List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders - wikipedia List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders In baseball, a strikeout occurs when the batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. Strikeouts are associated with dominance on the part of the pitcher and failure on the part of the batter. Nolan Ryan has the most career strikeouts in Major League Baseball. During a record 27 - year career, he struck out 5,714 batters. The list † Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. Bold Denotes active player. A player is considered `` inactive '' if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement. Stats updated through November 5, 2017. Rank Player Nolan Ryan † 5,714 Randy Johnson † 4,875 Roger Clemens 4,672 Steve Carlton † 4,136 Bert Blyleven † 3,701 6 Tom Seaver † 3,640 7 Don Sutton † 3,574 8 Gaylord Perry † 3,534 9 Walter Johnson † 3,508 10 Greg Maddux † 3,371 11 Phil Niekro † 3,342 12 Ferguson Jenkins † 3,192 13 Pedro Martínez † 3,154 14 Bob Gibson † 3,117 15 Curt Schilling 3,116 16 John Smoltz † 3,084 17 Jim Bunning † 2,855 18 CC Sabathia ( 120 ) 2,846 19 Mickey Lolich 2,832 20 Mike Mussina 2,813 21 Cy Young † 2,803 22 Frank Tanana 2,773 23 David Cone 2,668 24 Chuck Finley 2,610 25 Tom Glavine † 2,607 26 Warren Spahn † 2,583 27 Bob Feller † 2,581 28 Tim Keefe † 2,564 29 Jerry Koosman 2,556 30 Javier Vázquez 2,536 31 A.J. Burnett 2,513 32 Christy Mathewson † 2,507 33 Don Drysdale † 2,486 34 Jack Morris 2,478 Rank Player 35 Mark Langston 2,464 36 Jim Kaat 2,461 37 Bartolo Colón ( 89 ) 2,454 38 Sam McDowell 2,453 39 Andy Pettitte 2,448 40 Jamie Moyer 2,441 41 Luis Tiant 2,416 Justin Verlander ( 219 ) 2,416 43 Dennis Eckersley † 2,401 44 Kevin Brown 2,397 45 Sandy Koufax † 2,396 46 Charlie Hough 2,362 47 Robin Roberts † 2,357 48 Félix Hernández ( 78 ) 2,342 49 Early Wynn † 2,334 50 Rube Waddell † 2,316 51 Juan Marichal † 2,303 52 John Lackey ( 149 ) 2,294 53 Dwight Gooden 2,293 54 Lefty Grove † 2,266 55 Eddie Plank † 2,246 56 Tommy John 2,245 57 Zack Greinke ( 215 ) 2,236 58 Cole Hamels ( 105 ) 2,227 59 Jim Palmer † 2,212 60 Jake Peavy 2,207 61 David Wells 2,201 62 Grover Cleveland Alexander † 2,198 63 Vida Blue 2,175 64 Camilo Pascual 2,167 65 Tim Wakefield 2,156 66 Dennis Martínez 2,149 Max Scherzer ( 268 ) 2,149 68 Clayton Kershaw ( 202 ) 2,120 Rank Player 69 Roy Halladay 2,117 70 Kevin Millwood 2,083 71 Bobo Newsom 2,082 72 Tim Hudson 2,080 James Shields ( 103 ) 2,080 74 Ryan Dempster 2,075 75 Fernando Valenzuela 2,074 76 Dazzy Vance † 2,045 77 Jon Lester ( 180 ) 2,041 78 Rick Reuschel 2,015 79 Orel Hershiser 2,014 80 Dan Haren 2,013 81 Catfish Hunter † 2,012 82 Andy Benes 2,000 83 Billy Pierce 1,999 84 Kevin Appier 1,994 85 Johan Santana 1,988 86 Red Ruffing † 1,987 87 John Clarkson † 1,978 88 Liván Hernández 1,976 89 Al Leiter 1,974 90 Bob Welch 1,969 91 Kenny Rogers 1,968 92 Whitey Ford † 1,956 93 Bobby Witt 1,955 94 Amos Rusie † 1,950 95 Danny Darwin 1,942 96 Tom Gordon 1,928 97 Hideo Nomo 1,918 98 Jerry Reuss 1,907 99 Ervin Santana ( 167 ) 1,905 100 Josh Beckett 1,901 See also Baseball portal 3,000 strikeout club Top 15 and List of Active MLB Players in the Top 50 in Strikeouts References Jump up ^ MLB.com -- Career Leaders for Strikeouts Jump up ^ Baseball Reference -- MLB Career Leaders and Records for Strikeouts Major League Baseball records Baseball statistics ( types of records ) General Record holders Single - game records Single - season records Record breakers by season Records considered unbreakable Batting leaders Career Batting average On - base percentage Times on base Slugging percentage OPS Hits 3,000 club Progressive Singles Doubles Triples Home runs 500 club Progressive Extra base hits RBIs Total bases Walks Intentional HBP Strikeouts Games played At - bats Plate appearances Annual Batting average Doubles Triples Home runs RBI Season Batting average Triples Home run Progressive Game Home runs Hitting for the cycle Grand slams RBI Game Inning Hits Misc Consecutive game hitting streak On - base plus slugging Hits Home runs Doubles Triples RBIs Baserunning leaders Career Runs Stolen bases Annual Runs Stolen bases Game Runs Misc Stolen bases Runs Pitching leaders Career Wins 300 club Losses Games started Games finished Innings pitched Strikeouts 3,000 club Saves Complete games Shutouts ERA WHIP Walks Hit batsmen Wild pitches Batters faced Annual Wins Saves Shutouts Strikeouts ERA Game No - hitter Perfect game List of perfect games Strikeouts Game Inning Immaculate innings Misc Wins Fielding leaders Career Putouts 1B 2B SS 3B OF LF CF RF Errors 1B Assists Passed balls Annual Putouts Errors Managing records Wins and winning percentage Multiple stat records Triple Crown 20 -- 20 -- 20 club 30 -- 30 club 40 -- 40 club Other Consecutive games played Longest winning streaks Longest losing streaks Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Major_League_Baseball_career_strikeout_leaders&oldid=808767038 '' Categories : Major League Baseball lists Baseball records Baseball pitching Top sports lists Talk About Wikipedia Português Edit links This page was last edited on 5 November 2017, at 01 : 00. About Wikipedia

Question: who has the most strikeouts in mlb history
Answer: Nolan Ryan