11 Best Pitchers Of All Time | Everything You Need To Know

Last Updated on July 28, 2023

Pitchers played a vital role in baseball sport. If the pitchers are strong, it is easier for the team to win the game. However, some players are keeping pitchers’ positions, and some are the best pitchers of all time.

Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Cy Young, and others are all-time best pitchers without any doubts. If you ever research the legend of pitchers of all time, you will also hear the name of Tom Seaver, Roger Clemens, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, and Pedro Martinez. They are always legends as the best pitchers.

This article helps you to get 11 leading pitchers in baseball history. They earn lots of records, win tournaments, and so on. You will also get a clear concept of their league, club, and so on. So, stay connected to get further information.

Best Pitchers of All Time Career Chart

This chart will give you the following 11 players’ career core information. It also helps you get all the information in your hand so that you don’t need to search the players’ information here and there.

Rank	Name	Teams	Honors	Career time
1	Walter Johnson	Washington Senators	AL MVP Hall of Fame	1907 to 1927
2	Christy Mathewson	New York Giants	Hall of Fame	1900 to 1916
3	Pete “Grover Cleveland” Alexander	Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals	Hall of Fame	1911 to 1913
4	Cy Young	Cleveland St. Louis Perfectos, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston	Hall of Fame	1890 to 1911
5	Tom Seaver	New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds	NL Rookie of the Year, NL All Star, Hall of Fame, Etc.	1967 to 1986
6	Roger Clemens	Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays	AL MVP (1986), All-Star MVP, nine-time AL All-Star, NL Cy Young	1996 to 2007
7	Sandy Koufax	Brooklyn or Los and Angeles Dodgers	NL, MVP, Cy Young, Hall of Fame	1965 to 1987
8	Bob Gibson	St. Louis Cardinals	Nine-time All-Star, two times World Series, MVP, and Hall of Fame	1959 to 1975
9	Pedro Martinez	Los Angeles Dodgers Montreal Expos, and Boston Red Sox	Four-time NL All-Star, four-time AL All-Time NL Cy Young, two AL Cy Youngs, All-Star MVP and Hall of Fame	1992 to 2007
10	Randy Johnson	Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks	Cy Young Award, 10 All-star, MVP, and Hall of Fame	1963 to 1995
11	Clayton Kershaw	Los Angeles Dodgers	3 times NL, 10 Star, MVP	2008 to 2020

11 Best Pitchers of All Time (Detail Discussion)

These 11 players of pitchers all time helps you to know their entire career. Moreover, their leagues, winning awards, and other things also inspire you. Keep reading to get depth information.

1. Walter Johnson

Walter Johnson is also known as the “Big Train.” He is the best pitcher of all time. He started his career at the age of 21 with the Washington Senators. The beauty of Walter Johnson, you will find from 1907 to 1919, was truly impressive.

This pitcher set many records, such as most shutouts, second-most wins, fourth-most played game, and winning the world series in 1924.

On the other hand, Walter is the only player who wins over 400 and over 3500 strikeouts. In his whole life, he won two MVP awards. He is a legend of the all-time pitcher in baseball sport.

From this 5914.1 innings pitched, Walter Johnson finished with 2.17 ERA, 3509 Ks, 1363 BBs, 2.57 K/BB, and 147 ERA+, 1.061 WHIP.

2. Christy Mathewson

In the modern era, Christy Mathewson is one of the best pitchers. He dominated the league of the New York Giants for 17 seasons. Moreover, he led the team in the 1905 world series and won the world series. In this world series, he pitches 3 shutouts.

He was great power and composure. Combining this point, he had an awesome career ERA of 2.13 and FIP of 2.22 over 4,747 innings. It helped him win the game and made him the best pitcher.

In 1905 and 1908, Christy won the NL, pitched triple, and finally ended his career with NL. On the other hand, Mathewson won the strikeout title five times in the modern era.

3. Pete “Grover Cleveland” Alexander

Alexander was nicknamed Old Pete. He is also the best pitcher in baseball history. He was an American Major League baseball pitcher. He entered his career in 1911 and finished in 1930.

He also played for Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals. Pete was also elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In his career, he led the leagues and won 28. Moreover, Alexander led the leagues in ERA from 1912 to 1921 for four times. This legendary pitcher basically played for Chicago Cubs after the 1917 season. In baseball, he is known as Pete “Grover Cleveland and is nicknamed by Pete.

4. Cy Young

Cy Young is another best pitchers in a baseball sport. He was popular because of his hard-throwing. This best pitcher had not only throwing skills but also had lots of records in his baseball career.

He was an American major league baseball pitcher. He entered the major league in 1890 with Cleveland and National League and pitched until 1898. After that, he was transferred to the St. Louis Cardinals franchise.

In his whole career, he won 511, lost 316, game started 815, and innings pitched 7356. On the other hand, he completed the game 749, which is truly a handsome amount.

For his outstanding career, Cy Young Award was created in 1956, which is a truly great honor for him. However, he won the ERA titles two times. Moreover, he had the lowest WHIP seven times. Cy Young finished his career with a 2.63 ERA and 2,803 strikeouts.

5. Tom Seaver

Let’s welcome Tom Seaver, who is the best pitcher in the modern era. However, many people also knew him as Tom Terrific or the Franchise. During his career, he played 4 different teams and always played the leading role.

On the contrary, he was inseparable from the New York Mets victory in the 1969 World Series. At the same time, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.

