3,000 strikeout club

In Major League Baseball, the 3000 strikeout club is an informal term applied to the group of pitchers who have struck out 3000 or more batters in their careers.

The club's "founding member" was Walter Johnson in 1923. He was the only pitcher to have reached this milestone until Bob Gibson recorded his 3000th strikeout in 1974. Since then, fourteen more hurlers have joined the club. Three of them—Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and John Smoltz—are currently active players. This recent increase may be explained by the existence of more free-swinging hitters than before, corresponding with an increase in the number of home runs. Nevertheless, 3000 strikeouts remains a very notable feat, as there are only 16 members of this elite corps. To date only three other active players—Andy Pettitte, Javier Vazquez and Jamie Moyer—have at least 2000 strikeouts.

The club includes only 2 left-handed members, Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson. Nine members of the 3000 strikeout club are also members of the 300 win club.

Except for Bert Blyleven, all eligible members of the 3000-strikeout club have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Blyleven received only 17.55% of the vote in his first year of eligibility (1998), but his most recent percentage was 62.7% in 2009. Election to the Hall of Fame requires 75% of the vote, and Blyleven has until 2012 to attain that total.

Club

Pitcher (active in bold)	Strikeouts	Date of 3,000th Victim	Date of 4,000th Victim	Date of 5,000th Victim	Teams (3,000 strikeout team in bold)	Seasons
Nolan Ryan	5,714	07/04/1980 César Gerónimo	07/11/1985 Danny Heep	07/31/1990 Rickey Henderson	NYM, CAL, HOU, TEX	1966-1993
Randy Johnson	4,845	09/10/2000 Mike Lowell	06/29/2004 Jeff Cirillo		MON, SEA, HOU, ARI, NYY, ARI, SFG	1988-
Roger Clemens	4,672	07/05/1998 Randy Winn	06/13/2003 Edgar Rentería		BOS, TOR, NYY, HOU, NYY	1984-2007
Steve Carlton	4,136	04/29/1981 Tim Wallach	08/05/1986 Eric Davis		STL, PHI, CWS, SFG, CLE, MIN	1965-1988
Bert Blyleven	3,701	08/01/1986 Mike Davis			MIN, TEX, PIT, CLE, CAL	1970-1992
Tom Seaver	3,640	04/18/1981 Keith Hernandez			NYM, CIN, CWS, BOS	1967-1986
Don Sutton	3,574	06/24/1983 Alan Bannister			LAD, HOU, MIL, CAL, OAK	1966-1988
Gaylord Perry	3,534	10/01/1978 Joe Simpson			SFG, CLE, TEX, SDP, NYY, ATL, SEA, KCR	1962-1983
Walter Johnson	3,509	07/22/1923 Stan Coveleski			Washington Senators	1907-1927
Greg Maddux	3,371	07/26/2005 Omar Vizquel			CHC, ATL, CHC, LAD, SDP, LAD	1986-2008
Phil Niekro	3,342	07/04/1984 Larry Parrish			MIL/ATL, NYY, CLE, TOR	1964-1987
Ferguson Jenkins	3,192	07/25/1982 Garry Templeton			PHI, CHC, TEX, BOS	1965-1983
Bob Gibson	3,117	07/17/1974 César Gerónimo			St. Louis Cardinals	1959-1975
Pedro Martínez	3,117	09/03/2007 Aaron Harang			LAD, MON, BOS, NYM	1992-2008
Curt Schilling	3,116	08/30/2006 Nick Swisher			BAL, HOU, PHI, ARI, BOS	1988-2007
John Smoltz	3,011	04/22/2008 Felipe López			Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox	1988-

Closest active players

None.

Stats as of end of 2008 MLB season.

See also related lists

• Baseball statistics
• List of all-time strikeout leaders
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in games started
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
• 300 win club
• 4000 strikeout club
• Top 100 Major League Baseball strikeout pitchers
• List of 300-save club and Blown saves
• List of_Major League Baseball all-time saves leaders
• MLB players with 2,000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 4,000 Total bases
• MLB players with 400 doubles
• MLB players with 100 triples
• Top 500 MLB home run hitters
• MLB players with 1,000 runs
• MLB players with 1,000 RBI
• MLB players with 300 stolen bases
• List of Top 100 Major League Baseball players in base on balls (walks)
• Top 15, and List of active MLB players in the Top 50 in Strikeouts
• MLB players with a .400 on-base percentage
• MLB players with a .500 slugging percentage
• List of Major League Baseball players with a .900 on-base plus slugging

References

Career Leaders & Records for Strikeouts