Career Leaders for Bases on Balls / Walks Allowed

Other than giving up the long ball, the quickest way for a manager to pull their starting pitcher from the mound is giving up the base on balls a few too many times. The walk has decided not a few games, not a couple hundred games, but literally thousands of games over the course of major league history.

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

"I just reared back and let them go." - Hall of Famer Bob Feller (5th Overall Base on Balls Leader)
Base on Balls
All Time Leaders

'Top 100'

Nolan Ryan 2,795 1
Steve Carlton 1,833 2
Phil Niekro 1,809 3
Early Wynn 1,775 4
Bob Feller 1,764 5
Bobo Newsom 1,732 6
Amos Rusie 1,704 7
Charlie Hough 1,665 8
Roger Clemens 1,580 9
Gus Weyhing 1,566 10
Red Ruffing 1,541 11
Tom Glavine 1,500 12
Randy Johnson 1,497 13
Bump Hadley 1,442 14
Warren Spahn 1,434 15
Earl Whitehill 1,431 16
Tony Mullane 1,408 17
Sam Jones 1,396 18
Jack Morris 1,390 19
Tom Seaver 1,390  
Gaylord Perry 1,379 21
Bobby Witt 1,375 22
Mike Torrez 1,371 23
Walter Johnson 1,363 24
Don Sutton 1,343 25
Bob Gibson 1,336 26
Chuck Finley 1,332 27
Chick Fraser 1,332  
Bert Blyleven 1,322 29
Sam McDowell 1,312 30
Jim Palmer 1,311 31
Mark Baldwin 1,307 32
Adonis Terry 1,298 33
Mickey Welch 1,297 34
Burleigh Grimes 1,295 35
Mark Langston 1,289 36
Kid Nichols 1,268 37
Joe Bush 1,263 38
Joe Niekro 1,262 39
Allie Reynolds 1,261 40
Tommy John 1,259 41
Frank Tanana 1,255 42
Bob Lemon 1,251 43
Hal Newhouser 1,249 44
George Mullin 1,238 45
Tim Keefe 1,233 46
Cy Young 1,217 47
Red Faber 1,213 48
Vic Willis 1,212 49
Ted Breitenstein 1,203 50
Brickyard Kennedy 1,201 51
Jerry Koosman 1,198 52
Tommy Bridges 1,192 53
John Clarkson 1,191 54
Lefty Grove 1,187 55
Vida Blue 1,185 56
Billy Pierce 1,178 57
Kenny Rogers 1,175 58
Dennis Martinez 1,165 59
Al Leiter 1,163 60
Mike Moore 1,156 61
Jack Stivetts 1,155 62
Fernando Valenzuela 1,151 63
David Cone 1,137 64
Bill Hutchinson 1,132 65
Johnny Vander Meer 1,132  
Jerry Reuss 1,127 67
Tim Wakefield 1,122 68
Ted Lyons 1,121 69
Bucky Walters 1,121  
Mel Harder 1,118 71
Jamie Moyer 1,117 72
Earl Moore 1,108 73
Bob Buhl 1,105 74
Luis Tiant 1,104 75
Mickey Lolich 1,099 76
Lefty Gomez 1,095 77
Virgil Trucks 1,088 78
Whitey Ford 1,086 79
Jim Kaat 1,083 80
Eppa Rixey 1,082 81
Rick Sutcliffe 1,081 82
Eddie Plank 1,072 83
Camilo Pascual 1,069 84
Bob Turley 1,068 85
Hooks Dauss 1,067 86
Elton Chamberlain 1,065 87
Bert Cunningham 1,064 88
Curt Simmons 1,063 89
Bill Donovan 1,059 90
Murry Dickson 1,058 91
Jouett Meekin 1,058  
Vern Kennedy 1,049 93
Dizzy Trout 1,046 94
Howard Ehmke 1,042 95
Wes Ferrell 1,040 96
Tommy Byrne 1,037 97
Red Ames 1,034 98
Dave Stewart 1,034  
Dave Stieb 1,034 100
Bob Welch 1,034  
Current Through 2009 Season


Did you know that Nolan Ryan, the all time Major League leader in walks allowed with two-thousand seven-hundred ninety-five (2,795) career bases on balls, has twice the amount of the twentieth ranked pitcher?

By completion of the 1881 regular season, pitcher Jim Whitney of Boston became the first pitcher in Major League history to lead the league in both walks allowed with ninety (90) and games won with thirty-one (31).

Who held the career record for walks allowed before Nolan Ryan? Early Wynn. Before Wynn? Bob Feller, making it a true National Baseball Hall of Fame "walking" pitcher threesome.