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 knuckleball." - Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm (3rd 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
Kent Tekulve	1,050	7
Jose Mesa	1,022	8
Lee Smith	1,022
Mike Timlin	1,011	10
Roberto Hernandez	1,010	11
Mike Jackson	1,005	12
Goose Gossage	1,002	13
Lindy McDaniel	987	14
Rollie Fingers	944	15
Todd Jones	937	16
Gene Garber	931	17
Cy Young	906	18
Sparky Lyle	899	19
Jim Kaat	898	20
Paul Assenmacher	884	21
Mike Myers	883	22
Trevor Hoffman	882	23
Jeff Reardon	880	24
Don McMahon	874	25
Phil Niekro	864	26
Charlie Hough	858	27
Tom Gordon	853	28
Roy Face	848	29
Doug Jones	846	30
Paul Quantrill	841	31
Bob Wickman	835	32
Steve Reed	834	33
Tug McGraw	824	34
David Weathers	824
Nolan Ryan	807	36
Walter Johnson	802	37
Jeff Nelson	798	38
Rick Honeycutt	797	39
Eddie Guardado	796	40
Steve Kline	796
Mariano Rivera	787	42
Buddy Groom	786	43
Gaylord Perry	777	44
Alan Embree	776	45
Don Sutton	774	46
Mark Guthrie	765	47
Darold Knowles	765
Tommy John	760	49
Jack Quinn	756	50
Armando Benitez	754	51
Ron Reed	751	52
Warren Spahn	750	53
Tom Burgmeier	745	54
Gary Lavelle	745
Willie Hernandez	744	56
Steve Carlton	741	57
Ron Perranoski	737	58
Ron Kline	736	59
Julian Tavarez	734	60
Rick Aguilera	732	61
Steve Bedrosian	732
Kenny Rogers	732
Clay Carroll	731	64
Randy Myers	728	65
Mike Marshall	723	66
Roger McDowell	723
Jeff Fassero	720	68
Billy Wagner	720
Dave Righetti	718	70
Danny Darwin	716	71
Eric Plunk	715	72
Johnny Klippstein	711	73
Greg Maddux	711
Greg Minton	710	75
Roger Clemens	709	76
Rod Beck	704	77
Stu Miller	704
Greg Harris	703	79
Joe Niekro	702	80
John Smoltz	702
Bill Campbell	700	82
Jeff Montgomery	700
Larry Andersen	699	84
Bob McClure	698	85
Pud Galvin	697	86
Grover Alexander	696	87
Craig Lefferts	696
Bob Miller	694	89
Bert Blyleven	692	90
Grant Jackson	692
Dennis Martinez	692
Eppa Rixey	692
Early Wynn	691	94
Eddie Fisher	690	95
Terry Mulholland	685	96
Rheal Cormier	683	97
Ted Abernathy	681	98
Kent Mercker	678	99
Tim Worrell	678	100
Name	Games	Rank
Current Through 2007 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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