In Defense of the GWRBI

By Patrick Mondout

In baseball statistics, GWRBI stands for Game Winning Run Batted In. It is a discredited statistic that is no longer officially kept. The statistic was officially kept from 1980 to 1988. (It was tallied by the National League during 1979, but not part of boxscores until the Player's Association gave approval prior to the 1980 season.)

GWRBIs 1957-2005... RANK NAME GWRBI 1 Hank Aaron 275 2 Eddie Murray 256 3 Carl Yastrzemski 247 4 Frank Robinson 239 5 Reggie Jackson 238 6 Willie Mays 228 7 Tony Perez 226 8 Barry Bonds 219 9 Rafael Palmeiro 218 10 Dave Winfield 216   Gary Sheffield 216 12 George Brett 213 13 Harmon Killebrew 210 14 Cal Ripken 208 15 Willie McCovey 205 16 Andre Dawson 203 17 Fred McGriff 200 18 Harold Baines 199 19 Ted Simmons 198 20 Willie Stargell 195 21 Dave Parker 193 22 Billy Williams 191 23 Rusty Staub 189 24 Jeff Bagwell 188 25 Johnny Bench 185 26 Mike Schmidt 184 27 Brooks Robinson 182 28 Sammy Sosa 181 29 Joe Carter 180 30 Steve Garvey 176   Ron Santo 176 32 Mark McGwire 175   Al Kaline 175 34 Will Clark 173 35 Jim Rice 172 36 Al Oliver 171 37 Frank Thomas 168   Jack Clark 168   Mike Piazza 168 40 Paul O'Neill 166   Don Baylor 166 42 Andres Galarraga 165   Carlton Fisk 165   Chipper Jones 165   Ken Griffey Jr. 165 46 Ron Fairly 164 47 Lee May 163   Dick Allen 163 49 Keith Hernandez 162   George Foster 162   Robin Yount 162 52 Darrell Evans 161   Gary Gaetti 161   Orlando Cepeda 161 55 Vada Pinson 159 56 Larry Walker 158 57 Jeff Kent 157 58 Greg Luzinski 156   Roberto Clemente 156   Jose Canseco 156 61 Rocky Colavito 155   Joe Torre 155   Ruben Sierra 155 64 Tommy Davis 154   Chili Davis 154 66 Bill Buckner 153   Tony Oliva 153   Boog Powell 153 69 Luis Gonzalez 152   Willie Davis 152 71 Joe Morgan 151   Gary Carter 151   Matt Williams 151 74 Sal Bando 150 75 Dale Murphy 149 76 Jose Cruz 147   Graig Nettles 147   Barry Larkin 147   Paul Molitor 147   Manny Ramirez 147 81 Pete Rose 146   Tony Gwynn 146 83 Reggie Smith 145 84 John Olerud 142 85 Mickey Mantle 141 86 Bobby Bonilla 140   Roberto Alomar 140   Dwight Evans 140 89 George Hendrick 139 90 Mark Grace 138 91 Willie Horton 137   Amos Otis 137 93 Moises Alou 136   Bernie Williams 136 95 Rickey Henderson 136   Juan Gonzalez 136   George Bell 136 98 Dusty Baker 135   Robin Ventura 135   Bob Watson 135

See also: Single-Season GWRBI Leaders 1957-2005

The single-season Major League record is 24 by Keith Hernandez in 1985. Hernandez also holds the career mark with 129 while Eddie Murray holds the AL record with 117. Mike Greenwell holds the AL single-season record with 23 in 1988. The rookie records are held by Juan Samuel and Darryl Strawberry (13) in the NL and Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, and Wally Joyner (14) in the AL. Remember, all of these records only cover the years 1980-1988. (The unofficial record between 1957 and 2005 was 27 by both Willie Mays in 1962 and Joe Torre in 1971.)

Game Winning RBIs were credited to the batter who drives in the run that gives his team a lead that it never relinquishes. Thus, if Tony Perez hits a first inning grand slam and the his team wins 14-13, but they never lost the lead after his first inning slam, he gets a GWRBI. Likewise, if its the bottom of the 13th inning and Perez hits a grand slam to win the game 14-13, he gets a GWRBI.

The statistic was popular during the Awesome80s as many of us believed it did a reasonable job of showing the clutch hitters of the time. Critics of the GWRBI point to extreme examples, such as a guy hitting a first inning solo shot in a 14-0 romp getting a GWRBI, and suggest that it does not show clutch hitting (more extreme voices claim there is no such thing as clutch hitting and will slap you upside the head with a spreadsheet if you claim otherwise). They also argued that the statistic was really no different than the RBI since the leaders for each category were often the same. The Rockies disprove this theory as a team that six times has had a player win the RBI crown but which has only had one player who ever finished higher than 5th on the GWRBI charts (Dante Bichette during the wild card season of 1995). I would argue that anytime you knock in a run that gives your team a lead - no matter what inning it is - you are being clutch and that such RBIs are more valuable than the solo shot in the 9th inning of what was already a 13 run game.

No one doubts that the stat could be improved: Why not let the official scorekeeper make the call as to whether or not to award one or why not only allow it to be achieved in the after the sixth inning (like a save)? But scrapping the stat altogether was a mistake. We at BaseballChronology.com, however, will keep it alive. We will post yearly leaders for GWRBIs and have a career list of the top 100 on the right. The list on the right is neither official (obviously) nor 100% accurate, even allowing for the fact that it only covers the years 1957-2005. But it is probably the best list of career GWRBIs you are likely to see for a while.

All of the top 20 in the list below are also in the top 40 in all-time RBIs, but two names stand out among the first 20 as perhaps having more GWRBIs than you might expect based on RBIs: Gary Sheffield went into the 2006 season tied for 10th on this list with 216 GWRBIs, but he is only 45th all-time in RBIs and Ted Simmons is 19th on this list but 64th in RBIs.

One irony is Rafael Palmeiro appearance in the top ten. Palmeiro (in 1988) and Alan Wiggins (in 1984) officially hold the record by appearing in the most games in a season (150) without getting a single GWRBI. To say that somebody must have put something in his coffee is an understatement!

Note: Incomplete and unofficial.
Source: Retrosheet Game Logs.