Strikeout Records by Baseball Almanac

Strikeout Records

Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a record book full of baseball milestones for strikeouts — including career marks, single season plateaus and game related records.

"I'm human and I've played my butt off for ten years. I'm not a loafer, I'm not a jerk, I'm a baseball player." - Reggie Jackson (American League career leader for strikeouts)

Strikeout Records Career Records
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Fewest In A Career	AL	Joe Sewell	Cleveland	99	114
	AL	Joe Sewell	New York	15	114
	NL	Lloyd Waner	Pittsburgh	167	173
			Boston	0
			Cincinnati	0
			Philadelphia	6
			Brooklyn	0
Most In A Career (Top 100)	AL	Reggie Jackson	Kansas City	46	2,597
			Oakland	1,180
			Baltimore	108
			New York	573
			California	690
	NL	Willie Stargell	Pittsburgh	1,936
Strikeout Records Single Season Records (150 Games Played Minimum)
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Fewest By The League Leader	AL	Jimmie Foxx	Philadelphia	66	1930
	AL	Ed Morgan	Cleveland	66	1930
	NL	George Grantham	Chicago	63	1924
Fewest In A Season	AL	Joe Sewell	Cleveland	4	1925
	AL	Joe Sewell	Cleveland	4	1929
	NL	Charlie Hollocher	Chicago	5	1922
Fewest In A Season By A Lefthander	AL	Joe Sewell	Cleveland	4	1925
	AL	Joe Sewell	Cleveland	4	1929
	NL	Charlie Hollocher	Chicago	5	1922
Fewest In A Season By A Righthander	AL	Lou Boudreau	Cleveland	9	1948
	AL	Stuffy McInnins	Boston	9	1921
	NL	Emil Verban	Philadelphia	8	1947
Fewest In A Season By A Rookie	AL	Tom Oliver	Boston	25	1930
Fewest In A Season By A Rookie	NL	Buddy Hassett	Brooklyn	17	1936
Fewest In A Season By A Switch-Hitter	AL	Buck Weaver	Chicago	23	1920
Fewest In A Season By A Switch-Hitter	NL	Frankie Frisch	St. Louis	10	1927
Most In A Season (Top 100)	AL	Jack Cust	Oakland	197	2008
Most In A Season (Top 100)	NL	Mark Reynolds	Arizona	223	2009
Most In A Season By A Lefthander	AL	Jack Cust	Oakland	197	2008
	NL	Adam Dunn	Washington	199	2010
		Ryan Howard	Philadelphia	199	2007
		Ryan Howard	Philadelphia	199	2008
Most In A Season By A Righthander	AL	Mark Reynolds	Baltimore	196	2011
Most In A Season By A Righthander	NL	Mark Reynolds	Arizona	223	2009
Most In A Season By A Rookie	AL	Pete Incaviglia	Texas	185	1986
Most In A Season By A Rookie	NL	Juan Samuel	Philadelphia	168	1984
Most In A Season By A Switch-Hitter	AL	Mark Bellhorn	Boston	177	2004
Most In A Season By A Switch-Hitter	NL	Todd Hundley	New York	146	1996
Most Consecutive In A Season / Consecutive Games (Consecutive Plate Appearences)	AL	Dean Chance	California	11	07-24-1965⁽¹⁾
					07-30-1965⁽²⁾
					08-04-1965⁽³⁾
					08-09-1965⁽⁴⁾
					08-13-1965⁽¹⁾
	NL	Sandy Koufax	Brooklyn	12	06-24-1955⁽¹⁾
					07-06-1955⁽²⁾
					08-27-1955⁽³⁾
					09-03-1955⁽²⁾
					09-11-1955⁽³⁾
					09-15-1955⁽¹⁾
Most Consecutive Seasons Leading The League (Yearly Leaders)	AL	Reggie Jackson	Oakland	4	1968-1971
	NL	Vince DiMaggio	Boston / Pittsburgh	4	1942-1945
		Juan Samuel	Philadelphia		1984-1987
		Hack Wilson	Chicago		1927-1930
Most Seasons Leading The League (Yearly Leaders)	AL	Jimmie Foxx	Philadelphia	7	1929
			Philadelphia		1930
			Philadelphia		1931
			Philadelphia		1933
			Philadelphia		1935
			Boston		1936
			Boston		1941
	NL	Vince DiMaggio	Boston	6	1937
			Boston		1938
			Pittsburgh		1942
			Pittsburgh		1943
			Pittsburgh		1944
			Pittsburgh		1945
Strikeout Records Game Records
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Most In A Doubleheader	AL	Shea Hillenbrand	Toronto^{(Gm 1)}	7	09-27-2005
		Shea Hillenbrand	Toronto^{(Gm 2)}		09-27-2005
		Frank Howard	Washington^{(Gm 1)}		07-09-1965
		Frank Howard	Washington^{(Gm 2)}		07-09-1965
		Bill Melton	Chicago^{(Gm 1)}		07-24-1970
		Bill Melton	Chicago^{(Gm 2)}		07-24-1970
