300 win club

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. The New York Gothams/Giants/San Francisco Giants are the only franchise to see four players reach the milestone while on their roster: those players are Tim Keefe, Mickey Welch, Christy Mathewson, and 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] 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, Tim Keefe, John Clarkson, Charley Radbourn, and Mickey Welch.^[2] Four more pitchers joined the club in the first quarter of the 20th century: Christy 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][lower-alpha 1]} 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 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, which 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 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.^[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' future election is seen as uncertain because of his alleged links to use of performance-enhancing drugs.^[16] To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, a player must have "been retired five seasons" or deceased for at least six months,^[17] Many observers expect the club to gain few, if any, members in the foreseeable future.^[13][18][19] Ten members of the 300 win club are also members of the 3,000 strikeout club.^[20]

Members

Kid Nichols was the youngest pitcher to win 300 games, achieving the feat at age 30.^[21]

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
Young, CyCy Young	511	000000001901-07-12-0000July 12, 1901	Boston Americans	1890–1911	[22]
Johnson, WalterWalter Johnson	417	000000001920-05-14-0000May 14, 1920	Washington Senators	1907–1927	[23]
Alexander, Grover ClevelandGrover Cleveland Alexander	373	000000001924-09-20-0000September 20, 1924	Chicago Cubs	1911–1930	[24]
Mathewson, ChristyChristy Mathewson	373	000000001912-07-05-0000July 5, 1912	New York Giants	1900–1916	[25]
Galvin, PudPud Galvin	365	000000001888-09-04-0000September 4, 1888	Pittsburgh Alleghenys	1875–1892	[26]
Spahn, WarrenWarren Spahn	363	000000001961-08-11-0000August 11, 1961	Milwaukee Braves	1942, 1946–1965	[27]
Nichols, KidKid Nichols	361	000000001900-07-07-0000July 7, 1900	Boston Beaneaters	1890–1906	[28]
Maddux, GregGreg Maddux	355	000000002004-08-07-0000August 7, 2004	Chicago Cubs	1986–2008	[29]
Clemens, RogerRoger Clemens	354	000000002003-06-13-0000June 13, 2003	New York Yankees	1984–2007	[30]
Keefe, TimTim Keefe	342	000000001890-06-04-0000June 4, 1890	New York Giants (PL)	1880–1893	[31]
Carlton, SteveSteve Carlton	329	000000001983-09-23-0000September 23, 1983	Philadelphia Phillies	1965–1988	[32]
Clarkson, JohnJohn Clarkson	328	000000001892-09-21-0000September 21, 1892	Cleveland Spiders	1882–1894	[33]
Plank, EddieEddie Plank	326	000000001915-09-11-0000September 11, 1915	St. Louis Terriers	1901–1917	[34]
Ryan, NolanNolan Ryan	324	000000001990-07-31-0000July 31, 1990	Texas Rangers	1966, 1968–1993	[35]
Sutton, DonDon Sutton	324	000000001986-06-18-0000June 18, 1986	California Angels	1966–1988	[36]
Niekro, PhilPhil Niekro	318	000000001985-10-06-0000October 6, 1985	New York Yankees	1964–1987	[37]
Perry, GaylordGaylord Perry	314	000000001982-05-06-0000May 6, 1982	Seattle Mariners	1962–1983	[38]
Seaver, TomTom Seaver	311	000000001985-08-04-0000August 4, 1985	Chicago White Sox	1967–1986	[39]
Radbourn, CharlesCharles Radbourn	309	000000001891-06-02-0000June 2, 1891	Cincinnati Reds	1880–1891	[40]
Welch, MickeyMickey Welch	307	000000001890-07-28-0000July 28, 1890	New York Giants	1880–1892	[41]
Glavine, TomTom Glavine	305	000000002007-08-05-0000August 5, 2007	New York Mets	1987–2008	[42]
Johnson, RandyRandy Johnson	303	000000002009-06-04-0000June 4, 2009	San Francisco Giants	1988–2009	[43]
Wynn, EarlyEarly Wynn	300	000000001963-07-13-0000July 13, 1963	Cleveland Indians	1939–1963	[44]
Grove, LeftyLefty Grove	300	000000001941-07-25-0000July 25, 1941	Boston Red Sox	1925–1941	[45]

See also

• Baseball statistics
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in games started
• List of Major League Baseball career wins leaders
• 3,000 strikeout club

Notes

References

General

Specific

300 win club
Cy Young Walter Johnson Christy Mathewson Grover Cleveland Alexander Warren Spahn Pud Galvin Kid Nichols Greg Maddux Roger Clemens Tim Keefe Steve Carlton John Clarkson Eddie Plank Nolan Ryan Don Sutton Phil Niekro Gaylord Perry Tom Seaver Charles Radbourn Mickey Welch Tom Glavine Randy Johnson Lefty Grove Early Wynn
Book:300 win club