Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
"Sounds great, Greg"
—Bobby Brady's rote response to his brother in the sublime "Brady Brunch"
Greg Maddux yesterday became the thirteenth man to record 3000 strikeouts and the third active member of the club (Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson being the other two). It's just another item in a Hall of Fame resume and perhaps it's the oddest one.
Maddux has only 85 strikeouts so far this year which projects to 134 over the entire season. He hasn't broken 170 K since 2001. His career high is 204 in 1998, they only year that he amassed at least 200.
I thought that 200 was a nice round figure since 300 is almost out of reach for all but the top strikeout guys. There have been only 63 300-K seasons in baseball history, and only one over the course of four whole decades (1920s to 1950s). There have been nearly 500 pitchers who collected at least 200 strikeouts in a season and 41 already in this decade. Here's a completely unnecessary table to illustrate all this:
| Decade | 300K seasons | 200K seasons |
| 1870s | 0 | 2 |
| 1880s | 27 | 80 |
| 1890s | 3 | 25 |
| 1900s | 2 | 25 |
| 1910s | 2 | 22 |
| 1920s | 0 | 3 |
| 1930s | 0 | 5 |
| 1940s | 1 | 6 |
| 1950s | 0 | 7 |
| 1960s | 4 | 89 |
| 1970s | 11 | 77 |
| 1980s | 2 | 49 |
| 1990s | 7 | 62 |
| 2000s | 4 | 41 |
| Total | 63 | 491 |
Anyway, now armed with my arbitrary 200-K threshold, I sally forth. Maddux has the most career Ks by far of any pitcher who registered 200+ Ks in just one season:
| Name | 200K yrs | Yrs | % | Career K | First | Last |
| Greg Maddux | 1 | 19 | 5% | 3001 | 1986 | 2005 |
| Jerry Koosman | 1 | 20 | 5% | 2556 | 1967 | 1985 |
| Dennis Eckersley | 1 | 25 | 4% | 2401 | 1975 | 1998 |
| Charlie Hough | 1 | 26 | 4% | 2362 | 1970 | 1994 |
| Lefty Grove | 1 | 17 | 6% | 2266 | 1925 | 1941 |
| Vida Blue | 1 | 17 | 6% | 2175 | 1969 | 1986 |
| Bobo Newsom | 1 | 29 | 3% | 2082 | 1929 | 1953 |
| Kevin Appier | 1 | 18 | 6% | 1994 | 1989 | 2004 |
| Whitey Ford | 1 | 16 | 6% | 1956 | 1950 | 1967 |
| Bobby Witt | 1 | 19 | 5% | 1955 | 1986 | 2001 |
| Frank Viola | 1 | 16 | 6% | 1844 | 1982 | 1996 |
| Sid Fernandez | 1 | 16 | 6% | 1743 | 1983 | 1997 |
| Dave Stewart | 1 | 19 | 5% | 1741 | 1978 | 1995 |
| Floyd Bannister | 1 | 15 | 7% | 1723 | 1977 | 1992 |
| Rick Sutcliffe | 1 | 19 | 5% | 1679 | 1976 | 1994 |
| Vic Willis | 1 | 13 | 8% | 1651 | 1898 | 1910 |
| Al Downing | 1 | 18 | 6% | 1639 | 1961 | 1977 |
| Mike Cuellar | 1 | 15 | 7% | 1632 | 1959 | 1977 |
| Steve Rogers | 1 | 13 | 8% | 1621 | 1973 | 1985 |
| Jack Powell | 1 | 17 | 6% | 1621 | 1897 | 1912 |
As for the pitchers with the most career Ks who never struck out 200 in a season:
| Name | Career K |
| Warren Spahn | 2583 |
| Robin Roberts | 2357 |
| Early Wynn | 2334 |
| Tom Glavine | 2245 |
| Tommy John | 2245 |
| Jim Palmer | 2212 |
| Dennis Martinez | 2149 |
| David Wells | 2037 |
| Rick Reuschel | 2015 |
| Orel Hershiser | 2014 |
| Catfish Hunter | 2012 |
| Andy Benes | 2000 |
| Billy Pierce | 1999 |
| Red Ruffing | 1987 |
| Bob Welch | 1969 |
| Danny Darwin | 1942 |
| Jerry Reuss | 1907 |
| Jamie Moyer | 1846 |
| John Burkett | 1766 |
| Rudy May | 1760 |
| Joe Niekro | 1747 |
| Tom Candiotti | 1735 |
| Bob Friend | 1734 |
| Tom Gordon | 1733 |
| Milt Pappas | 1728 |
OK, now that I've taken the plunge, here are the least career Ks for any pitcher who struck out at least 200 in a season at least once:
| Name | 200K yrs | Yrs | % | Career K | First | Last |
| James Burke | 1 | 3 | 33% | 256 | 1882 | 1884 |
| Bill Wise | 1 | 3 | 33% | 277 | 1882 | 1886 |
| Bill Stemmeyer | 1 | 4 | 25% | 295 | 1885 | 1888 |
| Bob Emslie | 1 | 4 | 25% | 362 | 1883 | 1885 |
| Billy Taylor | 1 | 9 | 11% | 376 | 1881 | 1887 |
