Babe Ruth’s RBI Record with the Boston Red Sox (1914-1919) By Herm Krabbenhoft Babe Ruth spent the first six seasons (1914-1919) of his major league baseball career with the Boston Red Sox. He was primarily a pitcher during the 1914-1917 seasons.Because of his phenomenal batting and slugging skills, he played most of his games as regular outfielder during the 1918 and 1919 seasons. Runs Batted In did not become an official statistic [i.e., recorded on the official day-by-day (DBD) ledgers] until the 1920 season. Therefore, there are no “official” records for the RBIs that Ruth achieved during his tenure with the Boston Red Sox. However, RBIs were recorded “unofficially” by Ernie Lanigan of The Sporting News from 1907 through 1919. Accordingly, in the first (1934) edition of “Daguerreotypes” Ruth is shown with the following RBI record for 1914-1919:1 1914 – 0 RBIs 1915 – 20 RBIs 1916 – 16 RBIs 1917 – 10 RBIs 1918 – 64 RBIs 1919 – 112 RBIs Total – 222 RBIs However, over the years other numbers for Ruth’s RBIs have appeared in different publications or on Internet websites. I have not seen any explanation or justification for the changes. Here is a chart listing the minimum and maximum numbers of RBIs for Ruth that have been reported; also included are the RBI numbers currently (September 24, 2012) shown on the official website of Major League Baseball (MLB.com): Babe Ruth’s RBI Record (1914-1919) Year RBIs RBIs RBIs Fewest Most MLB.com 1914 0 2 2 1915 20 21 21 1916 15 16 15 1917 10 12 12 1918 64 66 66 1919 112 114 114 Total 221 231 230 To my knowledge, when I initiated my research effort (in the Spring-2012), there was no presentation of Ruth’s RBI record on a day-by-day (game-by-game) basis for his 1914-1919 seasons. However, at that time, Retrosheet did present an incomplete daily (game-by-game) record for Ruth’s 1918 and 1919 seasons. Upon completion of my research, I provided my comprehensive RBI information to Retrosheet. Working closely with Dave Smith and especially Tom Ruane, we were able to resolve a few differences between our two independent efforts such that accurate RBI statistics for Ruth’s 1916-1919 seasons were achieved and presented in Retrosheet’s daily record for Ruth (which was released on the Retrosheet website in the Summer-2012). In companion articles, I provide the comprehensive documentation that I assembled to ascertain the complete RBI record for Babe Ruth’s 1914- 1919 seasons.2-7 I also made a research presentation on Babe Ruth’s RBI Record at the 2012 Retrosheet Board Meeting during the SABR-42 Convention in Minneapolis.8 Here, then – according to my research – is the RBI record for Babe Ruth’s tenure with the Boston Red Sox (1914- 1919): 1914 – 0 RBIs 1915 – 20 RBIs 1916 – 16 RBIs (Retrosheet concurs) 1917 – 14 RBIs (Retrosheet concurs) 1918 – 61 RBIs (Retrosheet concurs) 1919 – 113 RBIs (Retrosheet concurs) Total – 224 RBIs Again, complete evidence in support of these RBI numbers is provided in the companion articles.2-7 It is anticipated (by me) that Retrosheet, after reviewing my research for Ruth’s 1914 and 1915 seasons,2,3 will concur with my conclusions and include the information on Ruth’s daily pages for these seasons when they are released on the Retrosheet website. Conclusion According to my research, Babe Ruth achieved a total of 224 RBIs during his six seasons with the Boston Red Sox. During the four seasons in which he was primarily a pitcher (1914, 1915, 1916, and 1917), he accumulated 0, 20, 16, and 14 RBIs, respectively. For the two seasons in which he was primarily an outfielder (1918 and 1919), he amassed 66 and 113 RBIs, respectively. In the 1919 season, The Bambino led the American League in most runs batted in with 113 RBIs. Acknowledgment It is a pleasure to thank the following individuals for their outstanding help and cooperation in my quest to ascertain the accurate RBI Record for Babe Ruth’s 1914-1919 seasons: Steve Boren, Keith Carlson, Tom Ruane, Dave Smith, Gary Stone, Rich Topp, Dixie Tourangeau, and Walt Wilson. References 1. “Daguerreotypes of Great Stars of Baseball,” J.G.T. Spink, The Sporting News (1934). 2. “Babe Ruth’s RBI Record – 1914,” H. Krabbenhoft, Retrosheet Research Papers. 3. “Babe Ruth’s RBI Record – 1915,” H. Krabbenhoft, Retrosheet Research Papers. 4. “Babe Ruth’s RBI Record – 1916,” H. Krabbenhoft, Retrosheet Research Papers. 5. “Babe Ruth’s RBI Record – 1917,” H. Krabbenhoft, Retrosheet Research Papers. 6. “Babe Ruth’s RBI Record – 1918,” H. Krabbenhoft, Retrosheet Research Papers. 