No team in the modern era has put five players over 100 RBI in a single season. The 1936 New York Yankees did it, and nobody since 1901 has come close to matching them. Lou Gehrig drove in 152. Joe DiMaggio -- a 21-year-old rookie -- added 125. Tony Lazzeri contributed 109. George Selkirk and Bill Dickey each drove in 107. That's 600 RBI from five bats on a team that scored 1,065 runs and won the American League pennant by 19.5 games.
The Lineup That Had No Holes
The five 100-RBI players weren't an accident of individual talent stacked next to each other. They were the product of a batting order engineered by Joe McCarthy with one guiding principle: every hitter protects the one before him.
You couldn't pitch around Gehrig because DiMaggio was on deck. You couldn't pitch around DiMaggio because Dickey was behind him -- hitting .362, the highest average among the regulars. You couldn't go after Lazzeri because the old second baseman had been driving in runs since the Ruth days. And Selkirk, the man who'd inherited Babe Ruth's right-field spot (and his locker, which took a certain kind of nerve), quietly produced 107 RBI while the spotlight pointed elsewhere.
The result was a lineup with no place to hide. Opposing pitchers faced five legitimate middle-of-the-order bats every time through, and the team scored runs at a pace that made the pennant race irrelevant by August.
The Five
| Lou Gehrig | 49 HR, 152 RBI, .354 AVG |
| Joe DiMaggio | 29 HR, 125 RBI, .323 AVG |
| Tony Lazzeri | 14 HR, 109 RBI |
| George Selkirk | 18 HR, 107 RBI |
| Bill Dickey | 22 HR, 107 RBI, .362 AVG |
Gehrig at 33 was still the most dangerous hitter in the American League. He led the league in home runs and runs scored, won the MVP, and didn't miss a game. His 1936 season stands as one of the finest age-33 campaigns any hitter has ever produced.
DiMaggio's rookie numbers would've led most teams in every offensive category. On this roster, they made him the second-best hitter. His 15 triples led all of baseball -- a detail that gets overlooked because the home run and RBI totals draw the attention, but those triples tell you something about how DiMaggio played the game. He ran hard. He took extra bases. He treated doubles as personal insults.
Why It Can't Happen Again
The five 100-RBI season is a relic of a specific era and a specific kind of team construction. Modern baseball works against it in almost every way.
Platoon usage and rest days mean fewer plate appearances. The shift toward strikeouts and walks (and away from balls in play) reduces RBI opportunities. Teams value OBP and OPS over counting stats, so lineups aren't built around run production the way McCarthy built his. And the simple math is brutal -- five players at 100 RBI means the team needs at least 500 driven in from five spots, which requires a run-scoring environment that today's game rarely produces.
The closest any modern team has come is four 100-RBI players, and even that's rare. The 1936 Yankees didn't just reach five -- they blew past the threshold with Gehrig at 152 and DiMaggio at 125. The margin wasn't thin. It was comfortable (which, given Gehrig's nature, was probably the point).
The Forgotten Two
Selkirk and Lazzeri don't get enough credit in the retelling. Selkirk replaced the most famous athlete in America in right field and responded by driving in 107 runs -- a total that would've made headlines on 15 other teams. He didn't have Ruth's charisma or his swing, but he produced. That's all McCarthy asked.
Lazzeri was 33 years old and had been the Yankees' second baseman since 1926. He'd played in four World Series before 1936. The man knew how to hit with runners on base, and his 109 RBI from the middle infield were the kind of quiet, professional production that holds a lineup together. He'd be gone after 1937, but in '36, he was still very much part of the foundation.
DiMaggio Debuts
Joe DiMaggio makes his major league debut, collecting three hits. The fifth 100-RBI bat joins the lineup.
All Five Tracking
By midseason, all five players are on pace for 100 RBI as the Yankees build an insurmountable lead in the standings.
The Record Falls Into Place
All five players cross the 100-RBI threshold as the Yankees finish 19.5 games ahead of Detroit with 1,065 runs scored.
World Series Championship
The five 100-RBI Yankees beat the Giants in six games to win their fifth World Series title.
You don't just pitch around one fellow in that batting order. You'd have to pitch around the whole lineup.
The 1936 Yankees put five players over 100 RBI because their lineup had no weak spot, their run environment was historic, and their manager built a batting order where protection created opportunity at every turn. Nobody's done it since. Given how modern baseball operates -- the rest days, the platoons, the analytical shift away from counting stats -- nobody's likely to do it again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which five Yankees had 100 RBI in 1936?
Lou Gehrig (152 RBI), Joe DiMaggio (125), Tony Lazzeri (109), George Selkirk (107), and Bill Dickey (107) all drove in 100 or more runs during the 1936 season. This is the only time in the modern era (since 1901) that five players on one team reached the 100-RBI mark.
Has any other team had five players with 100 RBI?
No. The 1936 Yankees remain the only team in the modern era to accomplish this feat. The closest any team has come since is four players with 100 RBI, which has happened on rare occasions. The combination of lineup depth, protection, and run-scoring volume required to reach five makes it nearly impossible to replicate.
How many runs did the 1936 Yankees score?
The 1936 Yankees scored 1,065 runs during the regular season, leading the American League. They hit 182 home runs and won the pennant by 19.5 games over the Detroit Tigers. The offense powered a 102-51 record and a World Series championship over the New York Giants.