| Bill Sweeney | 1 | 2 | 50% | 422 | 1882 | 1884 |
| Floyd Youmans | 1 | 5 | 20% | 424 | 1985 | 1989 |
| George Derby | 1 | 3 | 33% | 428 | 1881 | 1883 |
| Al Atkinson | 1 | 5 | 20% | 435 | 1884 | 1887 |
| Earl Moseley | 1 | 4 | 25% | 469 | 1913 | 1916 |
| Larry McKeon | 1 | 4 | 25% | 474 | 1884 | 1886 |
| Charlie Sweeney | 1 | 6 | 17% | 505 | 1883 | 1887 |
| Bob Johnson | 1 | 7 | 14% | 507 | 1969 | 1977 |
| Phenomenal Smith | 1 | 12 | 8% | 519 | 1884 | 1891 |
| Lee Richmond | 1 | 6 | 17% | 552 | 1879 | 1886 |
The three at the top of this list were Union Association specials. The UA is probably the least qualified league ever to be considered a "major" league. Other than an odd Youmans or Bob Johnson, the vast majority of these players came from the 1880s. There were a number of rule changes being instituted at this time:
1876: "The batsman, on taking his position, must call for a 'high,' 'low,' or 'fair' pitch, and the umpire shall notify the pitcher to deliver the ball as required; such a call cannot be changed after the first pitch is delivered."
High - pitches over the plate between the batter's waist and shoulders
Low - pitches over the plate between the batter's waist and at least one foot from the ground.
Fair - pitches over the plate between the batter's shoulders and at least one foot from the ground.
1887: - "The batter can no longer call for a 'high' or 'low' pitch.
"A (strike) is defined as a pitch that 'passes over home plate not lower than the batsman's knee, nor higher than his shoulders.'"
1881: The pitching distance: 50'.
1886: The pitcher's box: 4' x 7'.
1887: The pitcher's box: 4' x 5.5'.
1893: The pitching distance: 60'6" (present distance). The pitcher's box replaced by the rubber (12" x 4").
Finally, here are the pitchers who have had the highest percentage of 200-K seasons. I'm ignoring 2005 since it's incomplete. Three current pitchers lead the pack with Kerry Wood setting the pace with his being able to reach the mark in two-thirds of his seasons yet far. Toad Ramsey comes next and he is the owner of the second-highest single-season strikeout total in baseball history, 499 in 1886, but his career was over at age 26. Sweeney is another UA ex-pat. "Cannonball" Morris's career went out with his fire at age 27 (only 25 Ks in 144.1 in his final season toiling in the Players League of all places):
| Name | 200K yrs | Yrs | % | Career K | First | Last |
| Kerry Wood | 4 | 6 | 67% | 1209 | 1998 | 2004 |
| Randy Johnson | 12 | 19 | 63% | 4161 | 1988 | 2004 |
| Pedro Martinez | 8 | 13 | 62% | 2653 | 1992 | 2004 |
| Toad Ramsey | 4 | 7 | 57% | 1515 | 1885 | 1890 |
| Roger Clemens | 12 | 21 | 57% | 4317 | 1984 | 2004 |
| Nolan Ryan | 15 | 27 | 56% | 5714 | 1966 | 1993 |
| Bob Gibson | 9 | 17 | 53% | 3117 | 1959 | 1975 |
| Bill Sweeney | 1 | 2 | 50% | 422 | 1882 | 1884 |
| Roy Oswalt | 2 | 4 | 50% | 666 | 2001 | 2004 |
| Amos Rusie | 5 | 10 | 50% | 1934 | 1889 | 1901 |
| Sandy Koufax | 6 | 12 | 50% | 2396 | 1955 | 1966 |
| Tom Seaver | 10 | 22 | 45% | 3640 | 1967 | 1986 |
| Mickey Lolich | 7 | 16 | 44% | 2832 | 1963 | 1979 |
| Ed Morris | 3 | 7 | 43% | 1217 | 1884 | 1890 |
| Rube Waddell | 6 | 14 | 43% | 2316 | 1897 | 1910 |
| Don Drysdale | 6 | 14 | 43% | 2486 | 1956 | 1969 |
| J.R. Richard | 4 | 10 | 40% | 1493 | 1971 | 1980 |
| Tim Keefe | 6 | 15 | 40% | 2562 | 1880 | 1893 |
| John Clarkson | 5 | 13 | 38% | 1978 | 1882 | 1894 |
| Juan Marichal | 6 | 16 | 38% | 2303 | 1960 | 1975 |
| Sam McDowell | 6 | 16 | 38% | 2453 | 1961 | 1975 |
| Charley Radbourn | 4 | 11 | 36% | 1830 | 1881 | 1891 |
| Hideo Nomo | 4 | 11 | 36% | 1856 | 1995 | 2004 |
| Ed Walsh | 5 | 14 | 36% | 1736 | 1904 | 1917 |
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