I hate that distinction so much. Baseball stats would be so much better off if we stopped arbitrarily dividing between "earned" and "unearned" and "hits" and "errors." I think there's a use for those stats, though. If there's a runner at 2nd with 2 out, and the pitcher throws a routine ground ball, and the fielder airmails the throw to first and the runner scores, that isn't the pitcher's fault. Theres a use for RBI as well, but it doesn't mean it should be a mainstream and important stat The fact that you brought up a marginal and rare occurrence to defend it makes me want to get rid of errors all the more