Tuesday Trivia: One Man Franchises
 

A player has accounted for 30% or more of his team's runs only ~30 times in Major League history. Note the formula for this is Runs + RBIs - HRs, so as to not double-count HRs as both Runs and RBIs.

1) Which player accounted for at least 30% or more of his team's runs the most times?

2) Which 5 players accounted for the highest percentage of their teams runs during a single season?

For #2 I would guess Hack Wilson in his RBI record season?

Great guess. In 1930 Hack Wilson drove in a record 191 RBIs and scored 146 runs, but when you subtract his 56 Home Runs, he only accounted for 28.16% of the Cub's massive 998 Run total.

NOTE: I edited my response to account for his Home Run total, so as not to double count the HRs as both RBIs and Runs.

#1. I'm going to go with Barry Bonds

#2. Probably not quite up there, but I'll guess last years (2022) Aaron Judge. Pretty sure he was well above the 30% mark, and the rest of the lineup was pretty trash.

#1- I'd guess the Babe.

For #1 I am going with Ty Cobb

For #2 Honus Wagner in 1908 accounted for 34% of his team's runs. Nate Colbert in 1972 accounted for 33%. Those surely have to be two of the top 5.

Correct! Honus Wagner accounted for 34% of the Pirate's 585 Runs in 1908. That is the highest single season total I have seen.

Babe Ruth accounted for 33.16% of the Red Sox's 564 Runs in 1919, good for the 2nd highest ever.

Nate Colbert accounted for 32.79% of the Padres' 485 Runs in 1972, good for 3rd highest ever.

As previously mentioned, Ty Cobb's high was 32.39%, good for 5th best.

4th place on the list is tricky. Hint: he is not in the Hall Fame, and achieved his feat in the mid-1930s.

Wally Berger is often the answer to questions where the answer is a non HOF.

Maybe my math is off, but I’ve got Aaron Judge at 32.71% in 2022, which would put him at 4th on the list.

You are correct! Wally Berger accounted for 32.5% of the Boston Braves' 575 Runs in 1935.

Well done everyone!

You need to subtract Judge's 62 Home Runs so that you don't double-count them as both Runs and RBIs. Once you do that, it goes down to 25%.

Ah, never mind. I missed the minus HR’s part of the equation.

:D

I knew I was missing something there.

Yeah, its surprisingly hard to do. Bonds, Mays, Mantle, Hornsby, Aaron and many others never accounted for 30% of their team's runs.