In all the scant objective criteria for the Baseball Hall of Fame, nothing has been more true than a pitcher winning 300 games. Twenty-four men have accomplished this feat.
1. Cy Young – 511
2. Walter Johnson – 417
3. Pete (Grover Cleveland) Alexander – 373
3. Christy Mathewson – 373
5. Pud Galvin – 365
6. Warren Spahn – 363
7. Kid Nichols – 361
8. Greg Maddux – 355
9. Roger Clemens – 354
10. Tim Keefe – 342
11. Steve Carlton – 329
12. John Clarkson – 328
13. Eddie Plank – 326
14. Nolan Ryan – 324
14. Don Sutton – 324
16. Phil Niekro – 318
17. Gaylord Perry – 314
18. Tom Seaver – 311
19. Old Hoss Radbourn – 309
20. Mickey Welch – 307
21. Tom Glavine – 305
22. Randy Johnson – 303
23. Lefty Grove – 300
Early Wynn – 300
All of them are in the Hall of Fame except Clemens and Randy Johnson (who will be on the ballot for the first time next year).
It takes an extra-ordinary and productive career to win 300 games in the major leagues. A pitcher would have to average 15 wins over 20 full seasons. And considering that most pitchers in five man rotations start 33-35 games at most, a candidate for the 300 win club needs to be the pitcher of record in more than half their games (more like 75% when losses are factored in). That means that a pitcher needs to throw deep in each and every game in order to get the win. And in an era of pitch counts, that does not happen much anymore.
The debate is also whether there will be another 300 game winner. Probably not. The closest acctive players with the most wins are far behind, such as Tim Wakefield – 200, Roy Halladay – 203, Tim Hudson – 205, Livan Hernandez – 178, CC Sabathia – 205 (33) Sabathia is the youngest at age 33. Hudson and Hernandez are 38. Sabathia would have to average 13.5 wins for the next 7 seasons to get to 300 wins. Considering his recent injury history and the amount of innings already pitched, it is doubtful he could reach 300.
So it is probable that Randy Johnson will be the last 300 hitter to be elected to the Hall of Fame (as voters are trending against alleged steroid uses becoming hall of famers such as perception of Clemens).
Baseball probably will not want to push development of stud pitchers anymore. Baseball executives, like most sports managers, want more offense to drive casual fan interest.
