# List of Major League Baseball career bases on balls allowed leaders

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

| Rank | Player | BB |
| 1 | Nolan Ryan* | 2,795 |
| 2 | Steve Carlton* | 1,833 |
| 3 | Phil Niekro* | 1,809 |
| 4 | Early Wynn* | 1,775 |
| 5 | Bob Feller* | 1,764 |
| 6 | Bobo Newsom | 1,732 |
| 7 | Amos Rusie* | 1,707 |
| 8 | Charlie Hough | 1,665 |
| 9 | Roger Clemens | 1,580 |
| 10 | Gus Weyhing | 1,570 |
| 11 | Red Ruffing* | 1,541 |
| 12 | Tom Glavine* | 1,500 |
| 13 | Randy Johnson* | 1,497 |
| 14 | Bump Hadley | 1,442 |
| 15 | Warren Spahn* | 1,434 |
| 16 | Earl Whitehill | 1,431 |
| 17 | Tony Mullane | 1,408 |
| 18 | Sad Sam Jones | 1,396 |
| 19 | Jack Morris* | 1,390 |
| | Tom Seaver* | 1,390 |
| 21 | Gaylord Perry* | 1,379 |
| 22 | Bobby Witt | 1,375 |
| 23 | Mike Torrez | 1,371 |
| 24 | Walter Johnson* | 1,363 |
| 25 | Don Sutton* | 1,343 |
| 26 | Chick Fraser | 1,338 |
| 27 | Bob Gibson* | 1,336 |
| 28 | Chuck Finley | 1,332 |
| 29 | Bert Blyleven* | 1,322 |
| 30 | Sam McDowell | 1,312 |
| 31 | Jim Palmer* | 1,311 |
| 32 | Mark Baldwin | 1,307 |
| 33 | Adonis Terry | 1,298 |
| 34 | Mickey Welch* | 1,297 |
| 35 | Burleigh Grimes* | 1,295 |
| 36 | Mark Langston | 1,289 |
| 37 | Kid Nichols* | 1,272 |
| 38 | Bullet Joe Bush | 1,263 |
| 39 | Joe Niekro | 1,262 |
| 40 | Allie Reynolds | 1,261 |
| 41 | Tommy John | 1,259 |
| 42 | Frank Tanana | 1,255 |
| 43 | Bob Lemon* | 1,251 |
| 44 | Hal Newhouser* | 1,249 |
| 45 | George Mullin | 1,238 |
| 46 | Tim Keefe* | 1,233 |
| 47 | Cy Young* | 1,217 |
| 48 | Red Faber* | 1,213 |
| 49 | Vic Willis* | 1,212 |
| 50 | Ted Breitenstein | 1,207 |
| Rank | Player | BB |
| 51 | Tim Wakefield | 1,205 |
| 52 | Brickyard Kennedy | 1,203 |
| 53 | Jerry Koosman | 1,198 |
| 54 | Tommy Bridges | 1,192 |
| 55 | John Clarkson* | 1,191 |
| 56 | Lefty Grove* | 1,187 |
| 57 | Vida Blue | 1,185 |
| 58 | Billy Pierce | 1,178 |
| 59 | Kenny Rogers | 1,175 |
| 60 | Dennis Martínez | 1,165 |
| 61 | Al Leiter | 1,163 |
| 62 | Mike Moore | 1,156 |
| 63 | Jamie Moyer | 1,155 |
| | Jack Stivetts | 1,155 |
| 65 | Fernando Valenzuela | 1,151 |
| 66 | David Cone | 1,137 |
| 67 | Bill Hutchison | 1,132 |
| | Johnny Vander Meer | 1,132 |
| 69 | Jerry Reuss | 1,127 |
| 70 | Ted Lyons* | 1,121 |
| | Bucky Walters | 1,121 |
| 72 | Mel Harder | 1,118 |
| 73 | Earl Moore | 1,108 |
| 74 | Bob Buhl | 1,105 |
| 75 | Luis Tiant | 1,104 |
| 76 | A. J. Burnett | 1,100 |
| 77 | Mickey Lolich | 1,099 |
| | CC Sabathia* | 1,099 |
| 79 | Lefty Gomez* | 1,095 |
| 80 | Virgil Trucks | 1,088 |
| 81 | Whitey Ford* | 1,086 |
| 82 | Jim Kaat* | 1,083 |
| 83 | Eppa Rixey* | 1,082 |
| 84 | Rick Sutcliffe | 1,081 |
| 85 | Eddie Plank* | 1,072 |
| 86 | Ryan Dempster | 1,071 |
| 87 | Camilo Pascual | 1,069 |
| 88 | Bob Turley | 1,068 |
| 89 | Hooks Dauss | 1,067 |
| 90 | Liván Hernández | 1,066 |
| 91 | Ice Box Chamberlain | 1,065 |
| 92 | Bert Cunningham | 1,064 |
| | Barry Zito | 1,064 |
| 94 | Curt Simmons | 1,063 |
| 95 | Bill Donovan | 1,059 |
| 96 | Murry Dickson | 1,058 |
| 97 | Jouett Meekin | 1,056 |
| 98 | Vern Kennedy | 1,049 |
| 99 | Dizzy Trout | 1,046 |
| 100 | Howard Ehmke | 1,042 |