Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a record book full of baseball milestones for intentional bases on balls—including most intentional bases on balls in a career, most intentional bases on balls in a single single, and most intentional bases on balls in a game records.
NOTE: Intentional walks have only been an officially tracked statistic since 1955. Historical data found on Baseball Almanac prior to that year is based on box scores.
"The game has changed. Records are made to be broken, and whatever happens in the future, we should allow it to happen on its own and not question it. We are not machines. We are human beings." - Bonds, Barry. Baseball Digest. January 2002.
Intentional Bases On Balls RecordsCareer Intentional Walk Records |
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Record | LG | Name(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Most In A Career | Top 1,000 |
AL | George Brett | Kansas City | 229 | 229 |
NL | Barry Bonds | Pittsburgh | 113 | 645 | |
San Francisco | 532 | ||||
Record | LG | Name(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Intentional Bases On Balls RecordsSingle Season Intentional Walk Records |
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Record | LG | Name(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Most In A Season | Top 500 |
AL | John Olerud | Toronto | 33 | 1993 |
Ted Williams | Boston | 1957 | |||
NL | Barry Bonds | San Francisco | 120 | 2004 | |
Most In A Season | Lefthander |
AL | John Olerud | Toronto | 33 | 1993 |
Ted Williams | Boston | 1956 | |||
NL | Barry Bonds | San Francisco | 120 | 2004 | |
Most In A Season | Righthander |
AL | Frank Howard | Washington | 29 | 1970 |
Frank Thomas | Chicago | 1995 | |||
NL | Albert Pujols | St. Louis | 44 | 2009 | |
Most In A Season | Rookie |
AL | Alvin Davis | Seattle | 16 | 1984 |
NL | Willie Montanez | Philadelphia | 14 | 1971 | |
Most In A Season | Switch-Hitter |
AL | Eddie Murray | Baltimore | 25 | 1984 |
NL | Tim Raines | Montreal | 26 | 1987 | |
Most At Bats In A Season | No IBB |
AL | Kirby Puckett | Minnesota | 691 | 1985 |
NL | Jose Reyes | New York | 696 | 2005 | |
Most Seasons Leading The League |
AL | Wade Boggs | Boston | 6 | 1987 |
Boston | 1988 | ||||
Boston | 1989 | ||||
Boston | 1990 | ||||
Boston | 1991 | ||||
Boston | 1992 | ||||
NL | Barry Bonds | Pittsburgh | 12 | 1992 | |
San Francisco | 1993 | ||||
San Francisco | 1994 | ||||
San Francisco | 1995 | ||||
San Francisco | 1996 | ||||
San Francisco | 1997 | ||||
San Francisco | 1998 | ||||
San Francisco | 2002 | ||||
San Francisco | 2003 | ||||
San Francisco | 2004 | ||||
San Francisco | 2006 | ||||
San Francisco | 2007 | ||||
Most Seasons Leading The League Consecutively |
AL | Wade Boggs | Boston | 6 | 1987 |
Boston | 1988 | ||||
Boston | 1989 | ||||
Boston | 1990 | ||||
Boston | 1991 | ||||
Boston | 1992 | ||||
NL | Barry Bonds | Pittsburgh | 7 | 1992 | |
San Francisco | 1993 | ||||
San Francisco | 1994 | ||||
San Francisco | 1995 | ||||
San Francisco | 1996 | ||||
San Francisco | 1997 | ||||
San Francisco | 1998 | ||||
Record | LG | Name(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Intentional Bases On Balls RecordsGame Specific Intentional Walk Records |
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Record | LG | Name(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Most In a Game 9 Innings |
AL | Jeff Heath | Cleveland | 4 | 07-14-1941 |
NL | Barry Bonds | San Francisco | 4 | 05-01-2004 | |
San Francisco | 09-22-2004 | ||||
Most In a Game Extra Innings |
AL | Roger Maris | New York | 4 | 05-22-1962 |
12 Innings | |||||
Manny Ramirez | Boston | 06-05-2001 | |||
18 Innings | |||||
NL | Andre Dawson | Chicago | 5 | 05-22-1990 | |
16 Innings | |||||
Most In a Game With Bases Loaded |
AL | Nap Lajoie | Philadelphia | 1 | 05-23-1901 |
Josh Hamilton | Texas | 08-17-2008 | |||
Corey Seager | Texas | 04-15-2022 | |||
NL | Abner Dalrymple | Chicago | 1 | 08-02-1881 | |
Del Bissonette | Brooklyn | 05-02-1928 | |||
Bill Nicholson | Chicago | 07-23-1944 | |||
Barry Bonds | San Francisco | 05-28-1998 | |||
Record | LG | Name(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Intentional Bases On Balls Records | Research by Baseball Almanac |
The career mark & single season mark set by Barry Bonds are, to say the least, in a class by themselves. Will either of these two marks ever be eclipsed or will these go down in history as more examples of unbeatable records? Share your thoughts on Baseball Fever.
If one event in baseball signifies true respect, it has to be an intentional walk with the bases loaded. Bill Deane and Everett Parker completed research on the five instances and summarized the events of each game (seen below). In 2007, research Trent McCotter added to this remarkable list with his Dalrymple discovery:
Did you know that Rickey Henderson holds the Major League record for most walks in a season (he had one-hundred eighteen with the Oakland Athletics in 1998) without a single intentional bases on balls?