		Dave Nicholson	Chicago^{(Gm 1)}		06-12-1963
		Dave Nicholson	Chicago^{(Gm 2)}		06-12-1963
		Pat Seerey	Chicago^{(Gm 1)}		07-24-1948
		Pat Seerey	Chicago^{(Gm 2)}		07-24-1948
	NL	Mike Vail	New York^{(Gm 1)}	7	09-26-1975
	NL	Mike Vail	New York^{(Gm 2)}	7	09-26-1975
Most In A Game (9-Inning Contest)	AL	Bob Allison	Minnesota	5	09-02-1965
		Danny Bautista	Detroit		05-28-1995
		Phil Bradley	Baltimore		09-07-1989
		Johnny Broaca	New York		06-25-1934
		Don Buford	Baltimore		08-26-1971
		Jose Canseco	Oakland		07-16-1997
		Rob Deer	Milwaukee		08-08-1987
		Larry Doby	Cleveland		04-25-1948
		Lefty Grove	Philadelphia		06-10-1933
		Bob Hamelin	Kansas City		05-24-1995
		Frank Howard	Washington		09-19-1970
		Bo Jackson	Kansas City		04-18-1987
		Reggie Jackson	Oakland		09-27-1968
		John Jaha	Oakland		04-20-2000
		Ray Jarvis	Boston		04-20-1969
		Chet Laabs	Detroit		10-02-1938
		Jim Landis	Chicago		07-28-1957
		Jeffrey Leonard	Milwaukee		08-24-1988
		Rick Manning	Cleveland		05-15-1977
		Joey Meyer	Milwaukee		09-20-1988
		Rick Monday	Oakland		04-29-1970
		Craig Monroe	Detroit		06-14-2007
		Andy Phillips	New York		05-02-2005
		Phil Plantier	Boston		10-01-1991
		Alex Rios	Toronto		07-29-2006
		Alex Rios	Toronto		06-04-2009
		Jim Thome	Cleveland		04-09-2000
		Bernie Williams	New York		08-21-1991
	NL	Dick Allen	Philadelphia	5	06-28-1964
		Dick Allen	St. Louis		05-24-1970
		Tony Batista	Montreal		08-31-2004
		Bert Blyleven	Pittsburgh		07-27-1979
		Pat Burrell	Philadelphia		09-16-2008
		Mike Cameron	San Diego		09-12-2007
		Delino DeShields	Montreal		09-17-1991
		Pete Dowling	Louisville		08-15-1899
		Adam Dunn	Cincinnati		08-20-2002
		Clay Hensley	San Diego		05-14-2006
		Andruw Jones	Atlanta		05-20-2007
		Dave Kingman	New York		05-28-1982
		Ted Lilly	Chicago		06-30-2008
		Pepe Mangual	Montreal		08-11-1975
		Scott Rolen	Philadelphia		08-23-1999
		Bill Russell	Los Angeles		06-09-1971
		Bob Sadowski	Milwaukee		04-20-1964
		Richie Sexson	Milwaukee		05-29-2001
		Geovany Soto	Chicago		04-26-2008
		Darryl Strawberry	Los Angeles		05-01-1991
		Ron Swoboda	New York		06-22-1969
		Frank Taveras	New York		05-01-1979
		Oscar Walker	Buffalo		06-20-1879
		Steve Whitaker	San Francisco		04-14-1970
		Preston Wilson	Houston		04-17-2006
		Pep Young	Pittsburgh		09-29-1935
Most In A Game Extra Innings	AL	Cecil Cooper	Boston	6	06-14-1974
		Cecil Cooper	Boston		15 Innings
		Billy Cowan	California		07-09-1971
		Billy Cowan	California		20 Innings
		Alex Gonzalez	Toronto		09-09-1998
		Alex Gonzalez	Toronto		13 Innings
		Sam Horn	Baltimore		07-17-1991
		Sam Horn	Baltimore		15 Innings
		Rick Reichardt	California		05-31-1966
		Rick Reichardt	California		17 Innings
		Carl Weilman	St. Louis		07-25-1913
		Carl Weilman	St. Louis		15 Innings
	NL	Don Hoak	Chicago	6	05-02-1956
		Don Hoak	Chicago		17 Innings
		Geoff Jenkins	Milwaukee		06-08-2004
		Geoff Jenkins	Milwaukee		17 Innings
Most Games With No Strikeouts Consecutively	AL	Joe Sewell	Cleveland	115	05-17-1929
	AL	Joe Sewell	Cleveland	115	09-19-1929
	NL	Lloyd Waner	Pittsburgh	77	04-24-1941
	NL	Lloyd Waner	Boston	77	09-16-1941
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Strikeout Records

Since 1900 the most times an American League pitcher struck out during a single season was sixty-five times set in 1972 by Wilbur Wood of the Chicago White Sox. In the National League it was sixty-two times set in 1968 by Jerry Koosman of the New York Mets.

Reggie Jackson, the all-time strikeout leader, also holds the Major League record for most seasons with at least one-hundred strikeouts — he has eighteen.

Did you know that from 1952 through 1962 Nellie Fox led the league in fewest strikeouts for a player appearing in at least one-hundred fifty games?

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