Pitchers today aren’t likely to pitch long enough or be “effectively wild” enough to walk as many hitters as Nolan Ryan and stay in their team’s rotation. Yet Ryan danced around the edges of the plate for 27 years and amassed an incredible 2,795 career walks. The next closest on the list is Steve Carlton with 1,833 – a full 962 base on balls short of the record.
To put that into perspective, Rudy May walked 958 batters across 16 years in the big leagues and ranks 129th all-time, slightly behind Tom Gordon (977, 125th) and ahead of Dwight Gooden and Catfish Hunter (954, 131st).
Ryan led his league in bases on balls eight times and led all of baseball on seven occasions. He walked more than 100 batters in a season 11 times, and issued more than 200 free passes twice – as a member of the California Angels in 1974 and 1977. The 204 walks Ryan surrendered in ’77 are the second most since 1900, and the 202 walks he collected in ’74 rank third in the modern era behind Bob Feller’s 208 in 1938.
Yet, with incredible endurance (he led the Majors with 332.2 innings and had 26 complete games in ’74 and a Major League leading 22 complete games in ’77) and the ability to strike hitters out (he recorded 367 and 341 K’s, respectively), Ryan was still able to post an ERA under 3.00 in both seasons.
Next: 5,714 Career Strikeouts