Today on the blog,
we move on to the American League for their top three RBI men of the
1976 season, in my on-going “expanded league leaders” thread that seems
to be a hit with many of you out there:
We begin with the
“Big Bopper” Lee May, Baltimore Orioles slugger who led the A.L. with
his 109 RBIs in the Bicentennial season, along with 25 homers and 61
runs scored.
The RBI total was
one short of his career-best set back in 1969 while still with the
Cincinnati Reds, when he also hit 38 homers, totaled 321 bases and made
his first All-Star team.
It would be the
third, and last 100-RBI season of his solid 18-year career, finishing up
with 1244 over 2071 games and 7609 at-bats during somewhat of a
“dead-ball” era in terms of offense.
Right behind him
with 105 RBIs was the American League MVP for 1976, the New York Yankee
captain Thurman Munson, who guided the team to their first World Series
berth since 1964, hitting 17 homers, hitting
.302 and even stealing a career-best 14 bases while making his fifth
All-Star team.
Munson drove in 100+
runs three seasons in a row between 1975 and 1977, while also topping
the .300-mark each time, as well as 180+ hits, anchoring an A.L.
powerhouse team that would win-it-all in 1977 and
1978.
In third place with
102 RBIs for the Boston Red Sox, legend Carl Yastrzemski, who had yet
another solid season on his way to a Hall of Fame resume by the time he
was done with his MLB tenure.
For “Yaz”, his 102 RBIs were paired up with 21 homers, 71 runs scored and 80 walks, along with his 13th All-Star nod, while putting in time between first base and the outfield.
So there it is for the top RBI men of the American league in 1976, expanded here on a 1977 league-leader card.
