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
Todd Jones	982	15
Rollie Fingers	944	16
Gene Garber	931	17
Trevor Hoffman	930	18
Cy Young	906	19
Sparky Lyle	899	20
Jim Kaat	898	21
David Weathers	896	22
Tom Gordon	887	23
Paul Assenmacher	884	24
Mike Myers	883	25
Jeff Reardon	880	26
Don McMahon	874	27
Phil Niekro	864	28
Eddie Guardado	860	29
Charlie Hough	858	30
Mariano Rivera	851	31
Roy Face	848	32
Alan Embree	846	33
Doug Jones	846
Paul Quantrill	841	35
Bob Wickman	835	36
Steve Reed	834	37
Tug McGraw	824	38
Nolan Ryan	807	39
Walter Johnson	802	40
Jeff Nelson	798	41
Rick Honeycutt	797	42
Steve Kline	796	43
Buddy Groom	786	44
Julian Tavarez	786
Gaylord Perry	777	46
Don Sutton	774	47
Mark Guthrie	765	48
Darold Knowles	765
Billy Wagner	765
Armando Benitez	762	51
Kenny Rogers	762
Tommy John	760	53
Jack Quinn	756	54
Ron Reed	751	55
Warren Spahn	750	56
Tom Burgmeier	745	57
Gary Lavelle	745
Willie Hernandez	744	59
Greg Maddux	744
Steve Carlton	741	61
Ron Perranoski	737	62
Ron Kline	736	63
Rick Aguilera	732	64
Steve Bedrosian	732
Clay Carroll	731	66
Randy Myers	728	67
Mike Marshall	723	68
Roger McDowell	723
Jeff Fassero	720	70
Dave Righetti	718	71
Danny Darwin	716	72
Eric Plunk	715	73
Arthur Rhodes	714	74
Johnny Klippstein	711	75
Greg Minton	710	76
Roger Clemens	709	77
John Smoltz	708	78
Rod Beck	704	79
Stu Miller	704
Greg Harris	703	81
Joe Niekro	702	82
Bill Campbell	700	83
Jeff Montgomery	700
Larry Andersen	699	85
Bob McClure	698	86
Pud Galvin	697	87
Grover Alexander	696	88
Craig Lefferts	696
Bob Miller	694	90
Bert Blyleven	692	91
Grant Jackson	692
Dennis Martinez	692
Kent Mercker	692
Eppa Rixey	692
Early Wynn	691	96
Eddie Fisher	690	97
Troy Percival	689	98
LaTroy Hawkins	688	99
Terry Mulholland	685	100
Name	Games	Rank
Current Through 2008 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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