There is something about triple digits that capture the fancy of the numerologist in all baseball fans.
On Saturday night in Pittsburgh, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double. In the process, he crossed the 100 RBI threshold for the ninth time in nine Major League seasons and extended his Major League lead in the important category.
As such, Pujols only trails Hall of Famer Stan Musial in years with 100 or more RBI as a Cardinal. “The Man” finished his illustrious career with ten such seasons, the most in team history.
At the age of 29, the opportunity may be ahead for Pujols to double that mark before his career concludes.
100 or more RBI seasons – Cardinals franchise history
| From | To | Ages | Seasons | |
| Stan Musial | 1946 | 1957 | 25-36 | 10 |
| Albert Pujols | 2001 | 2009 | 21-29 | 9 |
| Joe Medwick | 1934 | 1939 | 22-27 | 6 |
| Jim Bottomley | 1924 | 1929 | 24-29 | 6 |
| Johnny Mize | 1937 | 1941 | 24-28 | 5 |
| Jim Edmonds | 2000 | 2004 | 30-34 | 3 |
| Joe Torre | 1969 | 1971 | 28-30 | 3 |
| Bill White | 1962 | 1964 | 28-30 | 3 |
| Enos Slaughter | 1946 | 1952 | 30-36 | 3 |
| Chick Hafey | 1928 | 1930 | 25-27 | 3 |
| Rogers Hornsby | 1921 | 1925 | 25-29 | 3 |
| Scott Rolen | 2003 | 2004 | 28-29 | 2 |
| Mark McGwire | 1998 | 1999 | 34-35 | 2 |
| George Hendrick | 1980 | 1982 | 30-32 | 2 |
| Ted Simmons | 1974 | 1975 | 24-25 | 2 |
| Ken Boyer | 1963 | 1964 | 32-33 | 2 |
| Ray Jablonski | 1953 | 1954 | 26-27 | 2 |
| Whitey Kurowski | 1945 | 1947 | 27-29 | 2 |
| Ripper Collins | 1934 | 1935 | 30-31 | 2 |
With the three-RBI game Saturday, Pujols extended his franchise career lead over the last 55 years in such games to 115.
Three or more RBI games – Cardinals (1954-2009)
| Games | |
| Albert Pujols | 115 |
| Ken Boyer | 83 |
| Stan Musial | 78 |
| Ray Lankford | 75 |
| Ted Simmons | 74 |
| Jim Edmonds | 73 |
| Bill White | 55 |
| Mark McGwire | 55 |
| Scott Rolen | 50 |
| George Hendrick | 49 |
| Willie McGee | 43 |
| Keith Hernandez | 43 |
| Joe Torre | 42 |
| Curt Flood | 34 |
| Edgar Renteria | 33 |
| Brian Jordan | 31 |
| Todd Zeile | 30 |
| Lou Brock | 29 |
| Mike Shannon | 28 |
| Ken Reitz | 28 |
| Tom Herr | 27 |
| Wally Moon | 26 |
| Ryan Ludwick | 25 |
| Julian Javier | 25 |
| Pedro Guerrero | 24 |
| Terry Pendleton | 23 |
| Tim McCarver | 23 |
| J.D. Drew | 23 |
| Ozzie Smith | 22 |
| Darrell Porter | 22 |
| Joe Cunningham | 22 |
| Ron Gant | 21 |
| Jack Clark | 21 |
| Craig Paquette | 20 |
Thanks to Tom Orf for the research.
I assume the underlying data base goes back to 1954, yet not earlier. This data base would not have Musial’s 3 rbi games, 1941-53.
It would be nice to see the metric expressed in terms of games played (number of 3 rbi games, per games played). This would show the “rate” of achieving 3 rbi games and allow easier comparisons among players who played many years versus ones who played just a couple. But of course that may be infeasible, so thanks for the article above.
Yes, valid points. Will look into the rate idea for the future.
Julio Lugo 2b
Mark DeRosa 3b
Albert Pujols 1b
Matt Holliday lf
Ryan Ludwick rf
Yadier Molina c
Colby Rasmus cf
Brendan Ryan ss
Joel Pineiro p
It would appear that Tony will have nothing to do with a running game. Cards will need 6 or more to win today. These kids aren’t old enough to recognize Joel’s sinker. Should be a good one.
Wow, news flash, Vince Coleman is not batting leadoff. Astounding.
Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina lead the running Redirds in quest for a sweep.
Ryan and Rasmus are the best runners in this lineup. They are usefully deployed low in the batting order. They can advance on a bunt by Pineiro or try to grab a base on their own.
I sure hope so Jumbo. Get out your rabbit ears and watch this one.
Considering our personnel, our best base-stealing strategy would be to wait until everyone is gone and the lights are off.
As Jumbo points out the 1954 cutoff deprives Musial of his first eleven full seasons in the majors and in 1954 he was generally recognized as the best player in the NL, although Willie Mays no doubt had plenty of supporters.
While it’s painful to see him listed as a sort of also ran in these various lists, it’s important to remember that he had played two full seasons more than Pujols has played to date.
The data base generally excludes Stan’s most prolific years. My suggestion of a rate per game aims, in part, to make Stan and Albert a bit more fairly comparable. One really wants to compare them by matching Stan’s first nine years against Albert’s first nine seasons. No one metric does everything, of course, so its important to make a variety of comparsions.
Sinker not working. Could be long day.