A complete game in baseball is about as rare nowadays as finding a pay phone at your local corner service station. The complete game has gone by the wayside and this year with what is going on in baseball with the COVID-19 situation it will be even more of a rare occurrence.
The top ten MLB pitchers in complete games from 1961 to 2019 are all in the Hall of Fame. The leader is Gaylord Perry with 303 complete games and tenth on the list is Jim Palmer with 211. The Twins Bert Blyleven is number six on that list with 242 complete games.
If you only look at the American League from 1961 through 2019 the leader is Bert Blyleven with 222. Bert is also the all-time Twins leader in complete games with 141 followed by Jim Kaat with 133. So now you know why Bert always brags on TV about pitching complete games.
If we look at Twins complete game leaders by decade you get a list that looks like this:
- 1960’s – Jim Kaat with 102
- 1970’s – Bert Blyleven with 101
- 1980’s – Frank Viola with 54
- 1990’s – Kevin Tapani with 19
- 2000’s – Brad Radke with 19
- 2010’s – Carl Pavano with 10