A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls, and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08(a). It is, however, considered a faux pas for a professional player to actually walk to first base; the batter-runner and any advancing runners normally jog on such a play.

This is a list of top 100 Major League Baseball pitchers who have allowed the most walks of all time. Nolan Ryan holds the record for walking the most batters in a career with 2,795. Ryan is the only pitcher in MLB history to walk more than 2,000 batters.

Key Rank Rank amongst leaders in career walks. A blank field indicates a tie. Player Name of player. BB Total career batters walked.*Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.

List

Stats updated as of September 27, 2026. RankPlayerBB1Nolan Ryan*2,7952Steve Carlton*1,8333Phil Niekro*1,8094Early Wynn*1,7755Bob Feller*1,7646Bobo Newsom1,7327Amos Rusie*1,7078Charlie Hough1,6659Roger Clemens1,58010Gus Weyhing1,57011Red Ruffing*1,54112Tom Glavine*1,50013Randy Johnson*1,49714Bump Hadley1,44215Warren Spahn*1,43416Earl Whitehill1,43117Tony Mullane1,40818Sad Sam Jones1,39619Jack Morris*1,390Tom Seaver*1,39021Gaylord Perry*1,37922Bobby Witt1,37523Mike Torrez1,37124Walter Johnson*1,36325Don Sutton*1,34326Chick Fraser1,33827Bob Gibson*1,33628Chuck Finley1,33229Bert Blyleven*1,32230Sam McDowell1,31231Jim Palmer*1,31132Mark Baldwin 1,30733Adonis Terry1,29834Mickey Welch*1,29735Burleigh Grimes*1,29536Mark Langston1,28937Kid Nichols*1,27238Bullet Joe Bush1,26339Joe Niekro1,26240Allie Reynolds1,26141Tommy John1,25942Frank Tanana1,25543Bob Lemon*1,25144Hal Newhouser*1,24945George Mullin1,23846Tim Keefe*1,23347Cy Young*1,21748Red Faber*1,21349Vic Willis*1,21250Ted Breitenstein1,207 RankPlayerBB51Tim Wakefield1,20552Brickyard Kennedy1,20353Jerry Koosman1,19854Tommy Bridges1,19255John Clarkson*1,19156Lefty Grove*1,18757Vida Blue1,18558Billy Pierce1,17859Kenny Rogers1,17560Dennis Martínez1,16561Al Leiter1,16362Mike Moore1,15663Jamie Moyer1,155Jack Stivetts1,15565Fernando Valenzuela1,15166David Cone1,13767Bill Hutchison1,132Johnny Vander Meer1,13269Jerry Reuss1,12770Ted Lyons*1,121Bucky Walters1,12172Mel Harder1,11873Earl Moore1,10874Bob Buhl1,10575Luis Tiant1,10476A. J. Burnett1,10077Mickey Lolich1,099CC Sabathia*1,09979Lefty Gomez*1,09580Virgil Trucks1,08881Whitey Ford*1,08682Jim Kaat*1,08383Eppa Rixey*1,08284Rick Sutcliffe1,08185Eddie Plank*1,07286Ryan Dempster1,07187Camilo Pascual1,06988Bob Turley1,06889Hooks Dauss1,06790Liván Hernández1,06691Ice Box Chamberlain1,06592Bert Cunningham1,064Barry Zito1,06494Curt Simmons1,06395Bill Donovan1,05996Murry Dickson1,05897Jouett Meekin1,05698Vern Kennedy1,04999Dizzy Trout1,046100Howard Ehmke1,042

See also List of Major League Baseball career hit batsmen leaders

References