Last Updated on January 3, 2024 by Matt Musico
The Seattle Mariners single-season home run leaderboard is dominated by one man: Ken Griffey Jr. Unsurprisingly, he’s once again littered among the single-season Mariners RBI leaders. But who joins him?
There have been 43 different seasons of 100-plus RBI in Mariners history. We’ll go over the top five in detail followed by listing out the remainder of the top 28.
Single-Season Mariners RBI Leaders: Top 5
Ken Griffey Jr.: 147 RBI in 1997
Just about every offensive category in the Mariners’ history books is dominated by Griffey. He’s got a comfortable lead on the franchise’s all-time home run leaderboard because he dominates the single-season leaderboard. With so many huge seasons in the Pacific Northwest, it only made sense that he owns three of the top five RBI seasons, right?
Between 1989 and 1996, The Kid finished within the top 10 of AL MVP Award voting four times. The 1997 season was finally when he busted through and won it for the only time in his career. His 147 RBI led the league, as did his 56 homers, 125 runs scored, .646 slugging percentage, and 393 total bases.
He had four months of 24 or more RBI, but it was his start to the regular season that put him on an MVP path. When the calendar flipped to June 1, Griffey had already slugged 24 home runs and collected 62 RBI. He split that run production quite evenly, too — both March/April and May included 30-RBI performances.
Ken Griffey Jr.: 146 RBI in 1998
Griffey followed up his MVP performance with one that looked nearly identical. Here’s a quick look because this is one of my favorite baseball stats ever:
https://twitter.com/mmusico8/status/1435226770744164352
Just. So. Good. You can’t make this stuff up!
The left-handed slugger was a machine with runners in scoring position during the ’98 campaign. He hit 18 homers with 98 RBI and a 1.084 OPS in that situation. What I also found interesting, though, was how his performance was even better when there were two outs and runners in scoring position. His OPS jumped up to 1.236 to go along with nine homers and 35 RBI.
Edgar Martinez: 145 RBI in 2000
The 2000 season was the first time Griffey wasn’t playing for the Mariners since 1989. So, Edgar Martinez was clearly trying to pick up the slack on offense. This performance was toward the tail end of a stretch where he drove in at least 100 runs six times in seven years. Those 145 RBI led the league and were also a single-season career-high mark. He added a career-high mark in homers (37) for good measure, too. It was the only time he’d hit more than 30 in a season during his Hall of Fame career.
Edgar’s best month of the 2000 season was May. Through 120 plate appearances, he slashed .441/.508/.814 with 10 homers, eight doubles, 32 RBI, and 24 runs scored. His favorite inning to drive runs in was the first. He accumulated 34 RBI in the first frame. Martinez didn’t drive in more than 21 during any other inning that season.
Bret Boone: 141 RBI in 2001
The first time Bret Boone surpassed the 30-homer, 100-RBI plateau was in 2001 for the Mariners. In addition to his league-leading 141 RBI, he also slugged a career-high 37 home runs. This was the start of the three-year stretch where he collected 24-plus homers with 107-plus RBI. He’d go 30-100 once more in 2003 (35 homers, 117 RBI).
Boone posted five months of 20-plus RBI, and while he had 22 RBI by the end of April, it was accompanied by just two homers. He reached the heights he did thanks to what happened in May and June. During those two months, he combined to hit 18 home runs with 56 RBI.
While Boone torched the Texas Rangers for 27 RBI in 19 games played, it’s worth noting how he tormented the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He faced them in just nine games, yet produced a .471/.513/.882 line with four home runs and 16 RBI.
Ken Griffey Jr.: 140 RBI in 1996
And finally, we complete the Griffey trifecta in the top five with his 1996 performance. With 49 homers and 140 RBI, this was the start of a five-year stretch where he slugged at least 40 homers and 118 RBI per season.
While Griffey did step to the plate 30 more times in the second half (334 plate appearances) than he did in the first half (304), his performance rose after the All-Star break. His OPS was nearly identical (1.017 vs. 1.023), but there were more differences in his homer and RBI production. Before the midsummer classic, Griffey hit 23 homers with 60 RBI. Those numbers jumped up to 26 and 80, respectively, down the stretch.
Single-Season Mariners RBI Leaders: The Rest
As mentioned above, there have been 43 different performances of at least 100 RBI in Mariners history. Here is the remainder of the top 28.
- Jay Buhner, 1996: 138 RBI
- Ken Griffey Jr., 1999: 134
- Alex Rodriguez, 2000: 132
- Alex Rodriguez, 1998: 124
- Alex Rodriguez, 1996: 123
- Raul Ibañez, 2006: 123
- Jay Buhner, 1995: 121
- Richie Sexson, 2005: 121
- Nelson Cruz, 2017: 119
- Bret Boone, 2003: 117
- Alvin Davis, 1984: 116
- Edgar Martinez, 2001: 116
- Edgar Martinez, 1995: 113
- Tino Martinez, 1195: 111
- Alex Rodriguez, 1999: 111
- Mike Cameron, 2001: 110
- Raul Ibañez, 2008: 110
- Ken Griffey Jr., 1993: 109
- Jay Buhner, 1997: 109
- Edgar Martinez, 1997: 108
- Jim Presley, 1986: 107
- Bret Boone, 2002: 107
- Richie Sexson, 2006: 107
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