Los Angeles Angels DH Albert Pujols is likely to end his career in second place on the career RBI list, and with a little luck, he may be first.
A recent filler list on my local newspaper’s scoreboard page prompted me to access the career stats for Los Angeles Angels star Albert Pujols. That list involved the top five career RBI men in major league history, a handful of remarkably important players in the history of the game.
Smack dab in the middle of that top five was Pujols, sandwiched immediately between two steroid cheats – Alex Rodriguez above him and Barry Bonds now below, who were, in turn, sandwiched between the all-time leader – Henry Aaron – and that bum in fifth place – Lou Gehrig.
The day the list I was looking at was printed, Pujols had 2058 RBI.
The day I accessed Pujols’ data on-line, Sept. 18, he had 2071, exactly 15 RBI away from tying A-Rod for second on the all-time list at 2086. Roughly 15 months ago he was ninth on the list, and it was predicted he would likely be the last 2000 RBI-man “for quite a while.”
Pujols’ climb up this list has been one of the unsung melodies of this baseball season. Those accessing this website’s Angels page Sept. 18, for example, had to scroll through 15 stories before hitting one with a focus on Pujols. And that piece made no mention of any Pujols RBI total except, in passing, how many he had amassed as a St. Louis Cardinal.
Ignoring Albert Pujols ascension on the career RBI list is the result of a number of factors.
First, RBI stats are among the most anonymous in baseball, a sport that is nothing but numbers, numbers, and more numbers. The average fan, however, probably says only one or two things about RBI: “A hundred is good,” and (perhaps) “that Hack Wilson was really something.”
Almost none of those fans can tell you the year Wilson drove 191 runs (1930), he was putting up nearly 20 percent of his career total. Aaron’s career total of 2297 RBI is a number not one in ten “real” baseball fans can give you with even marginal precision.