<P> A run batted in (RBI), plural runs batted in (RBI or RBIs), is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the batter bats a base hit, then another player on a higher base can head home to score a run, and the batter gets credited with batting in that run . </P> <P> Prior to the 1920 Major League Baseball season, runs batted in were not an official baseball statistic . Nevertheless, the RBI statistic was tabulated--unofficially--from 1907 through 1919 by baseball writer Ernie Lanigan, according to the Society for American Baseball Research . </P>

What is the meaning of rbi in baseball