A-Rod passes Lou Gehrig, sets new American League record with 1,995th RBI

For nearly eight decades, Lou Gehrig held the American League record for runs batted in.

On Wednesday afternoon, however, Alex Rodriguez emphatically took the honor away from the beloved New York Yankees icon.

During the third inning of his club's series finale against the Kansas City Royals, the 39-year-old launched a three-run homer off Chris Young to surpass both Babe Ruth and Gehrig on the all-time list with his 1,995th career RBI, eclipsing Gehrig's longstanding American League record of 1,993 runs batted in.

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

Rodriguez, who made his MLB debut more than two decades ago, now sits just one RBI shy of Barry Bonds for second place on the all-time list.

Though some statistical databases credit Ruth with driving in 2,214 runs throughout his career, the RBI only became an official statistic in 1920 – six years after Ruth's debut – thereby making Gehrig the official previous all-time leader in the American League.