If induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame were based solely on sense of humor, Caleb Joseph would be a shoo-in.

A noted impersonator, the Baltimore Orioles' backup catcher routinely leaves teammates in stitches with his send-ups of manager Buck Showalter and the O’s coaching staff. Earlier this season, Joseph returned from a gruesome testicular injury and, armed with a Kevlar cup, quipped: “If it’s good enough for a bullet, it’s good enough for me.” Last year, as he trotted out to the bullpen moments before Baltimore played a fanless game following the Freddie Gray riots, Joseph stopped and signed phantom autographs, then continued on his way, high-fiving the air as he went. But perhaps the greatest measure of Joseph’s Cooperstown clown credentials is how he’s handling an RBI-less streak that has reached epic proportions.

"It's all Ryan Flaherty's fault, because he never gets on base."

Joseph hasn’t driven in a run since Sept. 11 -- of last year. Since then, he’s gone 166 plate appearances without a single RBI. If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. In fact, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, it’s been a decade since someone went longer without driving in a run. That someone was Juan Pierre, who in 2006 went 204 PAs without an RBI. But Pierre, who came to the plate 750 times, still managed to collect 40 RBIs that season. Or 40 more than Joseph has this year. If that keeps up -- if the Birds’ backup backstop fails to plate a run over the final two weeks of the season -- it’ll be the first time since RBIs became an official statistic nearly a century ago (1920) that a player has had a season with at least 100 at-bats and zero runs batted in. Not that he’s letting the lack of ribbies get to him.

“Contrary to popular belief, I am trying to get one,” Joseph joked before a recent game. “Some guys in the clubhouse think there’s a conspiracy to not get one. It may keep some fans up at night, but it don’t keep me up.”

It might, however, keep him from having enough lumber to last the whole season.

“The clubhouse manager and I, we've got a little bet thing going on,” says Joseph. “He told me I can't order any more bats until I get an RBI. I’m running kind of low on bats, so it’s getting down to crunch time.”

Just then, while Joseph’s busy making fun of himself, Ryan Flaherty -- the light-hitting utility man who sometimes hits in front of Joseph at the bottom of Baltimore’s lineup -- passes by.

“It’s all Ryan Flaherty’s fault,” quips Joseph, loud enough so his teammate can hear, “because he never gets on base.”

While it’s true Flaherty is hardly an on-base machine (.291 OBP), if you’re looking for reasons to throw blame his way, better to start with one of the times he actually did reach. It was May 30 against the Red Sox. With Flaherty on second following an RBI double, Joseph lined a single to right that Flaherty failed to score on. Given how hard Joseph hit the ball, the decision to stop at third seemed like a no-brainer at the time. Today, not so much.

Joseph (center) has SCORED seven runs this season -- including this 10th-inning game-winner in April against the rival Blue Jays. Rob Carr/Getty Images

When informed that Joseph actually has two hits with runners in scoring position this year (he’s 2-for-27 in such situations), and that he was the runner of record on one of them, Flaherty is overcome with guilt. “I would’ve stretched my legs a little more and run faster.”

The other runner of record? That’d be Chris Davis. Way back on April 21, he was standing on second base when Joseph hit a frozen-rope single to right. Unlike Flaherty, Davis is at peace with his decision to stop at third. “There's not a whole lot of guilt on my part,” says the O’s first baseman. But just because he doesn’t feel guilty, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel bad. “We’re definitely getting him the ball when he gets his first RBI. It has just been one of those years for him.”

What kind of year is that? The kind in which you get a hit with a guy called Flash (Flaherty’s nickname) standing on second and he still doesn’t score. The kind in which you get a hit with the team’s best baserunner (which, per FanGraphs, Davis is) standing on second, and he doesn’t score either. The kind in which, with two runners on, you drill one to deep center only to be robbed of certain extra bases -- and your first RBI -- by reigning Platinum Glove winner Kevin Kiermaier (this actually happened a couple of weeks ago). It’s the kind of year that’s, well, way different than last year.

When it comes to Joseph’s streak, the most glaring R.B.I. (Really Big Irony) is that in 2015, he had no problem whatsoever collecting RBIs. “I had quite a few last season,” says the 30-year old catcher, who a year ago finished with 47 RBIs in 320 at-bats. In fact, Joseph’s ratio of 6.8 ABs per RBI was the second best on the Orioles behind major league home run champ Davis. But that was then and this is now.

With starting catcher Matt Wieters fully recovered from his 2014 Tommy John surgery, playing time for Joseph has been hard to come by. As a result, he’s had a hard time finding his groove at the plate. A year after hitting .234 (perfectly serviceable for a second-stringer), his average has dipped to .183. For the record, the one stretch when he did get consistent playing time -- he started six straight July games when Wieters went down with a bruised foot -- Joseph flourished, going 7-for-20 and helping the Orioles go 4-2, including a series sweep over AL Central-leading Cleveland.

But outside of that, 2016 has been a major struggle. So much so that in August he was sent down to Triple-A. The good news is, in nine games with Norfolk, he managed to pick up four RBIs. Add that to the seven RBIs he had in 12 minor league games while rehabbing from his injury earlier this season and clearly Joseph is still capable of driving in runs. It just hasn’t happened yet -- not in the big leagues. But he’s confident that it will.

“It’s just a matter of time,” says Joseph, whose Orioles are on target for their third postseason appearance in the past five years. And what if that time comes later rather than sooner? “I really could care less, so long as we’re winning.”

In the meantime, he’s not about to start tweaking things in the name of superstition. Not about to drive himself crazy over driving in a run.

“I’m not going to go change socks or change soap or anything like that,” Joseph said.

Most importantly, he’s not going to change his sense of humor.