Games Pitched All Time Leaders by Baseball Almanac

Career Leaders for Games Pitched

It's impossible to lead at any statistic if you are not given the opportunity to pitch. The following pitchers have been given those chances and they have proven their effectiveness to their managers. A fair chance at winning is what each of these all time games pitched leaders give their team when they step on the rubber during any game.

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

"It takes no effort at all to pitch a knuckleball." - Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm (5th Overall Games Pitched Leader)

Games Pitched All Time Leaders 'Top 100'
Name	Games	Rank
Jesse Orosco	1,252	1
Mike Stanton	1,178	2
John Franco	1,119	3
Dennis Eckersley	1,071	4
Hoyt Wilhelm	1,070	5
Dan Plesac	1,064	6
Mike Timlin	1,058	7
Kent Tekulve	1,050	8
Jose Mesa	1,022	9
Lee Smith	1,022
Roberto Hernandez	1,010	11
Mike Jackson	1,005	12
Goose Gossage	1,002	13
Lindy McDaniel	987	14
Trevor Hoffman	985	15
Todd Jones	982	16
David Weathers	964	17
Rollie Fingers	944	18
Gene Garber	931	19
Mariano Rivera	917	20
Eddie Guardado	908	21
Cy Young	906	22
Sparky Lyle	899	23
Jim Kaat	898	24
Tom Gordon	890	25
Paul Assenmacher	884	26
Mike Myers	883	27
Alan Embree	882	28
Jeff Reardon	880	29
Don McMahon	874	30
Phil Niekro	864	31
Charlie Hough	858	32
Roy Face	848	33
Doug Jones	846	34
Paul Quantrill	841	35
Bob Wickman	835	36
Steve Reed	834	37
Julian Tavarez	828	38
Tug McGraw	824	39
Nolan Ryan	807	40
Walter Johnson	802	41
Jeff Nelson	798	42
Rick Honeycutt	797	43
Steve Kline	796	44
Buddy Groom	786	45
Billy Wagner	782	46
Arthur Rhodes	780	47
Gaylord Perry	777	48
Don Sutton	774	49
Mark Guthrie	765	50
Darold Knowles	765
Armando Benitez	762	52
Kenny Rogers	762
Tommy John	760	54
Jack Quinn	756	55
LaTroy Hawkins	753	56
Ron Reed	751	57
Warren Spahn	750	58
Tom Burgmeier	745	59
Gary Lavelle	745
Willie Hernandez	744	61
Greg Maddux	744
Steve Carlton	741	63
Russ Springer	738	64
Ron Perranoski	737	65
Ron Kline	736	66
Rick Aguilera	732	67
Steve Bedrosian	732
Clay Carroll	731	69
Bob Howry	731
Randy Myers	728	71
Mike Marshall	723	72
Roger McDowell	723
John Smoltz	723
Jeff Fassero	720	75
Dave Righetti	718	76
Ron Villone	717	77
Danny Darwin	716	78
Eric Plunk	715	79
Johnny Klippstein	711	80
Greg Minton	710	81
Roger Clemens	709	82
Rod Beck	704	83
Stu Miller	704
Greg Harris	703	85
Troy Percival	703
Joe Niekro	702	87
Bill Campbell	700	88
Jeff Montgomery	700
Larry Andersen	699	90
Bob McClure	698	91
Pud Galvin	697	92
Grover Alexander	696	93
Craig Lefferts	696
Bob Miller	694	95
Bert Blyleven	692	96
Grant Jackson	692
Dennis Martinez	692
Kent Mercker	692
Eppa Rixey	692	100
Name	Games	Rank
Current Through 2009 Season

When Dennis Eckersley retired in 1998 Jesse Orosco took over the all time games pitched lead and became one of only ten (10) pitchers in Major League history with more than one-thousand (1,000+) career games pitched.

Bullpens have changed. Should the baseball writers change as well and recognize these relievers by placing them into the National Baseball Hall of Fame? How about middle relievers — do they belong or not? Share your opinion on Baseball Fever.

Did you know that Lee Smith, who is number eight (8) on the all-time games pitched chart (above), is also the all time saves leader? How about that after the 2003 season; Frank Tanana (638), Bob Stanley (637) and Christy Mathewson (635) lost their chart spots due to active players pitching their way onto the list? In 2004 Robb Nen (643), Tom Henke (642), Dutch Leonard (640), Gerry Staley (640), Dennis Lamp (639) & Diego Segui (639) lost their spots. In 2005 Tom Seaver (656), Paul Lindblad (655), Chuck McElroy, Wilbur Wood (651) and Sam Jones (647).

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