Pitchers with the most games started in MLB history

Their records are not and nor will never be in jeopardy

In the process of writing posts about the top five starting pitchers for each of the 30 MLB teams I’ve come across many of the greatest pitchers in history. While that’s no surprise, it got me to thinking about pitcher starts in general and how (as we all know) the view has changed over the years. I think it’s fair to say that with most MLB starting pitchers today falling short of 35 starts in a single season, (unlike it was a just forty years ago), HOFer Cy Young’s record 815 career starts will stand the test of time (to go along with his 511 wins and 313 losses).

I suspected that the top of the list of total games started by MLB pitchers would be rife with old-timey guys names like HOFers Pud Galvin and Tim Keefe, and lots of guys that have Baseball-Reference.com photos in black and white and who often sport cool moustaches. Galvin is fourth in MLB history for games started (688) and Keefe tied for 23^rd (594) with HOFer Ferguson Jenkins. 19^th century pitchers started a barrel-full of games (sometimes more than 60 in a season) but often pitched fewer career seasons than 20^th century pitchers. Cy Young was an exception pitching for 22 seasons.

The Baseball-Reference.com list has 24 HOFers in the top 30 for games started. The six un-enshrined pitchers that qualify and are in the top 30 are:

Roger Clemens (seventh with 707)

Tommy John (eighth with 700)

Jamie Moyer (16^th with 638)

Bobby Mathews (25^th with 568)

Dennis Martinez (26^th with 562)

Justin Verlander (29^th with 555)

Verlander is a lock to be a HOFer. Roger Clemens should be but is not.

Fourteen of the top 50 in career games started are not in the HOF. Those names are worth mentioning:

31^st Bartolo Colon (552 games started in 21 seasons)

34^th Jerry Ruess (547 in 22 seasons)

35^th Zack Greinke (541 in 20 seasons and a should-be HOFer once voted upon)

38^th (tied) Rick Reuschel (529 in 19 seasons)

40^th Jerry Koosman (527 in 19 seasons) tied with HOFer Jack Morris

42^nd Andy Pettitte (521 in 18 seasons) tied with HOFer Jim Palmer

46^th Jack Powell (516 in 16 seasons)

47^th Gus Weyhing (505 in 14 seasons)

48^th Tony Mullane (504) in 13 seasons)

50^th Joe Niekro (500 in 22 seasons)

It’s easy to guess who the 19^th and early 20^th century pitchers are. Just look for the ones with the fewest seasons pitched (in parenthesis below)!

HOFer-to-be Max Scherzer is tied for 69^th with 474 over his 18 MLB seasons and recently retired and HOFer-to-be Clayton Kershaw finished his career tied for 87^th (with Jon Lester who will first appear on a HOV ballot next year at 451) over his 18 seasons.

Rick “Big Daddy” Reuschel at #38 for career starts popped out. Reuschel’s bid for Cooperstown didn’t make it past year one as he only received two votes in 1997. While I don’t feel Reuschel is any kind of slam-dunk HOFer, his career bWAR is 69.5, he won 214 games (losing 191), mostly for the Cubs (12 seasons in Chicago), who were mostly a losing team during his years with the club. He deserved better and I hope will be treated better on a future HOF Eras Committee ballot.

Andy Pettitte at #42 also had me pause for a moment. I always felt Pettitte wasn’t even the best pitcher on his own team (behind Roger Clemens, David Cone, Mike Mussina) but that’s not fair since he was best Yankee starter in 1997. Yet 521 career starts proved his availability which was impressive and consistent as Pettitte started 31 or more games in 13 different seasons.

Other names in the 51-100 group that I noted were Livan Hernandez (69^th with 474), Milt Pappas tied for 77^th with HOFer Don Drysdale (465), Chuck Finley (#75 with 467), Mike Torrez (#83 with 458), and Kevin Millwood (92^nd with 443). Check it out for yourself as you probably will know nearly all the top 100. All were outstanding MLB pitchers that pitched well for many seasons and are decidedly not HOF material! Yet if you followed baseball when they played you knew them and knew they were good even if they weren’t the very best.

Being in the top 100 on any career list for Major League Baseball is meaningful. The list for starting pitchers is likely to stay much the same. I don’t know that this is a good or bad thing!

About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.