Last Updated on December 27, 2023 by Matt Musico
The San Francisco Giants have been around for quite a while as an organization. Since 1883, to be exact. With that in mind, you’d assume there are many 100-RBI seasons in franchise history, and you’d be right. It’s been done 103 different times. But who are among the single-season SF Giants RBI leaders?
We’ll first discuss the top five RBI seasons in detail before listing out the rest of the top 25.
Single-Season SF Giants RBI Leaders: Top 5
Mel Ott: 151 RBI in 1929
Mel Ott led the league in home runs six times during his Hall of Fame career. He also led the league in RBI once and produced a streak where he registered 20-plus homers and 100-plus RBI eight times in nine years. Ott didn’t lead the league in either homers or RBI in 1929, but it was the start of this dominant run of production.
Both his 42 homers and 151 RBI as a 20-year-old ended up being single-season career-high marks. His best month of the year was June. Across 165 plate appearances, the slugger posted a .339/.500/.711 line with 11 homers, 12 doubles, 47 RBI, and 35 runs scored. Ott was also a much more productive hitter on the road (1.175 OPS, 88 RBI) than he was at home (.993 OPS, 65 RBI).
Orlando Cepeda: 142 RBI in 1961
Orlando Cepeda surpassed the 40-homer plateau once in his career. It happened in 1961 when he slugged 46 dingers to go along with 142 RBI. Not only were both of those numbers single-season career-high marks, but they each led the league in their respective categories. Cepeda capped his performance with two All-Star Game appearances and a second-place finish in MVP voting.
The Hall of Famer spent time in five different lineup spots throughout the 1961 campaign. Most of his time (and production) came while hitting fifth. Cepeda racked up 37 homers and 112 RBI with a .954 OPS in that spot. His RBI production also increased with each out made in an inning. He drove in 36 with no outs, 49 with one out, and 57 with two outs.
Willie Mays: 141 RBI in 1962
Willie Mays‘ name is littered all over the Giants’ single-season home run leaderboard. So, you just knew he was bound to be at the top of the franchise’s single-season RBI leaderboard, too. While Mays’ 141 RBI didn’t lead the league in 1962, his 49 homers did. This was in the middle of a six-year stretch where he didn’t hit fewer than 37 homers with 100-plus in a season.
Mays was very good in every situation during the 1962 season. However, it’s noteworthy to point out how his performance elevated when the chance of driving in runs increased. With nobody on base, The Say Hey Kid posted a .967 OPS. When men were on base, that number jumped up to 1.030 before finishing at 1.178 with runners in scoring position.
Johnny Mize: 138 RBI in 1947
The 1947 season was Johnny Mize‘s age-34 campaign. While he had played in 1946, he had lost three seasons from 1942-45 due to serving in the military during World War II. This particular campaign was his first full season back and he made the most of it. Mize finished third in MVP voting while leading the league in homers (51), RBI (138), and runs scored (137).
He didn’t hit fewer than seven homers in any single month. Mize also posted four straight 20-plus RBI months to finish the year. July and August are what made his season special, though. He hit 24 homers with 61 RBI and 51 runs scored during that span.
Barry Bonds: 137 RBI in 2001
Barry Bonds‘ 2001 season is when he broke the single-season home run record with 73 dingers. So, if we do a little math here, just over 53% of Bonds’ season-long RBI total involved driving himself in after hitting taters. I also find it interesting that it took a historic performance like this just for someone to crack the Giants’ top five RBI seasons for the first time since 1962.
It’s not shocking that most of Bonds’ damage was done during head-to-head matchups against fellow NL West squads. The team he tortured the most, though, was the San Diego Padres. He slashed .382/.533/1.055 with 11 homers, 19 RBI, and 17 runs scored in just 16 games played (75 plate appearances) against them.
Single-Season SF Giants RBI Leaders: The Rest
As mentioned above, there have been 103 different single-season performances in Giants history of 100-plus RBI. Here’s the remainder of the top 25.
- George Davis, 1897: 136 RBI
- George Kelly, 1924: 136
- Mel Ott, 1934 and 1936: 135
- Irish Meusel, 1922: 132
- Roger Connor, 1889: 130
- Bill Terry, 1930: 129
- Barry Bonds, 1996: 129
- Jeff Kent, 1998: 128
- Willie Mays, 1955: 127
- Willie McCovey, 1969 and 1970: 126
- Irish Meusel, 1923: 125
- Rogers Hornsby, 1927: 125
- Johnny Mize, 1948: 125
- Kevin Mitchell, 1989: 125
- Jeff Kent, 2000: 125
- Mel Ott, 1932: 123
- Willie Mays, 1961: 123
- Barry Bonds, 1993: 123
Want to see some homers in person this season? Of course you do. Grab MLB tickets from our friends at Vivid Seats. And before you get to the stadium, make sure you’re decked out in the right gear. Get your favorite team’s official merch from the MLB Shop or a ‘Big Dinger Energy’ shirt from our apparel store.
