In baseball, an intentional base on balls, usually referred to as an intentional walk and denoted in baseball scorekeeping by IBB, is a base on balls (walk) issued to a batter by a pitcher with the intent of removing the batter's opportunity to swing at the pitched ball. A pitch that is intentionally thrown far outside the strike zone for this purpose is referred to as an intentional ball. Since the 2017 season, intentional bases on balls are issued to the hitter at the discretion of a manager.
Barry Bonds[1][2] is the all-time leader in intentional bases on balls with 688 career intentional walks. Bonds is the only player to be intentionally walked more than 400 times. Miguel Cabrera is ninth all-time and the active leader with 238 career intentional bases on balls.
Rank | Rank amongst leaders in career intentional walks. A blank field indicates a tie. |
Player (2023 IBBs) | Number of intentional walks hit during the 2023 Major League Baseball season. |
IBB | Total career intentional walks |
* | denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. |
---|---|
Bold | denotes active player.[a] |
Rank | Player (2023 IBBs) | IBB |
---|---|---|
Sammy Sosa | 154 | |
52 | Ernie Lombardi * | 153 |
53 | Luis Gonzalez | 150 |
Mark McGwire | 150 | |
Johnny Mize * | 150 | |
Tony Pérez * | 150 | |
57 | Mickey Mantle * | 148 |
Tim Raines * | 148 | |
59 | Joey Votto (0) | 147 |
60 | Mike Piazza * | 146 |
61 | Joe Mauer | 145 |
62 | Rod Carew * | 144 |
Garry Templeton | 144 | |
Mo Vaughn | 144 | |
65 | Andre Dawson * | 143 |
66 | José Cruz | 142 |
Ted Kluszewski | 142 | |
Eddie Mathews * | 142 | |
69 | Darrell Evans | 141 |
70 | Boog Powell | 140 |
71 | Dick Allen | 138 |
72 | Don Mattingly | 136 |
73 | Johnny Bench * | 135 |
Frank Howard | 135 | |
75 | Jimmie Foxx * | 133 |
Al Kaline * | 133 | |
77 | Robin Ventura | 132 |
78 | Bill Nicholson | 131 |
Tony Oliva * | 131 | |
Darryl Strawberry | 131 | |
81 | Keith Hernandez | 130 |
Gary Sheffield | 130 | |
83 | Ron Fairly | 129 |
Al López * | 129 | |
85 | Bobby Bonilla | 128 |
Mel Ott * | 128 | |
87 | Jack Clark | 127 |
Joe Torre * | 127 | |
89 | Ken Singleton | 125 |
90 | Lou Brock * | 124 |
91 | Leo Cárdenas | 122 |
Adam Dunn | 122 | |
93 | Bill Madlock | 121 |
94 | Freddie Freeman (6) | 120 |
Brooks Robinson * | 120 | |
96 | Víctor Martínez | 119 |
Tim McCarver | 119 | |
Al Oliver | 119 | |
Mike Trout (2) | 119 | |
100 | Johnny Edwards | 118 |