In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitchers who throw an entire official game that is shortened by rain will still be credited with a complete game, while starting pitchers who are relieved in extra innings after throwing nine or more innings will not be credited with a complete game. A starting pitcher who is replaced by a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

in the final half inning of a game will still be credited with a complete game. The frequency of complete games has evolved since the early days of baseball. The complete game was essentially an expectation in the early 20th century and pitchers completed almost all of the games they started. In modern baseball, the feat is much more rare and no pitcher has reached 30 complete games in a season since 1975; in the 21st century, a pitcher has thrown 10 or more complete games in a season only twice.

Historical trend

In the early 20th century, it was common for most good Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers to pitch a complete game almost every start, barring injury or ejection. Pitchers were expected to complete games they started. Over the course of the 20th century, complete games became less common, to the point where a good modern pitcher typically achieves only 1 or 2 complete games per season. (In the 2012 MLB season, 2.6% of starts were complete games.) To put this in perspective, as recently as the 1980s, 10–15 complete games a year by a star pitcher was not unheard of, and in 1980,

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

pitcher Rick Langford threw 22 consecutive complete games. Years earlier,

Robin Roberts Robin Roberts may refer to: * Robin Roberts (newscaster) (born 1960), ''Good Morning America'' anchor and former ESPN anchor * Robin Roberts (baseball) (1926–2010), American baseball player * Rockin' Robin Roberts (1940–1967), singer See al ...

of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

threw 28 consecutive complete games, spanning the 1952 and 1953 seasons. In 1962, a news article detailed Bo Belinsky's concern when he failed to complete six starts in a row. This change has been brought about by strict adherence to pitch counts as a basis for removing a pitcher, even though he may appear to be pitching well, and new pitching philosophies in general. Many have come to believe that the risk of arm injuries becomes far more prevalent after a pitcher has thrown 100 to 120 pitches in a single game. Though Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan once threw well over 200 pitches in a single game (a 1974 contest in which he pitched 13 innings), it is now rare for a manager to allow a pitcher to throw more than 120 pitches in a start. Former pitcher Carl Erskine noted the increase in ex-pitchers on coaching staffs since the 1950s, whom he considered better evaluators of a pitchers' ability to pitch late into games. Given this, sabermetricians generally regard Cy Young's total of 749 complete games as the career baseball record that will never be broken. Further supporting the belief is that only three pitchers (Young, Ryan, and Don Sutton) even made at least 749 starts in their careers. James Shields threw 11 complete games in the 2011 season for the Tampa Bay Rays, becoming the first pitcher to reach double digits in a single season since CC Sabathia threw 10 complete games for the Cleveland Indians and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

in 2008. The last pitcher to throw as many as 15 complete games in a single season was Curt Schilling, who accomplished that feat for the

in 1998. The last pitcher to throw 20 complete games in a single season was Fernando Valenzuela, who did so for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1986. The last pitcher to throw 25 complete games in a season was Rick Langford, who had 28 for the

in 1980. The last pitcher to throw 30 complete games in a season was Catfish Hunter, who did so for the New York Yankees in 1975.

Career leaders

# Cy Young – 749 #

Pud Galvin James Francis "Pud" Galvin (December 25, 1856 – March 7, 1902) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher in the 19th century. He was MLB's first 300-game winner and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965. Baseball career Galv ...

– 646 # Tim Keefe – 554 # Walter Johnson – 531 # Kid Nichols – 531 # Bobby Mathews – 525 # Mickey Welch – 525 #

Charley Radbourn Charles Gardner Radbourn (December 11, 1854 – February 5, 1897), nicknamed "Old Hoss", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for Buffalo (1880), Providence (1881–1885), ...

– 489 # John Clarkson – 485 # Tony Mullane – 468 # Jim McCormick – 466 # Gus Weyhing – 448 # Grover Cleveland Alexander – 437 # Christy Mathewson – 434 # Jack Powell – 422 # Eddie Plank – 410 # Will White – 394 # Amos Rusie – 392 # Vic Willis – 388 # Tommy Bond – 386 All pitchers above are right-handed, except for Eddie Plank. All also played most or all of their careers before the start of the modern live-ball era of baseball, which began during the 1920 season and was fully established in 1921. Among pitchers whose entire careers were in the live-ball era, the all-time leader in complete games is Warren Spahn, whose total of 382 places him 21st all-time.

Active career leaders

Through April 9, 2022, the top 10 active players who lead MLB in career complete games were:

Single-season leaders

# Will White – 75 (1879) #

– 73 (1884) # (tie)

– 72 (1883) #

(tie) Guy Hecker – 72 (1884) #

(tie) Jim McCormick – 72 (1880) #

Pud Galvin – 71 (1884) # (tie) John Clarkson –68 (1885) #

(tie) John Clarkson – 68 (1889) #

(tie) Tim Keefe – 68 (1883) #

Bill Hutchinson – 67 (1892) # (tie) Jim Devlin – 66 (1876) #

(tie) Matt Kilroy – 66 (1886) #

(tie) Matt Kilroy –66 (1887) #

(tie)

– 66 (1883) #

(tie) Toad Ramsey – 66 (1886) #

(tie) Pud Galvin – 65 (1879) #

(tie) Bill Hutchinson – 65 (1890) #

(tie) Jim McCormick –65 (1882) #

Silver King – 64 (1888) #

(tie) Tony Mullane – 64 (1884) #

(tie) Mickey Welch – 64 (1880) #

(tie) Will White – 64 - (1883) All pitchers were right-handed except Matt Kilroy and Toad Ramsey. The record for complete games in a live-ball season is 33, set at the dawn of the era by Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1920 and Burleigh Grimes in 1923, and also by Dizzy Trout in 1944, when baseball's player pool was severely diluted due to World War II.

Other records

* Jack Taylor completed 187 consecutive games he started between 1901 and 1906. * Leon Cadore and Joe Oeschger share the record for the longest complete game, achieved when they pitched against each other in a 26-inning marathon that ended in a 1–1 tie on May 1, 1920.Complete Games Records by Baseball Almanac
/ref> *

Allan Travers Aloysius Joseph "Allan" Travers, SJ, also known as Aloysius Stanislaus Travers (May 7, 1892 – April 19, 1968), was a Major League Baseball pitcher who made a one-game appearance during the 1912 strike of the Detroit Tigers. He is the only Cath ...

allowed 26 hits and 24 runs in a 1912 complete game, both still records.

Historical trend

Career leaders

Active career leaders

Single-season leaders

Other records

Notes

References

See also