I have a another one--Why is Hack Wilson in the HOF?

[DrungoHazewood]

I haven't read this whole thread. I'll just say this... the original reason for inducting Hack may have been different, but it is justified by history. Wilson STILL holds the RBI record, almost 80 years later. That's more than half of the entire history of MLB!

It was a different game. Various factors led to very high batting averages and on-base averages. You rarely had more than one or two guys who could hit homers, so you'd load up .400+ OBP guys in front of them/him and he'd pile up RBI numbers that look crazy even for the current era. Today most teams have 6, 7, 8, or more players with real power and there aren't as many .370 hitters, so RBIs are much more spread out.

Wilson's record is impressive, but look at the single season leaders from the 1920-1940 era:

RBI                           YEAR     RBI    1    Hack Wilson              1930      191   2    Lou Gehrig               1931      184   3    Hank Greenberg           1937      183   T4   Jimmie Foxx              1938      175   T4   Lou Gehrig               1927      175   6    Lou Gehrig               1930      174   7    Babe Ruth                1921      171   T8   Hank Greenberg           1935      170   T8   Chuck Klein              1930      170   10   Jimmie Foxx              1932      169   11   Joe DiMaggio             1937      167   T12  Al Simmons               1930      165   T12  Lou Gehrig               1934      165   14   Babe Ruth                1927      164   T15  Babe Ruth                1931      163   T15  Jimmie Foxx              1933      163   17   Hal Trosky               1936      162   T18  Lou Gehrig               1937      159   T18  Hack Wilson              1929      159   20   Al Simmons               1929      157   21   Jimmie Foxx              1930      156   22   Ken Williams             1922      155   T23  Babe Ruth                1929      154   T23  Joe Medwick              1937      154   25   Babe Ruth                1930      153

That's 25 seasons of 153 or more RBI. In the so-called steroid era only five people had that many.