3,000 strikeout club

A man in a white baseball jersey with "ASTROS" on the chest and orange and yellow stripes on his shoulders pitches a baseball with his right hand.
Nolan Ryan is Major League Baseball's all-time strikeout leader at 5,714.

In Major League Baseball (MLB), the 3,000 strikeout club is the group of 19 pitchers who have struck out 3,000 or more batters in their careers. Walter Johnson became the first member in 1923, and was the only one until Bob Gibson joined in 1974. The most recent addition is Max Scherzer, who joined on September 12, 2021. The group includes three left-handed pitchers: CC Sabathia, Steve Carlton, and Randy Johnson.[1][2] Randy Johnson reached the mark with the fewest games pitched and innings pitched.[3] The Minnesota Twins were the first of four franchises to see multiple pitchers record their 3,000th strikeout: Walter Johnson (while the franchise was called the Washington Senators) in 1923 and Bert Blyleven in 1986. The other teams with multiple members are the Chicago Cubs (Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux), the New York Yankees (Phil Niekro and Sabathia), and the Houston Astros (Nolan Ryan and Justin Verlander). César Gerónimo is the only player struck out by two pitchers for their 3,000th strikeout: Gibson in 1974 and Ryan in 1980.[4] Ten 3,000-strikeout pitchers are also members of the 300-win club.[5] Seven members were named to the All-Century Team, a list of MLB's best 100 players; fans later elected four of them as starters.[6][7] Thirteen members of the club also won a Cy Young Award in their careers.

The club is considered to almost be a guarantee of entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Fourteen members of the 3,000-strikeout club have been elected to the Hall,[8][9] most recently Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, and John Smoltz, all voted in during the 2015 balloting.[10] Three more members - Sabathia, Scherzer, and Verlander - are not yet eligible for election, being neither dead for six months nor retired for five seasons.[11] The remaining two, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, made their first appearances on the ballot for the 2013 elections and received about half of the total votes needed for induction before falling off the ballot in 2022.[12] Clemens' future election is seen as uncertain because of his alleged links to use of performance-enhancing drugs.[13]

  1. ^ "Steve Carlton Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2010. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  2. ^ "Randy Johnson Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  3. ^ Luft, Jacob (September 20, 2000). "3k the fast way: Big Unit is quickest to 3,000 strikeouts". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on February 19, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  4. ^ "Johnson joins 3K club in Arizona's loss to Florida". Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 19, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  5. ^ "Career Leaders & Records for Wins". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  6. ^ "The All-Century Team". MLB.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2010. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  7. ^ "All-Century Team final voting". ESPN. October 23, 1999. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
  8. ^ Noble, Marty (September 3, 2007). "Pedro records 3,000th strikeout". MLB.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  9. ^ Mitchell, Fred (July 20, 2005). "Maddux on the verge of 3,000 strikeouts". Chicago Tribune.
  10. ^ "Hall of Fame Class of 2015" (Press release). National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. January 6, 2015. Archived from the original on January 8, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  11. ^ "Rules for Election". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 30 May 2010. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
  12. ^ "2013 Hall of Fame Vote a Shutout" (Press release). National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. January 9, 2013. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  13. ^ Kurkjian, Tim (January 9, 2012). "Whopper of a list of names await in 2013". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on November 1, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2012. But Clemens is, after [Barry] Bonds, the next face of the steroid era. He has been charged with lying before Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs. He has no chance to make it to Cooperstown next year, or for many, many years to come.