Career Leaders for Games Played

A sign of longevity. A sign of health. The ability to play the game at a level high enough to keep you in the starting lineup. Those are a few of the key components needed to make the all time games played leader board.

Baseball Almanac is pleased to present the top one-hundred (100) all-time career leaders in Major League games played. Note: A bold faced entry denotes that the player was active during the previous Major League season.

"I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball." - Pete Rose (1st Overall Games Played Leader)
Games Played
All Time Leaders

'Top 100'

Pete Rose 3,562 1
Carl Yastrzemski 3,308 2
Hank Aaron 3,298 3
Rickey Henderson 3,081 4
Ty Cobb 3,035 5
Eddie Murray 3,026 6
Stan Musial 3,026  
Cal Ripken, Jr. 3,001 8
Willie Mays 2,992 9
Barry Bonds 2,986 10
Dave Winfield 2,973 11
Rusty Staub 2,951 12
Brooks Robinson 2,896 13
Robin Yount 2,856 14
Craig Biggio 2,850 15
Al Kaline 2,834 16
Rafael Palmeiro 2,831 17
Harold Baines 2,830 18
Eddie Collins 2,826 19
Reggie Jackson 2,820 20
Frank Robinson 2,808 21
Honus Wagner 2,792 22
Tris Speaker 2,789 23
Tony Perez 2,777 24
Mel Ott 2,730 25
George Brett 2,707 26
Graig Nettles 2,700 27
Darrell Evans 2,687 28
Paul Molitor 2,683 29
Rabbit Maranville 2,670 30
Joe Morgan 2,649 31
Andre Dawson 2,627 32
Lou Brock 2,616 33
Dwight Evans 2,606 34
Luis Aparicio 2,599 35
Willie McCovey 2,588 36
Omar Vizquel 2,588  
Steve Finley 2,583 38
Ozzie Smith 2,573 39
Paul Waner 2,549 40
Ernie Banks 2,528 41
Julio Franco 2,527 42
Bill Buckner 2,517 43
Sam Crawford 2,517  
Gary Gaetti 2,507 45
Babe Ruth 2,503 46
Tim Raines 2,502 47
Carlton Fisk 2,499 48
Dave Concepcion 2,488 49
Billy Williams 2,488  
Nap Lajoie 2,480 51
Max Carey 2,476 52
Rod Carew 2,469 53
Vada Pinson 2,469  
Dave Parker 2,466 55
Fred McGriff 2,460 56
Ted Simmons 2,456 57
Luis Gonzalez 2,455 58
Bill Dahlen 2,443 59
Ron Fairly 2,442 60
Wade Boggs 2,440 61
Tony Gwynn 2,440  
Chili Davis 2,436 63
Harmon Killebrew 2,435 64
Roberto Clemente 2,433 65
Willie Davis 2,429 66
Luke Appling 2,422 67
Zack Wheat 2,410 68
Mickey Vernon 2,409 69
Buddy Bell 2,405 70
Sam Rice 2,404 71
Mike Schmidt 2,404  
Mickey Mantle 2,401 73
Eddie Mathews 2,391 74
Lou Whitaker 2,390 75
Jake Beckley 2,386 76
Bobby Wallace 2,383 77
Enos Slaughter 2,380 78
Roberto Alomar 2,379 79
Ken Griffey, Jr. 2,378 80
George Davis 2,368 81
Al Oliver 2,368  
Nellie Fox 2,367 83
Gary Sheffield 2,362 84
Willie Stargell 2,360 85
Sammy Sosa 2,354 86
Jose Cruz 2,353 87
Brian Downing 2,344 88
Steve Garvey 2,332 89
Bert Campaneris 2,328 90
Frank White 2,324 91
Charlie Gehringer 2,323 92
Jimmie Foxx 2,317 93
B.J. Surhoff 2,313 94
Frankie Frisch 2,311 95
Harry Hooper 2,309 96
Gary Carter 2,296 97
Alan Trammell 2,293 98
Don Baylor 2,292 99
Ted Williams 2,292 100
Current Through 2007 Season


Why are Cal Ripken, Jr. & Willie Mays ranked so highly? Besides being two of the best players in Major League history each holds their respective league record for most consecutive seasons played where they appeared in a minimum of one-hundred fifty games.

Did you know that Pete Rose played twenty-four (24) Major League seasons and during his first consecutive twenty-three (23) seasons he appeared in at least one hundred games each year?

If games played records interest you, please click the link and visit our page dedicated to games played and read about most games in a season, most played by a rookie in a season, most by a right-handed hitter, left-handed hitter, switch-hitter and many other unique and hard to find variations.