7. “Babe Ruth’s RBI Record – 1919,” H. Krabbenhoft, Retrosheet Research Papers. 8. “Babe Ruth’s AL RBI Record,” H. Krabbenhoft, Retrosheet Research Papers. Note: Items 2-7 follow and are not separate entries of the Retrosheet Research page Item 8 is at http://www.retrosheet.org/Research/KrabbenhoftH/RuthRBIRecord.pdf Babe Ruth’s RBI Record – 1914 By Herm Krabbenhoft According to the official baseball records, Babe Ruth played in a total of 5 games for the Boston Red Sox in the 1914 American League season. Runs batted in were not recorded in the official baseball records in 1914. Depending on where one looks, one can find that Ruth is credited with either 0 RBIs or 2 RBIs for his 1914 statistical record. To my knowledge, there has not been a presentation which provides a game-by-game accounting of the RBIs credited to Ruth for his 1914 season. Therefore, I initiated a research program to ascertain the RBIs that Babe Ruth actually achieved in 1914. In this report, I present the results of my research which show that Ruth actually batted in a total of 0 runs in 1914. R/RBI Details – Boston Red Sox – 1914 – Games in which Babe Ruth played Presented here are the details for each run scored by the Boston Red Sox in each of the 5 games that Babe Ruth played in the 1914 season. The details were obtained from the accounts in the three major daily newspapers published in Boston – the Globe, the Herald, and the Post – and at least one major daily newspaper from the city of the team that opposed the Red Sox. The details for each run include: (a) the inning the run was scored; (b) the identity of the player who scored the run; (c) the run-scoring event; and (d) the identity of the batter who completed his plate appearance during the run-scoring event. July 11 – Boston vs. Cleveland – Boston scored 4 runs 1 (first inning) – Speaker scored on a 1-RBI triple by Gardner. 2 (fourth inning) – Gardner scored (from third base) on a 2-out fielding error (wild throw) by the catcher during the stealing of second base by the runner (Yerkes) on first base. 3 (fourth inning) – Yerkes scored on a 1-RBI single by Carrigan. 4 (seventh inning) – Scott scored on a 1-RBI single by Speaker. July 16 – Boston vs. Detroit – Boston scored 2 runs 1 (seventh inning) – Speaker scored on a 1-RBI single by Janvrin. 2 (seventh inning) – Gardner scored on a 1-RBI double by Yerkes. October 02 – Boston vs. New York – Boston scored 11 runs 1 (first inning) – Henriksen scored on a 1-RBI triple by Speaker. 2 (first inning) – Speaker scored on a 1-RBI single by Hoblitzel. 3 (fourth inning) – Cady scored on a 2-RBI double by Janvrin. 4 (fourth inning) – Henriksen scored on a 2-RBI double by Janvrin. 5 (fourth inning) – Janvrin scored on a 1-RBI triple by Lewis. 6 (fourth inning) – Lewis scored on a 1-RBI double by Hobhlitzel. 7 (sixth inning) – Henriksen scored on a 1-RBI sacrifice by Lewis. 8 (sixth inning) – Janvrin scored on a 2-RBI single by Hoblitzel. 9 (sixth inning) – Speaker scored a 2-RBI single by Hoblitzel. 10 (seventh inning) – Ruth scored on a 1-RBI sacrifice by Janvrin. 11 (eighth inning) – Gainer scored on a 1-RBI single by Gardner. October 05 – Boston vs. Washington – Boston scored 3 runs 1 (first inning) – Janvrin scored on a 1-RBI fielder’s-choice-force-out by Lewis. 2 (third inning) – Janvrin scored on a 1-RBI safe-on-a-fielder’s-choice by Lewis. 3 (ninth inning) – Gainer scored (from third base) on a 0-out fielding error (dropped flyball) by the right fielder; Gardner was the batter. October 07 – Boston vs. Washington – Boston scored 4 runs. 1 (first inning) – Janvrin scored on a 1-RBI double by Speaker. 2 (second inning) – Gardner scored on a 1-RBI double by Cady. 3 (sixth inning) – Speaker scored on a 2-RBI homer by Gardner. 4 (sixth inning) – Gardner scored on a 2-RBI homer by Gardner. Summary – RBIs achieved by Babe Ruth in 1914 Babe Ruth had 0 RBIs in 1914. This is in disagreement with Babe Ruth’s “player page” on the Retrosheet website – which shows Ruth with 2 RBIs in 1914. Babe Ruth’s RBI Record – 1915 By Herm Krabbenhoft According to the official baseball records, Babe Ruth played in a total of 42 games for the Boston Red Sox in the 1915 American League season. Runs batted in were not recorded in the official baseball records in 1915. Depending on where one looks, one can find that Ruth is credited with either 20 RBIs or 21 RBIs for his 1915 statistical record. To my knowledge, there has not been a presentation which provides a game-by-game accounting of the RBIs credited to Ruth for his 1915 season.