Strikeouts : 1961 National League Top 25

Finding the American or National League leader in virtually every hitting & pitching statistic is easy-to-do. Finding the top 25 players during any given season is far more challenging. Baseball Almanac has taken away that difficult problem and is pleased to present the data you requested:

"Maybe I missed my routine and my game so much that I was trying to rationalize reasons for getting it back. I wanted those 162 games. I wanted all the suspense of the playoff and home run races. And I honestly didn't believe baseball would bend far enough to allow the possibility of games in November. I was wrong. And baseball was right." - Paul White in USA Today Baseball Weekly (September 14, 2001)
 

1961 Strikeouts Leaders

Top 25 in the National League

Sandy Koufax 269 Los Angeles Dodgers 1
Stan Williams 205 Los Angeles Dodgers 2
Don Drysdale 182 Los Angeles Dodgers 3
Jim O'Toole 178 Cincinnati Reds 4
Bob Gibson 166 St. Louis Cardinals 5
Mike McCormick 163 San Francisco Giants 6
Art Mahaffey 158 Philadelphia Phillies 7
Joey Jay 157 Cincinnati Reds 8
Don Cardwell 156 Chicago Cubs 9
Joe Gibbon 145 Pittsburgh Pirates 10
Juan Marichal 124 San Francisco Giants 11
Johnny Podres 124 Los Angeles Dodgers  
Bob Purkey 116 Cincinnati Reds 13
Warren Spahn 115 Milwaukee Braves 14
Ray Sadecki 114 St. Louis Cardinals 15
Frank Sullivan 114 Philadelphia Phillies  
Ernie Broglio 113 St. Louis Cardinals 17
Larry Jackson 113 St. Louis Cardinals  
Jack Sanford 112 San Francisco Giants 19
Billy O'Dell 110 San Francisco Giants 20
Bob Friend 108 Pittsburgh Pirates 21
Sam Jones 105 San Francisco Giants 22
Glen Hobbie 103 Chicago Cubs 23
Harvey Haddix 99 Pittsburgh Pirates 24
Curt Simmons 99 St. Louis Cardinals  



The first player from the Angels franchise (they were the California Angels at the time) to wear the number twenty-five was Bob Perry.

Did you know that more than forty players have worn the number twenty-five for the Boston Red Sox — including Jack Clark, Denny Galehouse, Dizzy Trout and Tony Conigliaro.

Future Hall of Famer Sammy Sosa is best known for wearing number twenty-one; however, when the young slugger played for the Chicago White Sox (1989-1991) he only wore number twenty-five.