Adrian Gonzalez is on pace to break RBI record

Going into last night's game, Adrian Gonzalez had 54 RBIs. That counts for exactly 25% of the Padres 216 runs total. That's a lot, but if he and the Padres can come anywhere close to holding their respective paces, it'll break a Major League record that's stood for 36 years and one that is, interestingly enough, held by a Padre.

In 1972, Nate Colbert drove in 22.75% of the Padres total runs for the season. Not counting the strike shortened season of 1981, there are only 8 players total who've driven in at least 20% of their teams runs in a season. 

                                            Team    RBI
Year     Player,Team                 RBI    Runs    Pct.

1981     George Foster, Reds (+)      90    348     25.8
1972     Nate Colbert, Padres        111    488     22.7
1935     Wally Berger, Braves        130    575     22.6
1959     Ernie Banks, Cubs           143    673     21.2
2001     Sammy Sosa, Cubs            160    777     20.6
1961     Jim Gentile, Orioles        141    691     20.4
1919     Babe Ruth, Red Sox          114    564     20.2
1968     Frank Howard, Senators      106    524     20.2
1981     Bill Buckner, Cubs (+)       75    370     20.2
1970     Frank Howard, Senators      126    626     20.1
(+) Strike-interrupted season

Look how rare it is to get to 20%, much less 21% or 22%. If Adrian manages 25%, it will be an unprecedented record that could very well be never again matched. It's early, but I say we go for it.

MVP?

[one of a few HTs: Cardboard Gods]