Career Leaders for Strikeouts

Strikeout kings. A tale once told by an umpire was Walter Johnson pitching with two strikes on a young batter who turned and walked towards the dugout. The umpire reminded the player that he had a strike left to which the player replied, "You can call it, I didn't see the first two!"

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

"I can't think of anything more humiliating than losing a ballgame to a guy who steals home on you." - Hall of Fame Pitcher Nolan Ryan (#1 Ranked Strikeouts Leader)
Strikeouts
All Time Leaders

'Top 100'

Nolan Ryan 5,714 1
Roger Clemens 4,672 2
Randy Johnson 4,616 3
Steve Carlton 4,136 4
Bert Blyleven 3,701 5
Tom Seaver 3,640 6
Don Sutton 3,574 7
Gaylord Perry 3,534 8
Walter Johnson 3,508 9
Phil Niekro 3,342 10
Greg Maddux 3,273 11
Fergie Jenkins 3,192 12
Bob Gibson 3,117 13
Curt Schilling 3,116 14
Pedro Martinez 3,030 15
John Smoltz 2,975 16
Jim Bunning 2,855 17
Mickey Lolich 2,832 18
Cy Young 2,803 19
Frank Tanana 2,773 20
David Cone 2,668 21
Mike Mussina 2,663 22
Chuck Finley 2,610 23
Warren Spahn 2,583 24
Bob Feller 2,581 25
Tom Glavine 2,570 26
Tim Keefe 2,564 27
Jerry Koosman 2,556 28
Christy Mathewson 2,502 29
Don Drysdale 2,486 30
Jack Morris 2,478 31
Mark Langston 2,464 32
Jim Kaat 2,461 33
Sam McDowell 2,453 34
Luis Tiant 2,416 35
Dennis Eckersley 2,401 36
Kevin Brown 2,397 37
Sandy Koufax 2,396 38
Charlie Hough 2,362 39
Robin Roberts 2,357 40
Early Wynn 2,334 41
Rube Waddell 2,316 42
Juan Marichal 2,303 43
Dwight Gooden 2,293 44
Lefty Grove 2,266 45
Eddie Plank 2,246 46
Tommy John 2,245 47
Jim Palmer 2,212 48
David Wells 2,201 49
Grover Alexander 2,198 50
Vida Blue 2,175 51
Camilo Pascual 2,167 52
Dennis Martinez 2,149 53
Jamie Moyer 2,125 54
Bobo Newsom 2,082 55
Fernando Valenzuela 2,074 56
Dazzy Vance 2,045 57
Rick Reuschel 2,015 58
Orel Hershiser 2,014 59
Catfish Hunter 2,012 60
Andy Benes 2,000 61
Billy Pierce 1,999 62
Kevin Appier 1,994 63
Red Ruffing 1,987 64
John Clarkson 1,978 65
Al Leiter 1,974 66
Bob Welch 1,969 67
Whitey Ford 1,956 68
Bobby Witt 1,955 69
Danny Darwin 1,942 70
Amos Rusie 1,934 71
Hideo Nomo 1,915 72
Jerry Reuss 1,907 73
Tom Gordon 1,902 74
Kenny Rogers 1,886 75
Kid Nichols 1,868 76
Mickey Welch 1,850 77
Andy Pettitte 1,844 78
Frank Viola 1,844  
Old Hoss Radbourn 1,830 80
Javier Vazquez 1,815 81
Tony Mullane 1,803 82
Pud Galvin 1,799 83
Hal Newhouser 1,796 84
Tim Wakefield 1,790 85
Ron Guidry 1,778 86
John Burkett 1,766 87
Rudy May 1,760 88
Jason Schmidt 1,750 89
Joe Niekro 1,747 90
Sid Fernandez 1,743 91
Dave Stewart 1,741 92
Ed Walsh 1,736 93
Tom Candiotti 1,735 94
Bob Friend 1,734 95
Joe Coleman 1,728 96
Milt Pappas 1,728  
Kevin Gross 1,727 98
Floyd Bannister 1,723 99
Bret Saberhagen 1,715 100
Current Through 2007 Season


Did you know that Roger Clemens, ranked second overall on the all-time strikeout list, struck out a Major League record twenty (20) batters during a game on two (2) different occasions?

2003 ladder climbers include (but are not limited to): Curt Schilling moving from thirty-fifth to twenty-fourth, Kevin Brown from fifty-first to forty-third, Greg Maddux from eighteenth to seventeenth, Pedro Martinez from forty-fourth to thirty-first and John Smoltz moving from forty-third to thirty-ninth. 2004 saw The Rocket & The Big Unit climbing above Lefty and Jamie Moyer & Tom Gordon joining the chart for their first time. 2005, welcome on to the chart Kenny Rogers.

The first 3,000 Strikeouts Club memorabilia show was conducted in 1998 at Atlantic City, New Jersey. Review our tribute page to examine box scores (and more) about this truly elite group of pitchers.