Last Updated on September 29, 2024 by Matt Musico

The Texas Rangers have been around since 1961. During that time they’ve experienced 51 different instances of a hitter accumulating at least 100 RBI in a single campaign. But which players are among the single-season Rangers RBI leaders? If you’re looking to study up for the next Immaculate Grid game, this is a good place to start.

I’ll discuss the top five RBI seasons in detail below before listing out the remainder of the top 26.

Single-Season Rangers RBI Leaders: Top 5

Juan Gonzalez: 157 RBI in 1998

As we can see, Juan Gonzalez had an insane run of production from 1996-99 with the Rangers. It included four straight years of 39-plus homers and at least 128 RBI, with three of those going for 40-plus dingers and 130-plus rib-eye steaks. That helped him reach the top of Texas’ all-time home run leaderboard.

The 1998 season was his second AL MVP Award campaign. He led the league with 157 RBI and 50 doubles to go along with 45 home runs and a .997 OPS. Gonzalez put together a terrific year into just one half, too.

By the All-Star break, the right-handed slugger produced a .293/.333/.590 line with 26 homers and 101 RBI in 384 plate appearances. While his power numbers went down in the second half (19 homers, 56 RBI in 285 plate appearances), he saw a significant lift in his triple slash. Gonzalez hit .353/.411/1.097 following the midsummer classic.

Rafael Palmeiro: 148 RBI in 1999

Rafael Palmeiro’s 1999 season was part of an incredible late-career power surge (which has come with complications since). This was the fourth straight year he finished with 30-plus homers and 110-plus RBI. That streak would go on for another four seasons before getting broken in 2004.

The sweet-swinging left-hander went to the All-Star Game and finished fifth in AL MVP voting while also taking home a Gold Glove Award and a Silver Slugger Award. He posted a 1.050 OPS and set career-high marks in homers (47) and RBI (148).

August is what propelled him to the heights he reached. He hit 11 homers with 48 RBI between June and July. But once August rolled around, he slugged 15 homers with 39 RBI. His run production was evenly spread out when looking at the number of outs in an inning. He drove in 42 runs with no outs, 55 with one out, and 51 with two outs.

Juan Gonzalez: 144 RBI in 1996

The 1996 season was Gonzalez’s first AL MVP Award performance. He didn’t lead the league in any categories, but it was his full body of work that helped him take home the hardware. His 1.011 OPS was a single-season career-high mark. Gonzalez paired it with 33 doubles, 47 homers, 147 RBI, and 89 runs scored in 592 trips to the plate.

The slugger’s power production was more evenly spread out between the first and second half. He clubbed 22 homers with 70 RBI before the All-Star break and another 25 homers with 74 RBI after the midsummer classic.

What makes me shake my head is that he put up these numbers while essentially missing a full month. Gonzalez appeared in just six games in May, racking up five RBI in the process. He collected at least 21 RBI every other month throughout the season. His best performance came in July — Gonzalez hit 15 homers with 38 RBI and a 1.388 OPS in 27 games.

Mark Teixeira: 144 RBI in 2005

Mark Teixeira immediately started producing upon debuting with the Rangers in 2003. He finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting and followed that up with a top-20 AL MVP Award finish thanks to hitting 38 homers with 112 RBI. The 2005 season — his age-25 campaign — outpaced everything else he did in the power department throughout the rest of his career.

He didn’t lead the league in either homers (43) or RBI (144), but they were both career-high marks. This season also included his first All-Star Game selection. It was an honor he received just three times in 14 years.

As you can imagine, Teixeira was a beast with runners in scoring position. He produced a 1.205 OPS with 15 homers and 99 RBI through 190 plate appearances in that situation. When he stepped to the plate with two outs and runners in scoring position, his OPS jumped up to 1.261 with 49 RBI. The first baseman was a run producer regardless of the situation at hand. He drove in 56 runs when Texas was winning and 54 when they were behind on the scoreboard.

Alex Rodriguez: 142 RBI in 2002

Alex Rodriguez spent just three seasons in Texas (which has been stained by performance-enhancing drugs). But man, he put up some huge numbers. He finished second in AL MVP Award voting in 2002 while leading the league in RBI (142) and home runs (57). That dinger total is still the single-season franchise record.

A-Rod slugged at least 10 homers with 20 RBI in three different innings in 2002. None were better than the first inning, though. He hit .328/.437/.634 with 12 homers and 29 RBI in his first at-bat. He also enjoyed hitting in the third inning (10 homers and 21 RBI) and the sixth inning (11 homers and 23 RBI).

The shortstop accumulated double-digit RBI against six teams during this campaign. His most came against his former team, the Seattle Mariners (23 RBI in 20 games). His most impressive ratio of RBI-to-games against a team was when he faced the Toronto Blue Jays. Rodriguez drove in 19 runs through just nine games.

Single-Season Rangers RBI Leaders: The Rest

Here’s how the remainder of Texas’ top-26 RBI seasons in franchise history shakes out:

• Alex Rodriguez, 2001: 135 RBI
• Juan Gonzalez, 1997: 131
• Josh Hamilton, 2008: 130
• Juan Gonzalez, 1999: 128
• Josh Hamilton, 2012: 128
• Frank Howard, 1970: 126
• Rafael Palmeiro, 2001: 123
• Rafael Palmeiro, 2000: 120
• Ruben Sierra, 1989: 119
• Jeff Burroughs, 1974: 118
• Juan Gonzalez, 1993: 118
• Alex Rodriguez, 2003: 118
• Al Oliver, 1980: 117
• Ruben Sierra, 1991: 116
• Vladimir Guerrero, 2010: 115
• Ivan Rodriguez, 1999: 113
• Rafael Palmeiro, 2003: 112
• Mark Teixeira, 2004: 112
• Frank Howard, 1969: 111
• Hank Blalock, 2004: 110
• Mark Teixeira, 2006: 110

The stats used for this article are courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference, unless otherwise noted. 

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