300-win club

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A black-and-white photograph of a man from the chest up looking to his right, wearing a baseball uniform with the letters "B" and "A".
Cy Young is the all-time leader in wins.

In Major League Baseball, the 300-win club is the group of pitchers who have won 300 or more games. Twenty-four pitchers have reached this milestone. This list does not include Bobby Mathews who won 297 in the major leagues plus several more in 1869 and 1870 before the major leagues were established in 1871. The San Francisco Giants are the only franchise to see four players reach 300 wins while on their roster: Tim Keefe in the Players' League, Christy Mathewson and Mickey Welch while the team was in New York, and most recently Randy Johnson. Early in the history of professional baseball, many of the rules favored the pitcher over the batter; the distance pitchers threw to home plate was shorter than today, and pitchers were able to use foreign substances to alter the direction of the ball.[1] Moreover, pitchers started games far more frequently than modern pitchers do; in the second half of the 1884 season Old Hoss Radbourn started every other game. The first player to win 300 games was Pud Galvin in 1888. Seven pitchers recorded all or the majority of their career wins in the 19th century: Galvin, Cy Young, Kid Nichols, Keefe, John Clarkson, Charles Radbourn, and Welch.[2] Four more pitchers joined the club in the first quarter of the 20th century: Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Eddie Plank, and Grover Cleveland Alexander.[1] Young is the all-time leader in wins with 511, a mark that is considered unbreakable.[3] If a modern-day pitcher won 20 games per season for 25 seasons, he would still be 11 games short of Young's mark.

Only three pitchers—Lefty Grove, Warren Spahn, and Early Wynn—joined the 300-win club between 1924 and 1982, which may be explained by a number of factors: the abolition of the spitball[1][a]; World War II military service, such as Bob Feller's;[5] and the growing importance of the home run in the game.[1] As the home run became commonplace, the physical and mental demands on pitchers dramatically increased, which led to the use of a four-man starting rotation.[1][2] Between 1982 and 1990, the 300-win club gained six members: Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro, Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, Don Sutton, and Tom Seaver.[2] These pitchers benefited from baseball's increase from a 154-game schedule to a 162-game schedule in 1961, and expansion of the league from 16 teams in 1960 to 26 by 1977. The increased use of specialized relief pitchers, an expanded strike zone, and new stadiums, including Shea Stadium, Dodger Stadium and the Astrodome, that were pitcher's parks all also suppressed offensive production.[2] Also, the increasing sophistication of training methods and sports medicine - such as Tommy John surgery - allowed players to maintain a high competitive level for a longer time.[6] Randy Johnson, for example, won more games in his 40s than he did in his 20s.[7]

Since 1990, only four pitchers have joined the 300-win club: Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Randy Johnson. Changes in the game in the last decade of the 20th century have made attaining 300 career wins difficult, perhaps more so than during the mid-20th century.[8] The four-man starting rotation has given way to a five-man rotation, which gives starting pitchers fewer chances to pick up wins.[2] No pitcher reached 20 wins in a non-strike-shortened year for the first time in 2006; this was repeated in 2009 and 2017.[9]

Recording 300 career wins has been seen as a guaranteed admission to the Baseball Hall of Fame.[10][11][12] All pitchers with 300 wins have been elected to the Hall of Fame[13] except for Clemens, who received only half of the vote total needed for induction in his first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2013[14] and lost votes from that total in 2014.[15] Clemens fell off the ballot in 2022 and can only be elected via the players' Contemporary Baseball Era ballot of the Veterans Committee. Clemens' future election is seen as uncertain because of his alleged links to use of performance-enhancing drugs.[16] Many observers expect the club to gain few, if any, members in the foreseeable future.[13][17][18] Ten members of the 300-win club are also members of the 3,000 strikeout club.[19]

Members[edit]

