Baseball’s Biggest Losers

When baseball fans and historians bring up Cy Young, it’s customary to tout the virtues of his 511 career victories or the annual award for pitching excellence that bears his name.

When those same folks mention Nolan Ryan, visions of his 27 mostly-dominating seasons, his record 5,714 strikeouts, or his unmatched seven career no-hitters are among the first things to come up.

But Young and Ryan share a more dubious distinction: For all their glittering accomplishments, they also rank first and third on the all-time list of most losses in Major League history.

Most of these records are direct results of longevity. (Young, for instance, pitched 23 seasons to notch those 827 total decisions.) Still, a loss is a loss, even if you are one of the most decorated pitchers in history.

Here’s the Top 10 list, with career victories in parentheses: 

1. Cy Young — 316 (511)

2. Jim Galvin — 310 (365)

3. Nolan Ryan — 292 (324)

4. Walter Johnson — 279 (417)

5. Phil Niekro — 274 (318)

6. Gaylord Perry — 265 (314)

7. Don Sutton — 256 (324)

8. Jack Powell — 254 (245)

9. Eppa Rixey — 251 (266)

10. Bert Blyleven — 250 (287)

Source: MLB.com