No. 5) Hal McRae 1982
Hal McRae played baseball until he was 42 years old. So it might not come as much of a surprise that his best campaign came during his age-36 season. To be clear, McRae put up plenty of quality seasons, particularly from 1975-77, during his career. His best one came in 1982 when he earned his last of three All-Star appearances, won his only Silver Slugger award and finished fourth in MVP voting.
Remarkably, the runs driven in were 41 more than he had in any other season.
McRae put up plenty of great numbers. But two of them jump off the page. The right-handed hitting McRae led the league in both doubles (46) and RBI (133). It marked the second time he led the league in doubles. (He also did so in 1977 when he piled up 54 two-baggers.) Remarkably, the runs driven in were 41 more than he had in any other season.
Besides RBI, McRae set his career-high with 27 home runs in 1982. He hit to a line of .308/.369/.542. The slugging percentage was a personal-best, as was the resulting OPS (.910). McRae struck out just 61 times on the year compared to 55 walks. He added 91 runs and 189 hits, totaling a career-high 332 bases.
After spending his first three full seasons in Cincinnati, McRae landed in Kansas City following a trade in November 1972. He ended up playing there for the next 15 years. Between the two franchises, McRae managed to play in four World Series. It took him until the last one in 1985 to finally win a ring. In total, the outfielder/designated hitter featured in 17 World Series games, hitting .400/.440/.533.