300 WIN CLUB

In Major League Baseball, the '300 win club' is an informal term applied to the group of pitchers who have won 300 or more games in their careers. There are currently 23 pitchers to have accomplished this feat.

Contents

History

Recent Decline in New Membership

Potential New Members

Other active pitchers with more than 200 wins

Members

Closest Active Players

History

The club's "founding member" was Pud Galvin in 1888. Six pitchers entered the club in the 19th century, with a seventh (Cy Young) joining in 1901. Early in the history of professional baseball, starting rotations of two men were commonplace, giving the best pitchers far more chances to earn wins than in today's game. Conversely, the rigor required for a two-man rotation meant that most pitching careers didn't last more than a decade or so (Cy Young being the major exception). In addition, the medical treatments then available were minimal; if a pitcher 'blew out his arm' then his career was over. Four more pitchers would join the club in the first quarter of the 20th century.
However, only three pitchers scored their 300th win between 1924 and 1982; for two of them (Early Wynn and Lefty Grove), it was the final win of their career and they both struggled in their last season to achieve it. This death of 300-game winners may be explained by the offensive explosion due to the abolition of the spitball in 1921, later changes in the baseball, World War II military service (in the cases of Bob Feller and Red Ruffing), and the advent of the home run as a major part of the game, thanks mainly to Babe Ruth. Once the home run became commonplace, physical and mental demands on pitchers dramatically increased, leading to the creation of the four-man starting rotation.
Between 1982 and 1990, the 300-win club gained six more members. This may be partly explained as a consequence of the era of free agency that began in the mid-1970s. Free agency led to unheard-of player salaries, which encouraged many older pitchers to stay in the game longer than they might have in the past. Another part of the explanation is increasing sophistication of training methods and sports medicine, which allowed players to maintain a high competitive level for a longer time. A very good example of this is Phil Niekro, who was still under 200 wins at his 40th birthday, yet finished his career in his late 40s with 318 wins. Many of the pitchers who joined in this era, such as Nolan Ryan, Don Sutton, and Phil Niekro, only had a couple of 20+ win seasons and mainly achieved the feat by pitching well into their 40s (however, all 3 pitchers are in the Baseball Hall of Fame).

Recent Decline in New Membership

However, other changes in the game in the last part of the 20th century have made the 300-game winner an endangered species again, perhaps more so than it was during the mid-20th century. The four-man starting rotation has given way to a five-man rotation, which gives starting pitchers still fewer chances to pick up wins. The physical and mental demands on starting pitchers have also increased yet again, thanks to the explosion in offense that has taken place since the 1990s. As a result, managers are much quicker to put in relief pitchers than in the past, even when the starting pitcher is winning the game, increasing the likelihood that a pitcher loses a chance at a win in ways that are beyond his control. To put it in perspective, the 2006 season was the first time in a non-strike-shortened season that neither league had a 20-game winner [1].

Potential New Members

Randy Johnson

As of August 2007, the active pitcher closest to 300 wins is Randy Johnson, who has 284 wins. Johnson is 43 years old but could still reach 300 if he successfully pitches past his mid-40s as Phil Niekro and Nolan Ryan did. However, Johnson has not pitched effectively in 2006 and 2007 compared to his past standards. Johnson has suffered re-occurring back injuries that have plagued him, requiring two surgeries to fix herniated disks. On June 29 2007, he was placed on the 60-day disabled list, effectively ending his season. If Johnson manages to recover from his injuries, he could achieve the mark in the 2008 season.

Mike Mussina

Mike Mussina, who is 38 years old, currently has 247 wins. However, he has pitched ineffectively recently and was dropped from the New York Yankees' starting rotation.

Pedro Martinez

Pedro Martinez has 207 wins and was expected to have a chance at reaching 300, but injuries have greatly reduced his chances of doing so.

Curt Schilling

Curt Schilling has 215 wins and turned 40 in November 2006, but recent injury problems will likely halt his career well shy of the total.

Other active pitchers with more than 200 wins

The other active pitchers with over 200 career wins are David Wells, Jamie Moyer, Kenny Rogers, and John Smoltz. However, all of these pitchers are in their 40s and have relatively low win totals (as of September 7, 2007, Wells has 236, Moyer has 228, Rogers 210, and Smoltz 206), which makes it unlikely that any of them will reach 300 wins.
In fact, if the current philosophy of micro-management of pitch counts and frequent use of relief pitching continues or accelerates, it is likely that even achieving 200 career wins will become less common, perhaps occurring as often as 300-win careers did during the 1980's.

Members

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'Bold' text denotes an active player.''

Pitcher	Wins	Date of 300th	Teams
	511	July 3, 1901	Cle (NL), Bos (AL), StL (NL), Bos (NL), Cle (AL), Bos (NL)
	417	May 14, 1920	Was (AL)
	373	September 20, 1924	Phi (NL), Chi (NL), StL (NL)
	373	June 28, 1912	NY Giants (NL), Cin
	363	August 11, 1961	Bos/Mil, NY (NL), SF
	361	June 4, 1888	Buf, Pit (Amer. Assoc.), Pit (NL), Pit (Players League), StL (NL)
	361	September 7, 1900	Bos, StL, Phi (NL)
	354	June 13, 2003	Bos, Tor, NY (AL), Hou (NL), NY (AL)
	345	August 7, 2004	Chi (NL), Atl, Chi (NL), LA (NL), SD
	342	June 4, 1890	Troy, NY (Amer. Assoc.), NY Giants (NL), Phi
	329	September 23, 1983	StL (NL), Phi, SF, Chi (AL), Cle, Min
	328	September 21, 1892	Worc, Chi (NL), Bos (NL), Cle (NL)
	326	September 11, 1915	Phi (AL), StL (Fed. League), StL (AL)
	324	July 31, 1990	NY Mets (NL), Cal (AL), Hou (NL), Tex (AL)
	324	June 18, 1986	LA (NL), Hou, Mil, Oak, Cal
	318	October 6, 1985	Mil/Atl (NL), NY (AL), Cle, Tor
	314	May 6, 1982	SF, Cle, Tex, SD, NY (AL), Atl, Sea, KC
	311	August 4, 1985	NY Mets (NL), Cin, Chi (AL), Bos
	310	May 14, 1891	Prov, Bos (NL), Bos (Players League), Cin
	307	August 11, 1890	Troy, NY Giants (NL)
	303	August 5, 2007	Atl, NY Mets (NL)
	300	July 25, 1941	Phi (AL), Bos (AL)
	300	July 13, 1963	Was, Cle, Chi (AL)

Closest Active Players

Pitcher	Wins	Teams	Date of Birth
	284	Mtl, Sea, Hou, Ari, NY (AL), Ari	09/10/1963
	247	Bal, NY (AL)	12/08/1968
	237	Tor, Det, Cin, Bal, NY (AL), Tor, Chi (AL), SD, Bos, SD, LA (NL)	05/20/1963
	228	Chi (NL), Tex, StL, Bal, Bos, Sea, Phi	11/18/1962
	215	Bal, Hou, Phi, Ari, Bos	11/14/1966

Stats as of September 8 2007.