As much as fans appreciate balanced team play, such as the synergetic New York Yankees of the past half-decade, the baseball public also loves to witness a one-man offensive show down the stretch that leads an underdog to a pennant. While a superstar can sometimes put a team on his back for the final month or last quarter of the season to lead his team to a gonfalon, he can rarely carry a team for an entire season.
This point was proven once again this year when Chicago Cubs superstar Sammy Sosa was unsuccessful in his attempt to lead the Chicago Cubs to the post-season. Despite Sosa's incredible offensive and defensive efforts, the Cubs could not hold their slim National League Central lead over Houston or St. Louis and ended the season trailing in the wild card race by a handful of games as well.
The Cubs' inability to maintain their lead was hardly the fault of the slugging Sosa. The 33-year old native of the Dominican Republic hit 64 home runs and drove in 160, numbers that would place him near the top of any Most Valuable Player ballot. Sosa's run-producing also placed him in elite company as he became just the ninth player in major league history to drive in more than 20 percent of his team's runs, an incredibly difficult task considering that not every run results in an RBI because runs scored on passed balls, double plays, some errors and other such events do not award the batter with a run driven in.
The Cubs certainly could have used an extra bat in the lineup to aid Sosa. Slammin' Sammy's 160 RBIs accounted for 20.62 percent of his team's 776 runs. The figure ranks as the fourth highest percentage in major league history. Sosa's Cubs actually came the closest of any team with such a player to reaching the post-season. Only one of the other eight players to drive in 20 percent of their team's runs led his club to a record above .500.
Here is a look at the other players who drove in 20 percent or more of their teams' runs in a single season:
The last player, prior to Sosa, to accomplish the feat was former Cubs first basemen Bill Buckner. Not known for prodigious run producing, Buckner still finished the strike-shortened 1981 season with 75 RBIs, third in the National League behind Philadelphia's Mike Schmidt and Cincinnati's George Foster. The Cubbies scored just 370 runs in the abbreviated season and Buckner accounted for 20.27 percent with his RBI total. Chicago obviously needed another bat in the lineup, however, as they finished with the worst record in the senior circuit. Buckner placed 12th in the MVP voting, a considerable position considering his team's awful 38-65 record.
The greatest percentage of runs driven in by one player comes from the basement-dwelling San Diego Padres in 1972. Not only did the Padres own the worst record in the National League West, they, like the Cubs in 1981, owned the worst record in the entire league. Slugging first basemen Nate Colbert drove in 111 runs, fourth in the N.L., accounting for 22.75 percent of the team's 488 runs. Colbert's Padres were hardly an offensive juggernaut, averaging just over three runs per contest. Colbert's individual accomplishments were well received by the media as he finished 8th in the MVP race.
Just a few years prior to Colbert's landmark season for one-dimensional run-producing threats were the seasons of the Washington Senators' hulking slugger Frank Howard. The 6'7" Howard is the only player to drive in 20 percent of his team's runs twice, accomplishing the feat in both 1968 and 1970. Obviously Howard was the only player to produce offensively in those seasons as the Senators finished in last place both times, the only times they finished in the basement from 1964 to 1971.
Howard drove in 106 of the Senators' 524 runs in 1968 and then drove in 126 runs out of Washington's 626 runs in 1970. Howard did fair decently in the MVP voting despite the dreadful team results from each year, placing 8th in the voting in 1968 and 5th in 1970.
Perhaps the most impressive offensive season of this rare group, besides Sosa's of this past year, came from Baltimore's Jim Gentile in 1961. The Orioles won 95 games and lost just 67, the first year of the 162-game season, finishing 14 games behind the pennant-winning Yankees. Gentile drove in 141 runs, second in the American League behind MVP and record-breaking Yankees outfielder Roger Maris. Gentile deservedly finished third in the MVP voting behind Maris and Yankees teammate Mickey Mantle. Perhaps more amazing than accounting for 20.41 percent of his team's 691 runs in '61 is that Gentile's 141 RBIs in 1961 accounted for nearly 26 percent of his career RBI total.
Hall of Fame shortstop Ernie Banks did win the MVP of the N.L. in 1959 for his amazing offensive performance. Banks drove in 143 of the Cubs' 673 runs that season and won the MVP award by a wide margin considering Chicago finished in the second-division with a record of 74-80, 13 games behind Los Angeles. Banks was an offensive force for the Cubs in '59, leading the league in RBIs while placing second in home runs (45) and slugging (.596) and third in total bases (351). The only other Cub player to drive in even 50 runs that season was outfielder Bobby Thomson (52).
One-man offensive teams seem to be all the rage for the poor Cubbies. In 1943, outfielder Bill Nicholson hit 29 home runs and drove in 128 runs, easily leading the league in both categories. The powerful lefty slugger also hit .309, fifth in the N.L., and finished third in the MVP voting despite his team finishing with a 74-79 record, more than 30 games behind pennant-winning St. Louis. The Cubs scored 632 runs in '43 with Nicholson driving in 20.25 percent.
One must also feel for outfielder Wally Berger of the Boston Braves. In 1935, Berger drove in 22.61 percent of his team's runs. His 130 RBIs paced the senior circuit while the Braves total of 575 runs was 71 behind the second-lowest scoring team in the league. Berger claimed a tie for sixth place in the league MVP race and batted .295 with a league-leading 34 home runs. For Berger to finish higher in the MVP voting, the Braves probably could have used at least two more good hitters in the lineup. Boston won just 38 games and lost 115, leaving the Braves more than 60 games behind Chicago in the pennant chase. Berger is also the answer to a famous trivia question as the only starting position player in the 1934 All-Star game not to be selected to the Hall of Fame. Perhaps with a little more support in the lineup he could have garnered the statistics to coerce more votes from Hall of Fame voters.
The first player in major league history to accomplish this rare but seemingly unrewarding feat was the great Babe Ruth. The Sultan of Swat was just coming into his own offensively in 1919 when he led the American League in several categories, including RBIs. Ruth's 114 runs driven in accounted for 20.21 percent of the Red Sox's 564 runs. Ruth also led the league in home runs, total bases, on base percentage and slugging percentage. Despite his tremendous season, Boston finished with a 66-71 record, more than 20 games behind the Chicago White Sox. The Yankees were impressed enough by Ruth to purchase him from Boston the following January.
It seems that once again that team play is the road to championships, not individual offensive exploits. While similar seasons in the future may help Sosa collect more individual accolades, it doesn't seem that the Cubs will capture that highly sought after pennant with Sosa alone.
» Tommy Szarka is still patiently awaiting for the 2002 season to begin.
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Copyright © 2002 by Tommy Szarka. Posted March 7, 2002.
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