Only twenty-three pitchers have won 300 or more career games since professional baseball started in 1869. Tom Glavine is the newest member.

Last night, August 5, 2007, Tom Glavine collected the 300th win of his illustrious career. What makes that so special?

The 300 Win Club is baseball’s most exclusive pitching fraternity. It has always been a very difficult goal to reach as evidenced by the mere 23 pitchers who have reached the 300 Win plateau. Over the past quarter-century, however, with the advent of the five man rotation and the common practice of removing pitchers after only 100 or 110 pitches, it has become virtually impossible to reach this career total. But a few bulldogs have been able to reach the milestone in the past five years.

Here is everything you need to know about the 300 Win Club.

Current Members of the 300 Win Club

1. Cy Young - 511 career wins

2. Walter Johnson - 416

3. Pete Alexander - 373

4. Christy Mathewson - 373

5. James Galvin - 364

6. Warren Spahn - 363

7. Kid Nichols - 361

8. Roger Clemens - 351

9. Timothy Keefe - 342

10. Greg Maddux - 340

11. Steve Carlton - 329

12. John Clarkson - 328

13. Eddie Plank - 326

14. Nolan Ryan - 324

15. Don Sutton - 324

16. Phil Neikro - 318

17. Gaylord Perry - 314

18. Tom Seaver - 311

19. Hoss Radbourn - 309

20. Mickey Welch - 307

21. Lefty Grove - 300

22. Early Wynn - 300

23. Tom Glavine - 300

Close, But Not Quite 300 Wins

Tommy John - 288

Bert Blyleven - 287

Robin Roberts - 286

Fergie Jenkins - 284

Jim Kaat - 283

Active Players Close to 300 Wins

Randy Johnson. The Big Unit has 284 career wins and is one of the five best pitchers to ever set foot on a mound. However, because of his chronically injured back and his 44 years of age, Johnson may not be able to pick up the 16 more victories that he needs to join the club.

Mike Mussina. New York Yankees pitcher Mussina has 246 wins. But he is only 38 years old and is still in the tail end of his prime. The Moose has an outside shot at 300. He could become the first 300 game winner who never won 20 games in a single season.

10 Essential Facts About the 300 Win Club

1. James Galvin was the first pitcher in baseball history to reach 300 wins for his career, when he defeated the Indianapolis Hoosiers 5-4 on September 4, 1888.

2. Kid Nichols was the youngest pitcher ever to reach 300 career wins, when he beat the Chicago Orphans (later the Cubs) by a score of 5-4 in 1900 when he was only 30 years old.

3. John Clarkson and Christy Mathewson are the only two pitchers to reach 300 wins before they appeared in 500 games.

4. Phil Neikro had only 31 career wins when he turned 30. He had just 197 wins when he turned 40. The great knuckleball pitcher was still able to collect 300 wins. Neikro picked up career win number 300 when he was 46 years, 6 months and 5 days old.

5. Cy Young also has the most career losses of any pitcher in history with 313.

6. Legendary screwball pitcher Christy Mathewson has the lowest career ERA (2.13) of any member of the 300 Win Club. Early Wynn has the highest ERA in the fraternity, at 3.54.

7. Nolan Ryan has ridden his legendary fastball to the most career strikeouts in the 300 Win Club, with 5,714 lifetime Ks.

8. Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn has the least career strikeouts in the club, with just 1,830.

9. During a career in which he won 324 games, Don Sutton only surpassed 20 wins one time, when he collected 21 victories for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1976. Sutton has the fewest 20 win seasons of any member of the 300 Win Club.

10. In sharp contrast to Sutton, Cy Young won more than 20 games fifteen times, and won more than 30 games in five different seasons.

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Click on the Link to read Tom Glavine Gets 300th Win, the 500 Home Run Club and the 3,000 Hit Club.