1987 OAK AL 151 641 557 161 28 4 118 71 8 131 5 .289 .370 .618 .987 *3/59
8 Andruw Jones 95 51 2005 ATL NL 160 672 586 154 24 3 128 64 13 112 15 .263 .347 .575 .922 *8
9 Harmon Killebrew 95 49 1964 MIN AL 158 682 577 156 11 1 111 93 5 135 8 .270 .377 .548 .924 *7/9
10 Andre Dawson 90 49 1987 CHC NL 153 662 621 178 24 2 137 32 7 103 7 .287 .328 .568 .896 *9
11 Juan Gonzalez 89 47 1996 TEX AL 134 592 541 170 33 2 144 45 12 82 3 .314 .368 .643 1.011 *9D
12 Harmon Killebrew 88 45 1963 MIN AL 142 596 515 133 18 0 96 72 4 105 3 .258 .349 .555 .904 *7
13 Mark McGwire 86 58 1997 TOT ML 156 657 540 148 27 0 123 101 16 159 9 .274 .393 .646 1.039 *3
14 Harmon Killebrew 85 48 1962 MIN AL 155 666 552 134 21 1 126 106 6 142 4 .243 .366 .545 .912 *7/3
15 Davey Johnson 84 43 1973 ATL NL 157 651 559 151 25 0 99 81 9 93 9 .270 .370 .546 .916 *4
16 Dick Stuart 81 42 1963 BOS AL 157 659 612 160 25 4 118 44 2 144 1 .261 .312 .521 .833 *3
17 Rocky Colavito 80 41 1958 CLE AL 143 578 489 148 26 3 113 84 6 89 2 .303 .405 .620 1.024 *93/17
18 Adam Dunn 79 40 2008 TOT NL 158 651 517 122 23 0 100 122 13 164 7 .236 .386 .513 .898 *793/D
19 Frank Howard 79 44 1968 WSA AL 158 663 598 164 28 3 106 54 12 141 6 .274 .338 .552 .890 *73
20 Frank Thomas 77 39 2006 OAK AL 137 559 466 126 11 0 114 81 3 81 6 .270 .381 .545 .926 *D
21 Juan Gonzalez 77 43 1992 TEX AL 155 632 584 152 24 2 109 35 1 143 5 .260 .304 .529 .833 *87/D9
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/3/2009.

One Response to “The I in Team”

  1. gerry Says:

    In 2007, Peter Ridges worked out the extreme points on the HR vs RBI graph (I fear the formatting won't survive translation to html):

    HR RBI Player Year

    0 0 many every
    3 3 five guys various
    6 8 Luis Medina 1988
    73 137 Barry Bonds 2001
    70 147 Mark McGwire 1998
    56 191 Hack Wilson 1930
    40 183 Hank Greenberg 1937
    11 166 Sam Thompson 1887
    2 134 Steve Brodie 1895
    0 121 Hughie Jennings 1896

    What this means is that if you plot an (HR, RBI) point for every player for every season ever, then connect the 10 points given above, each to the next, and the last back to the first, the 10-sided figure you've drawn will include all of the points you plotted.

    He also did it for careers:

    HR RBI

    0 0 many players
    3 3 Jorge Sosa, P, Atlanta, 2002-07
    10 16 Luis Medina, DH, Cleveland, 1988-91
    217 512 Adam Dunn, RF, Cincinnati, 2001-07
    583 1414 Mark McGwire, 1B, Oakland, 1986-2001
    748 1961 Barry Bonds, LF, SF, 1986- 2007
    755 2297 Hank Aaron, RF, Atlanta, 1954-75
    117 1937 Ty Cobb, RF, Detroit, 1905-1928
    97 1879 Cap Anson, 1B, Chicago, 1876-97
    47 1371 Lave Cross, 3B, Phillies, 1887-1907
    20 1063 Stuffy McInnis, 1B, A's, 1909-27
    4 534 Muddy Ruel, C, Washington, 1915-34
    2 456 Tommy Thevenow, SS, Pittsburgh, 1924-38
    1 318 Johnny Bassler, C, Detroit, 1913-27
    0 176 Tom Oliver, CF, Red Sox, 1930-33

    Each player is listed with only his "main" team.