Hack Gets RBI Added To Books
Fifty-one years after his death, Hack Wilson drove in another run.
Wilson's record for RBIs in one season was increased to 191 Tuesday by the commissioner's office, which also gave Babe Ruth six additional walks, raising his career record total to 2,062.
"There is no doubt that Hack Wilson's RBI total should be 191," commissioner Bud Selig said. "I am sensitive to the historical significance that accompanies the correction of such a prestigious record, especially after so many years have passed, but it is important to get it right."
Recently retired Chicago Tribune baseball writer Jerome Holtzman, now baseball's historian, examined box scores and play-by-play accounts of each game of Wilson's record-setting season for the Chicago Cubs in 1930. Seymour Siwoff and Peter Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau, baseball's statisticians, and Rich Levin of the commissioner's office also reviewed Wilson's totals.
They said the missing RBI came from the second game of a doubleheader between Wilson's Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds on July 28, 1930.
National League records credited Charlie Grimm of the Cubs with two RBIs in the game and Wilson with none. The Associated Press box score and accounts in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Daily News, Chicago Daily Times and Chicago Herald-Examiner said Wilson drove a run with a third-inning single that scored Kiki Cuyler.
"We're not the kind of people who like to make changes," Siwoff said, "but this was obvious. There was no way not to change it because all the evidence was there."
The closest anyone has come to Wilson's record was when Lou Gehrig had 184 RBI the following year. Cleveland's Manny Ramirez began Tuesday with 79 RBIs, on pace to drive in 203 runs.
Ruth's walks total is now 2,062. Ted Williams is second, trailing by 43, and Rickey Henderson of the New York Mets was third going into Tuesday night's game, 134 behind Ruth.
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