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Most RBIs from the last spot in the batting order

Posted by Andy on June 12, 2007

Using a pretty simple PI game finder search, we were able to generate this list of the most RBIs in a game while batting 9th since 1957:

Cnt Player            Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt PA AB  R  H 2B 3B HR **RBI** BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-------+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
    1 Tony Cloninger    1966-07-03    ATL @SFG W 17-3   5  5  2  3  0  0  2     9    0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th P         

    2 Larry Bigbie      2004-09-17    BAL @MIN W 11-2   4  4  1  3  2  0  1     7    0   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th LF
    3 Robert Person     2002-06-02    PHI  MON W 18-3   4  3  3  2  0  0  2     7    1   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th P
    4 Charles Johnson   2000-09-02    CHW  ANA W 13-6   4  4  1  3  1  0  1     7    0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th C
    5 Joe Girardi       1999-08-23    NYY @TEX W 21-3   6  6  0  4  2  1  0     7    0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th C
    6 Brian Giles       1990-05-17    SEA @TOR W 14-6   4  4  3  3  1  0  2     7    0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th SS 3B
    7 Jerry Grote       1981-06-03    KCR  SEA W 12-9   4  4  1  3  1  0  1     7    0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  1  0 9th C

This s a fun list, as many baseball fans will vividly remember at least 2 or 3 of these games.

A few notes and comments:

1) We all know about Tony Cloninger's game with 2 grand slams. Checking out the box score (click on the date next to Tony's name above) reveals some other interesting tidbits. Cloninger was joined going deep that game by both Henry Aaron and Joe Torre. Two different pitchers gave up big homers in the first inning--one 3-run job to Torre, and one of Cloninger's slams.

2) Interesting, but not all that surprising, that another pitcher, Robert Person, makes this list. Phillies fans will remember this game. Person hit a granny in the 1st, and a 3-run homer in the 5th for 7 RBI. I was listening to that game via the internet and I remember it sounding like Harry Kalas was going to pass out when Person hit his second tater.

3) You'll notice that all of these games have really high scores for the team with the stud 9th-place hitter. That's not too surprising...you have to score a lot of runs and get a lot of guys on base for your 9th-place hitter to have a chance at a bunch of RBIs. In fact, these teams all won their games, scoring an average of over 15 runs each.

4) Joe Girardi managed to bat in 7 runs from the 9th spot, without hitting a single homer. Of course, it helps when your team has 21 on 23 hits, on the way to a 125-win season and World Series victory. Girardi had 2 singles, 2 doubles, and a triple in this game, and three different Rangers pitchers gave up at least 5 earned runs. Back then, the Rangers perennially had terrible pitching. I'm sure they'd never allow that to continue for another 10 years (right? RIGHT?)

7 Responses to “Most RBIs from the last spot in the batting order”

  1. Atlas Says:

    125 wins? That's a bunch, sure enough.

  2. Andy Says:

    That was 114 wins in the regular season, 3 wins in the division series against Texas, 4 wins in the ALCS over Cleveland, and 4 wins in the World Series over San Diego.

    Overall they were 125-50.

  3. Atlas Says:

    Perhaps I'm misreading something, but BR.com lists the 114 win season as being 1998, which accords with my recollection. This game was in 1999, when the Yankers won 98 games in the regular season and another 11 in the play-offs (against the Rangers, Red Sox, and Braves) for a total of 109 (with 65 losses). At least, that's the way that I read the chart above.

  4. Andy Says:

    Atlas, you're right. I misread it as 1998 when I wrote the original post.

  5. Atlas Says:

    Neh, not a big deal. I was just pleased I managed to notice something like that.

  6. Stat of the Day » All hits in a season are homers Says:

    [...] Incidentally, Person’s 2 HR in 2002 came in the same game, which we previously discussed here. [...]

  7. ImAShark Says:

    Why is there comments about the Yankees wins in this post. It's about the most RBIs in a game!