Take a look:
First off we have the high-mark in RBI’s for the Majors during the 1960’s, and it was a doozy, with the 153 runs batted in that Tommy Davis had in 1962 while also leading the league in batting.
A monster year for the Los Angeles Dodger that, sadly for him, was lost with the performances of teammate Maury Wills, who would take home the Most Valuable Player Award that season.
Heck, he didn’t even finish SECOND in voting that year, having to also take a back seat to legend Willie Mays, who took the second slot behind the record-breaking speedster Wills.
As for the American high-mark, it was a tie between New York Yankees slugger Roger Maris, who notched 141 RBI’s during his record-breaking 1961 season, as well as Baltimore Orioles slugger Jim Gentile, who drove in the same amount to share the leader slot that very same season.
Ironically, for YEARS Roger Maris was credited as the A.L. leader with 142 RBI’s, one more than Gentile.
But some 20 years ago it was found that Maris was credited with an extra RBI so the number was “fixed” to 141, giving Gentile equal share of the leader position for not just the year, but 1960’s.
