Complete game

In baseball, a complete game (denoted by CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher.^[1]

As demonstrated by the charts below, in the early 20th century, it was common for most good Major League Baseball pitchers to pitch a complete game almost every start. Pitchers were expected to complete games they started. As the 20th century went on, complete games became less common, to the point where a good pitcher typically achieves only 1 or 2 complete games a season today. (In the 2009 MLB season, 3.1% of starts were complete games)^[2] 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 pitcher Rick Langford threw 22 consecutive complete games.^[3] Years earlier, Robin Roberts of the Philadelphia Phillies threw 28 consecutive complete games, spanning the 1952 and 1953 seasons.

This change has been brought about by strict pitch counts 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.^[4] 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),^[5] it is now rare for a manager to allow a pitcher to throw more than 120 pitches in a start.

Given this, sabermetricians generally regard Cy Young's total of 749 complete games as the career baseball record most unlikely to ever be broken.^{[citation needed]}

CC Sabathia threw a total of 10 complete games in the 2008 season for the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers, becoming the first pitcher to reach double digits in a single season since Randy Johnson threw twelve complete games for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1999. The last pitcher to throw as many as 15 complete games in a single season was Curt Schilling, who accomplished that feat for the Philadelphia Phillies 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 Oakland Athletics 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.

Historical trend

Historical MLB complete game trend

Year	Games started	Complete games	Complete game %	Ref
1904	2,496	2,186	87.6	[6]
1914	3,758	2,067	55.0	[6]
1924	2,462	1,198	48.7	[6]
1934	2,446	1,061	43.4	[6]
1944	2,484	1,123	45.2	[6]
1954	2,472	840	34.0	[6]
1964	3,252	797	24.5	[6]
1974	3,890	1,089	28.0	[6]
1984	4,210	632	15.0	[6]
1994	3,200	255	8.0	[6]
2004	4,854	150	3.1	[6]

Career leaders

• 1. Cy Young - 749
• 2. Pud Galvin - 646
• 3. Tim Keefe - 554
• 4. Walter Johnson - 531
• 5. Kid Nichols - 531
• 6. Bobby Mathews - 525
• 7. Mickey Welch - 525
• 8. Charley Radbourn - 489
• 9. John Clarkson - 485
• 10. Tony Mullane - 468
• 11. Jim McCormick - 466
• 12. Gus Weyhing - 448
• 13. Pete Alexander - 437
• 14. Christy Mathewson - 434
• 15. Jack Powell - 422
• 16. Eddie Plank - 410
• 17. Will White - 394
• 18. Amos Rusie - 392
• 19. Vic Willis - 388
• 20. Tommy Bond - 386

All pitchers above are right-handed, except for Eddie Plank.

Active career leaders

As of the 2010 season, the active players in Major League Baseball who lead MLB in career complete games are:^[7]

• 1. Roy Halladay - 66
• 2. Liván Hernández - 50
• 3. Jamie Moyer - 33
• 4. Tim Wakefield - 32
• 5. CC Sabathia - 30

Single-season leaders

• 1. Will White - 75 - 1879
• 2. Charley Radbourn - 73 - 1884
• 3. Pud Galvin - 72 - 1883
• 4. Guy Hecker - 72 - 1884
• 5. Jim McCormick - 72 - 1880
• 6. Pud Galvin - 71 - 1884
• 7. John Clarkson - 68 - 1885
• 8. John Clarkson - 68 - 1889
• 9. Tim Keefe - 68 - 1883
• 10. Bill Hutchinson - 67 - 1892
• 11. Jim Devlin - 66 - 1876
• 12. Matt Kilroy - 66 - 1886
• 13. Matt Kilroy - 66 - 1887
• 14. Charley Radbourn - 66 - 1883
• 15. Toad Ramsey - 66 - 1886
• 16. Pud Galvin - 65 - 1879
• 17. Bill Hutchinson - 65 - 1890
• 18. Jim McCormick - 65 - 1882
• 19. Silver King - 64 - 1888
• 20. Tony Mullane - 64 - 1884
• 21. Mickey Welch - 64 - 1880
• 22. Will White - 64 - 1883

All pitchers right-handed except Matt Kilroy and Toad Ramsey.^[8]

Other records

• Jack Taylor completed 187 consecutive games he started between 1901 and 1906.^[9]
• 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.^[10]

Notes

1. ^ Dickson, Paul (1999). The new Dickson baseball dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 130. ISBN 9780156005807. http://books.google.com/books?id=afQVWhAm1TEC&lpg=PP1&dq=the%20new%20dickson%20baseball%20dictionary&pg=PA130#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved August 27, 2011. 
2. ^ 2009 Major League Baseball Season Summary
3. ^ Rick Langford Game Logs 1980 Season
4. ^ Baseball Prospectus 2007, p.79
5. ^ June 14, 1974 Boxscore, Red Sox vs. Angels
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Baseball Prospectus 2007, p.75
7. ^ "Active Career Leaders in Complete Games". Baseball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/CG_active.shtml. Retrieved March 5, 2011. 
8. ^ Single Season Leaders in Complete Games
9. ^ SABR's Baseball Biography Project: Jack Taylor
10. ^ Complete Games Records by Baseball Almanac

References

• Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts (2007). Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong. New York, New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465005475. http://books.google.com/books?id=VsmnfVUKJskC&lpg=PR1&dq=between%20the%20numbers%20baseball%20prospectus&pg=PA75#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved March 5, 2011. 

See also

• List of Major League Baseball records considered unbreakable