Veteran Boston outfielder Mike Greenwell, besieged with injuries all season, had managed to play in only 53 of the Red Sox' 138 games to date. In addition to a nagging lower back malady, he had missed nearly two months with a broken ring finger on his left hand. Fortunately for the Red Sox the 33-year-old brought his lunch box to work this Labor Day and practically single-handedly beat the Seattle Mariners. Greenwell's four hits yielded all nine of his team's runs-batted-in, including the game winner in the 10th inning. That became the most RBIs by any one player who accounted for all his team's runs. Two earlier occurrences (see June 6, 1924 and June 12, 1938) of players driving home all eight of their club's runs, however, both occurred in nine-inning games. The victory stoked excitement in Boston as it inched the Red Sox closer to a possible wild-card playoff berth; a goal that never came to fruition.

The Red Sox fell behind early, trailing 5-0 after four innings. Then Greenwell took over. He collected four of the team's seven hits and his production was practically flawless. The left-handed swinger made five plate appearances, four of them with men on base. The only out he registered came in the third frame when the bases were empty. Of the eight teammates aboard when he stepped to the plate, Mike drove home seven. The last provided the game-winning run, and the new benchmark.

The fact that no other Boston player drove home a run in is certainly an anomaly, but Greenwell's success was not. A plethora of available baseball statistcs reveal that his performance was much less a surprise than one might expect:

During his three previous seasons (1993-1995), Greenwell had hit more home runs and had amassed more RBIs against Seattle than against than any other club. This year Mariner arms still were the friendliest toward Mike. In only 20 of his 295 at-bats during 1996, he had more doubles, home runs and RBIs against them than any other staff. He also accumulated his most robust on-base percentage (.522), batting average (.450), and slugging average (.950), while not being struck out by a Mariner pitcher.

Batting eighth in the lineup this year was nothing new for Greenwell either. Although he usually batted fifth or sixth, the eighth position was his most productive. Despite having only 29 of his at-bats while hitting eighth, he batted .483 and had more home runs and RBIs than from any other batting position.

During this season Mike hit far better with runners in scoring position (.333) and with two outs (.353) than he did with none on (.261) or no outs (.270). Three of his four successful plate appearances this night came with runners in scoring position, and three came with two outs.

He also hit nearly 100 points higher (.379 vs. .286) on turf this year than he did on grass, and better on the road (.303) than he did at home (.287). This contest was played on artificial turf and on the road.

Other players have driven in more runs in one game, but none have been their team's sole provider. "It was a storybook night," said free agent Greenwell. "I feel like I still have something to give to this club."* (Daily News Wire Services, "Greenwell gets all 9 RBI in win," Philadelphia Daily News, 3 September 1996, p. 65, col. 5.) (Mike left Boston after the season and signed to play in Japan.)

Despite his youth, Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez knew the score. "It was Greenwell nine and the Mariners eight," he said. "You have to give him a lot of credit." (Ibid.)

Mike Greenwell’s Production, September 2, 1996
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inn. Outs Base Runners	Seattle Pitcher	Count	  At-bat	Results
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
3    0	  none		Wolcott (rhp)	2-1	flied out to cf	first out	
5    2	  Naehring(1B)	Wolcott		0-0	HR to deep cf	2 RBI	
7    0	  Jefferson(3B)	Ayala (rhp)	1-0	HR to deep rf	4 RBI
	  O’Leary(2B)
	  Naehring(1B)
8    2	  Vaughn(2B)	Charlton (lhp)	2-0	2B down lf line	2 RBI
	  Tinsley(1B)
10   2	  Cordero(2B)	Carmona (rhp)	2-0	1B down lf line	1 RBI
			Manto(1B)