A black-and-white photograph of a man in a white baseball uniform with the letter "P" over the left side of his chest holding a baseball bat over his right shoulder.
Kid Nichols was the youngest pitcher to win 300 games, achieving the feat at age 30.[20]
A man in a white baseball uniform with the word "GIANTS" written across it prepares to throw a baseball with his left hand to home plate during a game.
Randy Johnson is the most recent member of the 300-win club.
Key
Pitcher Name of the pitcher
Wins Career wins
Date Date of the player's 300th win
Team The pitcher's team for his 300th win
Seasons The seasons this player played in the major leagues
† Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
Members of the 300-win club
Pitcher Wins Date Team Seasons Ref
Cy Young† 511 July 3, 1901 Boston Americans 1890–1911 [21]
Walter Johnson† 417 May 14, 1920 Washington Senators 1907–1927 [22]
Grover Cleveland Alexander† 373 September 20, 1924 Chicago Cubs 1911–1930 [23]
Christy Mathewson† 373 July 5, 1912 New York Giants 1900–1916 [24]
Pud Galvin† 365 September 4, 1888 Pittsburgh Alleghenys 1875, 1879–1892 [25]
Warren Spahn† 363 August 11, 1961 Milwaukee Braves 1942, 1946–1965 [26]
Kid Nichols† 362 June 13, 1900 Boston Beaneaters 1890–1901, 1904–1906 [27]
Greg Maddux† 355 August 7, 2004 Chicago Cubs 1986–2008 [28]
Roger Clemens 354 June 13, 2003 New York Yankees 1984–2007 [29]
Tim Keefe† 342 June 4, 1890 New York Giants (PL) 1880–1893 [30]
Steve Carlton† 329 September 23, 1983 Philadelphia Phillies 1965–1988 [31]
John Clarkson† 328 September 21, 1892 Cleveland Spiders 1882–1894 [32]
Eddie Plank† 326 September 11, 1915 St. Louis Terriers 1901–1917 [33]
Nolan Ryan† 324 July 31, 1990 Texas Rangers 1966, 1968–1993 [34]
Don Sutton† 324 June 18, 1986 California Angels 1966–1988 [35]
Phil Niekro† 318 October 6, 1985 New York Yankees 1964–1987 [36]
Gaylord Perry† 314 May 6, 1982 Seattle Mariners 1962–1983 [37]
Tom Seaver† 311 August 4, 1985 Chicago White Sox 1967–1986 [38]
Charles Radbourn† 310 May 9, 1891 Cincinnati Reds 1880–1891 [39]
Mickey Welch† 307 August 11, 1890 New York Giants 1880–1892 [40]
Tom Glavine† 305 August 5, 2007 New York Mets 1987–2008 [41]
Randy Johnson† 303 June 4, 2009 San Francisco Giants 1988–2009 [42]
Early Wynn† 300 July 13, 1963 Cleveland Indians 1939–1944, 1946–1963 [43]
Lefty Grove† 300 July 25, 1941 Boston Red Sox 1925–1941 [44]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Though it is illegal to doctor the baseball, Don Sutton and Gaylord Perry, members of the 300-win club and Hall of Fame, were widely suspected of this behavior.[4]

Sources[edit]

  • "Career Leaders & Records for Wins". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  • "300 Wins Club". Baseball-Almanac.com. Baseball Almanac. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2010.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Amore, Don (June 16, 2003). "Breaking Down The 300 Club". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e Barra, Allen (May 26, 2003). "Baseball; 300-Victory Club Becomes Tougher to Join". The New York Times. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
  3. ^ Harkins, Bob (September 27, 2011). "Not all records are made to be broken". NBC Sports.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  4. ^ Chass, Murray (June 26, 1979). "John, Perry, Sutton spitball suspected". Star-News. The New York Times News Service. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  5. ^ Verducci, Tom (July 18, 2001). "Maddux's march toward history". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  6. ^ Remington, Alex (April 9, 2010). "Presenting the Tommy John All-Stars". Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo!. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  7. ^ McCauley, Janie (June 1, 2009). "Big Unit approaches big number: Next up, No. 300". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on October 11, 2023. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  8. ^ Singer, Tom (June 5, 2009). "Johnson could close out the 300 club". MLB.com. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  9. ^ Newman, Mark (October 3, 2009). "MLB denied 20-game winner in '09". MLB.com. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  10. ^ Sessa, Danielle (March 30, 2007). "Mets' Glavine Nears 300 Wins, With Only Johnson, Mussina Close". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  11. ^ "Yankees, Henderson continuing talks". Record-Journal. United Press International. December 8, 1984. p. 9. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  12. ^ Weir, Tom (January 2, 1998). "3,000 hits, 500 HRs, 300 wins just about guarantee Hall entry". USA Today. p. 14.C. Retrieved June 27, 2012. (subscription required)
  13. ^ a b Kurkjian, Tim (August 5, 2007). "Glavine Could be Last to Reach 300 for Years". ESPN The Magazine. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  14. ^ "2013 Hall of Fame Vote a Shutout" (Press release). National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. January 9, 2013. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  15. ^ "Maddux, Glavine, Thomas to HOF". ESPN.com. January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  16. ^ Kurkjian, Tim (January 9, 2012). "Whopper of a list of names await in 2013". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 11, 2012. But Clemens is, after [Barry] Bonds, the next face of the steroid era. He has been charged with lying before Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs. He has no chance to make it to Cooperstown next year, or for many, many years to come.
  17. ^ Bierman, Fred (May 9, 2009). "Johnson Is Next, and Possibly Last, in Line to Win 300". The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  18. ^ Bishop, Greg (June 2, 2009). "Johnson Quietly Nears a Defining Moment". The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  19. ^ "Career Leaders & Records for Strikeouts". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  20. ^ O'Malley, John J. "Nichols Youngest to Win 300: "Kid" in More Ways than Won". Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  21. ^ "Cy Young Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  22. ^ "Walter Johnson Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  23. ^ "Pete Alexander Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  24. ^ "Christy Mathewson Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  25. ^ "Pud Galvin Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  26. ^ "Warren Spahn Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  27. ^ "Kid Nichols Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  28. ^ "Greg Maddux Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  29. ^ "Roger Clemens Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  30. ^ "Tim Keefe Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  31. ^ "Steve Carlton Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  32. ^ "John Clarkson Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  33. ^ "Eddie Plank Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  34. ^ "Nolan Ryan Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  35. ^ "Don Sutton Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  36. ^ "Phil Niekro Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  37. ^ "Gaylord Perry Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  38. ^ "Tom Seaver Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  39. ^ "Old Hoss Radbourn Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  40. ^ "Mickey Welch Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  41. ^ "Tom Glavine Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  42. ^ "Randy Johnson Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  43. ^ "Early Wynn Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  44. ^ "Lefty Grove Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2010.

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