![CC Sabathia struck out his 3,000th career hitter on Tuesday. [Image Source: Flickr | Keith Allison]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2019/5/1/660x290/b_502x220x82/cc-sabathia-struck-out-his-3000th-career-hitter-on-tuesday-image-source-flickr-keith-allison_2257223.jpg "CC Sabathia struck out his 3,000th career hitter on Tuesday. [Image Source: Flickr | Keith Allison]")
On Tuesday, New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia joined an exclusive list when he became only the 17th pitcher to ever record 3,000 strikeouts. As mentioned by David Schoenfield of ESPN, only two of the previous 16 to reach the milestone are not in the Hall of Fame: Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens.
Here are the 17 members of the 3,000 strikeout club in order of how many they finished their career with (Sabathia is the only one that is still active. According to Baseball Reference, the next three highest totals for active players are Justin Verlander's 2,759 strikeouts, Max Scherzer's 2,503 strikeouts, and Felix Hernandez's 2,496 strikeouts.)
Nolan Ryan - 5,714 strikeouts
Ryan's historic career consisted of pitching at least parts of 27 seasons and 11 times leading his league in strikeouts (nine times in the American League, twice in the National League).
Randy Johnson - 4,875 strikeouts
In an extraordinary four-year span from 1999-2002, Johnson finished each season with at least 334 strikeouts.
Roger Clemens - 4,672 strikeouts
A seven-time Cy Young winner, Clemens led the American League in strikeouts five times.
Steve Carlton - 4,136 strikeouts
Carlton became the first left-handed hurler to strike out 3,000 hitters, and he is still just one of three to do so (Randy Johnson and CC Sabathia are the others).
Bert Blyleven - 3,701 strikeouts
Blyleven led the American League in strikeouts in 1985 and finished with 219 or more punch outs in each season from 1971-1976.
Tom Seaver - 3,640 strikeouts
In a seven-year stretch from 1970-1976, Seaver led the National League in strikeouts five times.
Don Sutton - 3,574 strikeouts
In his first 21 seasons from 1966-1986, Sutton recorded at least 104 strikeouts.
Gaylord Perry - 3,534 strikeouts
During his Hall of Fame career, Perry had eight seasons of 200+ strikeouts.
Walter Johnson - 3,509 strikeouts
The first-ever member of the 3,000 strikeout club, Johnson had 12 seasons in which he led the American League in strikeouts.
Greg Maddux - 3,371 strikeouts
While he was never quite as a pitcher who put up a large amount of strikeouts, Maddux did finish his career with 11 seasons of at least 150.
Phil Niekro - 3,342 strikeouts
Niekro's three seasons of over 200 strikeouts came three straight years from 1977-1979, the first of which saw him lead the National League with 262.
Fergie Jenkins - 3,192 strikeouts
Much of Jenkins' career total came in a five-year stretch from 1967-1971 when he tallied 1,306 strikeouts.
Pedro Martinez - 3,154 strikeouts
Very few primes were as dominant as Martinez's as he struck out an absurd 11.3 batters per nine innings from 1997-2003.
Bob Gibson - 3,117 strikeouts
A two-time National League Cy Young winner, Gibson finished with at least 204 strikeouts in nine of 11 seasons from 1962-1972.
Curt Schilling - 3,116 strikeouts
Schilling led the National League in strikeouts in 1997 and 1998, as those were two of the three seasons in his career that he finished with over 300.
John Smoltz - 3,084 strikeouts
Smoltz led the National League in strikeouts in 1992 and 1996, the latter of which he was also named the National League Cy Young winner.
CC Sabathia - 3,002 strikeouts
Now in his 19th MLB season, Sabathia has recorded at least 120 strikeouts in 17 of his first 18 years.
