Have We Seen the Last of Baseball's 300-Game Winners

Have We Seen the Last of Baseball's 300-Game Winners?

By Dan Schlossberg - To win 300 games, a pitcher needs 20 seasons of 15 wins or 15 seasons of 20 wins. To put it mildly, that makes it a herculean task - even for the most accomplished hurler. Consider the long list of accomplished athletes who fell short. Bob Feller, one of the best pitchers of any era, finished at 266 because he lost four prime years while serving in the U.S. Navy World War II.  To win 300 games, a pitcher needs 20 seasons of 15 wins or 15 seasons of 20 wins. To put it mildly, that makes it a herculean task - even for the most accomplished hurler.

Consider the long list of accomplished athletes who fell short. Bob Feller, one of the best pitchers of any era, finished at 266 because he lost four prime years while serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Robin Roberts, whose tenure overlapped with Feller's, fell 14 wins short.

Fellow Hall of Famers Bob Gibson, Jim Palmer, and Ferguson Jenkins aren't on the list either. Nor are Bert Blyleven, Tommy John, or Jim Kaat, all of whom were within a single 20-win season.

In fact, only 17 pitchers from baseball's modern era, which began with the creation of the current two-league structure in 1901, were able to win 300. Add six men who worked exclusively in the 19th century plus Cy Young, whose career spanned the turn of the century, and the list swells to 24 - still just a tiny fraction of all men who have toed a major-league pitching rubber.

Randy Johnson, the most recent man to crash the club, got his 300th win on June 4, 2009.

He joined Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Roger Clemens as 300-game winners of recent highlights, all joining the group in the 21st century.

Whether anyone else will join them is questionable at best. Mike Mussina retired with 270 victories after the 2008 campaign and Andy Pettitte, his teammate with Jamie Moyer, the oldest man in the majors last year, is even more ancient - and therefore more unlikely to join the elite fraternity of 300-game winners.

Such talents as CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay, and Johann Santana all face enormous obstacles. All work in five-man rotations and work at a time when starters seldom finish. With at least four days between starts, and with managers juggling relief pitchers frantically over the final innings, even the best starters seldom win 20 games in a season, with 2009 as a prime example Adam Wainwright led the majors with 19 wins).

In addition, pitchers are paid so well for their work that few have the incentive to remain active long enough to reach 300. They'd rather spend time with their families, watching their kids play ball in their backyards.

It wasn't always this simple: before the advent of free agency in 1976, pitchers worked for one-year contracts and often pitched through pain for fear of losing their jobs. They also took pride in going all the way - completing games they started.

DAN SCHLOSSBERG - Tel. 201-791-3160  email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

   Web:  www.danschlossberg.com