He has always dominated the pitcher of all time in baseball sport. Tom was recorded as one of the most shutouts in the modern era without any doubts. This pitcher also won 3 NL ERA titles, 5 strikeout titles, and 3 Cy Young Awards.

Overall, his league career helps the other pitchers to teach so many things. He was a pitcher legend and one of the best baseball players of all time.

6. Roger Clemens

In season 24 career in MLB, Roger Clemens is considered one of the best baseball pitchers of all time. He started his career with Boston Red Sox. Similarly, he was finished at the Yankees before coming to this club.

Undoubtedly, he was the most dominant pitcher in major league history. He had a glorious career as a pitcher and achieved lots of records. For example, he has broken 7 Cy Young Awards, an MPV crown, 7 ERA titles, World Series twice, and 5 strikeout titles.

He was popular because of his fast throwing ability. Most important, he was an accurate pitcher. His pitching ability was always loudly praised without any doubts.

Roger Clemens was alleged by the Mitchell report at the end of their career. He strongly denied this allegation under the oath of the USA Congress.

7. Sandy Koufax

If you ask me about Sandy Koufax, I always tell you he is a hard-working pitcher. Even though injuries impacted them, he never lost the fame of the all-time pitcher in a baseball sport.

This pitcher played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn or Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. Even he is also known as the greatest baseball pitcher in history.

During his career, he was a member of World Series championship teams in both Los Angeles and Brooklyn. Sandy also created lots of records that are truly praising.

Finally, Sandy Koufax won the NL and MVP as well as Cy Young Awards in 1963. After that, he retired in 1966 while he dominated his career at thirty. This pitcher was retired due to severe arthritis and other health issues.

8. Bob Gibson

Bob Gibson is another all-time best pitcher in baseball history. He is also a legend and always keeps strong domination in the baseball industry.

However, he started his career with St. Louis Cardinals. He spent his entire career here without facing any troubles. On the other hand, he won two world series for St. Louis Cardinals.

In addition, in 1968, he recorded breaking season. Moreover, he also led the league in ERA and completed the game shutouts, winning the NL MVP. During this time, he also got his first time CY Young Award.

He also won the second CY Young Award in 1970. Finally, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981, which was a great honor for him without any doubt.

9. Pedro Martinez

Pedro Martinez is the best pitcher in baseball history. He was a professional baseball player in America. Pedro played in major league baseball (MLB) from 1992 to 2009 for five teams. This pitcher mostly played for Boston Red Sox from 1998 to 2004.

In his entire career, he won several awards and records. For example, Martinez got 3 Cy Young Awards and World Series. He is also known for his impressive all, such as time WHIP and K/BB, which is the highest in baseball history.

Unlike another legendary pitcher, he was also inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015. You may know that between 1997 to 2003, the year was called the Martinez period or the greatest period of pitching.

10. Randy Johnson

Randy Johnson was one of the tallest pitchers in baseball history. He was also known as Big Unit in his time. The height of this player was 6-foot-10 inches. He successfully completed his career between 1988 to 2009.

He had a very successful career in season 22. He was the only pitcher who will against all 30 MLB franchises. Randy also created a record for throwing a perfect game.

He played in the six major leagues, especially Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks. He won five Cy Young Awards and pitched in 10 All-star games. He also won MVP of the 2001 World Series.

Randy Johnson is also considered one of the best left-hand pitchers all-time. Overall, this pitcher is the dominant pitcher in pitching history.

11. Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw is a pitcher who recently retired from his career. He is a left-handed pitcher in a baseball sport. Kershaw started his career in 2008 and recently retired from this sport.

He is a professional pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). This pitcher spent his entire 16-season major league career.

However, he is a 10-time star, 3-time NL (National League), and Cy Yong Awards. He also won World Series in 2020, which is also the best achievement of his career.

Overall, he pitched 37 innings which struck out 54 batters. You may know that Kershaw started his career with Gulf Coast League (GCL) Dodgers. Undoubtedly, he is the best pitcher in all-time baseball history.

Is Nolan Ryan the best pitcher ever?

Nolan Ryan is an American former professional pitcher. He played for over 27 years in his career. He earned many records and won many awards from leagues and clubs.

However, he played for Major League Baseball (MLB) for New York Mets, California Angeles, Texas Rangers, and so on. After retiring, he took charge of the Texas Rangers as a CEO.

The records of this legend are 8-times All-Star, 5714 strikeouts, 839 more runners-up, and so on. Baseball experts and legendary pitchers called him the best pitcher ever without any doubts.

FAQs (Frequently Ask Questions)

Q: Who was the greatest pitcher of all time?

Answer: I need help to provide you with more than one person among other legends. However, Walter Johnson, Tom Seaver, Cy Young, and other players are all-time the best pitchers in baseball history. You should check out the above 11 greatest pitchers to get a clear concept.

Q: What pitcher has the most hit batsmen?

Answer: According to my research, Gus Weyhing has the most hit batsmen in baseball. Moreover, Chick Fraser, Pink Hawley, and Walter Johnson are also the most-hit batsmen, without any doubt.

Q: How fast did Nolan Ryan throw?

Answer: Nolan Ryan throws an average 108.1 mph fast as a pitcher. He was also known for the fast throw in the pitcher position. Of course, fast throwing plays a vital role in winning the game and also playing a leading role as a pitcher.

Wrapping Up!

The above 11 players are the best pitchers of all time, without any doubt. Baseball pitcher coaches and experts believe they are legends in baseball, especially for pitcher positions. They earn several records, awards, and others. So, the above 11 pitchers are always the best in pitcher history.

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