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Nolan Ryan has the most strikeouts as a pitcher, and frankly no one has even come close to his record yet. Ryan struck out a mind boggling 5714 batters, he was more than 1,000 SO's ahead of second place Randy Johnson until this last year when Johnson was able to achieve 4789 lifetime k's (k is the official score sheet notation for a strikeout). Johnson has pitched for 20 years and is in the twilight of his career. He had 173 K's in 2008 so at that pace he would have to pitch for the next 5 or so years and keep the same level of effectiveness, which is all but impossible. 3rd place is Roger Clemens at 4672, though all his records will be in doubt due to his tarnished reputation from his steroid usage. Based on performance alone and discounting Clemens' steroid usage, both Johnson and Clemens are first ballot hall of famers and two of the best pitchers to ever play the game. They were still almost 1,000 k's behind the great Nolan Ryan, who threw 100 m.p.h. late into his career.

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15y ago
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15y ago

Through the 2008 season: 1) Cy Young - AL (1901), NL (1896)

2) Jim Bunning - AL (1959, 1960), NL (1967)

3) Nolan Ryan - AL (1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1989, 1990), NL (1987, 1988)

4) Randy Johnson - AL (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995), NL (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004)

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11y ago

The record occurred during the period 1884 to 1886.

The American Association and the Union Association of that time are both considered to be a major league. In 1886, Matt Kilroy struck out 513 batters. In 1884, Hugh Daily struck out 483. "Old Hoss" Radbourne struck out 441 in 1884 for a National League team.

Since 1886, the most strike-outs in a season by a pitcher was 383 by Nolan Ryan in 1973.

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15y ago

Nolan Ryan holds the career MLB strikeout record with 5,714.

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13y ago

Nolan Ryan has the most career strikeouts with 5,714. Randy Johnson has the 2nd most.

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Q: What pitcher had the most strikeouts in Major League Baseball history?
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What Major League Baseball pitcher had the best change up in the history of the Major League Baseball?

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Related questions

Has there ever been a pitcher with 5 strikeouts in an inning?

The most strikeouts in baseball history in one inning is four. This has happened just 72 times in baseball history.


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Who hols the record for the most strikeouts in major league baseball?

Nolan Ryan


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How did Steve Carlton become famous?

He was a famous major league left handed pitcher. He has the second most lifetime strikeouts of any left handed pitcher.


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What is the record for most strikeouts in one month for a major league baseball pitching staff?

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What is the Major League Baseball record for consecutive strikeouts without giving up a walk?

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Average strikeouts in a baseball game?

That's a tough question to answer because there is really no 'average MLB pitcher' stats. Some pitchers, like the starter, might pitch 6 or 7 innings in a game while a reliever may come in and only pitch to 1 batter. The chances are that the average starter will have more strikeouts than the average reliever. However, it is pretty easy to say how many strikeouts are in the average MLB game. In the National League for 2009, there were 1295 games played and 18205 strikeouts recorded. This averages out to 14 strikeouts per National League game. In the American League for 2009, there were 1135 games played and 15386 strikeouts recorded. This averages out to 13.6 strikeouts per American League game.