The Elasticity of Numbers

In 1931, Lou Gehrig set the American League record with 184 RBIs. It was sort of a big deal … but not really. One year earlier, Hack Wilson set the Major League record with 190 RBIs so there was this sense (much like the late 1990s and early 2000s with the home run record) that there was no reason to get too excited because the RBI record was going to k…