Tuesday Trivia: Consecutive Games with an RBI
 

Last week, Shohei Ohtani's consecutive games with an RBI steak ended at 10, breaking the Dodgers franchise record.

But who has the longest consecutive games with an RBI streak in the history of MLB?

Just guessing Hack Wilson because of his season total?

Since Hack Wilson was already guessed I would guess Joe DiMaggio because of his hit streak?

Since Gehrig hit behind Ruth I'll guess Gehrig. But more likely answer is, it's someone none of us would think of, and thus the question.

All fine guesses.

Right era

I had never heard of the player before, so I will start giving clues.

Clue 1: He had a twin brother and a son who also played in MLB.

Clue 2: His nickname was "Bummer", but it is unknown how he picked up the moniker.

Twin brother ?! .. That will certainly narrow it down .
I’m pretty sure it’s not Jose Canseco (?)

After the twin brother clue I easily looked it up, but I won’t say it because I don’t want to be THAT GUY. I wasn’t aware of him and his brother either. ETA he did it as a member of the Cubs which is cool.

Looked it up myself. Would never have guessed it in a million years. Never heard of the guy either, but he certainly had a bright run during his short stint in the majors.

Makes me want to learn more about him.

Yeah great batting average - Otherwise unfortunate

Clue 3: The player shares the same last name as a HOF pitcher who pitched in the same era and won a World Series with the Cardinals in '31 (he also pitched for Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, Giants, Cubs Boston Braves, and Yankees)

Clue 4: The player played his first game with Red Sox, in which he went 1-4 with a walk and a Run. But he never played another game for the Red Sox again. His longest stint with a team was the Cubs. But it was only for 4 seasons.

The pitcher is Grimes.

I think this is as close as we are going to get.

In 1922 Ray Grimes hit .354, drove in and scored 99 runs, and had an RBI in 17 consecutive games from June 27 to July 23. During the streak, Grimes drove in 27 runs and had 29 hits in 67 at-bats for a .433 batting average, including seven doubles, three triples and three home runs.

As noted by baseball historian Clifton Blue Parker in his book Fouled Away: The Baseball Tragedy of Hack Wilson, "It is a little-known record, but perhaps one of the most enduring and challenging ones."

Grimes' career declined after suffering a slipped disc in 1923, and he appeared in only 115 games with the Cubs during 1923 and 1924, and played 32 games with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1926, his last major league season. In a six-season career, Grimes was a .329 hitter with 27 home runs and 263 RBI in 433 games.

In between the '24 season and his season with Philadelphia, Grimes was dealt to the Los Angeles Angels in the Pacific Coast League, where he played in 65 games, batting .320 and often hitting when it counted most – driving in 48 runs in those 65 games. The Los Angeles Times was impressed. In early 1925, it ran a column headlined DEPEND ON RAY GRIMES, saying that his “terrific stick work made it possible for the Angels to finish second. Grimes is a real slugger, one whose presence at the plate throws fear into every pitcher who faces him. … Not only did he succeed in winning game after game for the Angels with his long and timely hits but he assisted the team materially by drawing many bases on balls when the opposing twirlers feared to get the pellet close to the plate for him.” (Los Angeles Times, January 11, 1925)

Ray Grimes was the twin brother of second baseman Roy Grimes, who played briefly for the New York Giants in 1920, and also was the father of Oscar Grimes (Ray's given name was actually Oscar Ray Grimes), an infielder who played with the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and Philadelphia Athletics between 1938 and 1946. Grimes died of a heart ailment in Minerva, Ohio, at age 59.

He has a few cool cards