The thing that strikes Tom Seaver the most are the names not on the list, the omissions that stamp his exclusive little club in platinum, rather than gold.
“Bob Gibson! Bob Feller! Whitey Ford! So many great pitchers,” Seaver says. “So many incredible names. Sandy Koufax! Fergie Jenkins! Jim Palmer! Carl Hubbell! I mean, you’re talking about legends, and these are fellows who, for one reason or another, never got a chance for 300 wins.”
Seaver, the greatest Met of all, the best pitcher of his generation, one of the most serious students of the position across all of his adult lifetime and a teammate of Roger Clemens on the 1986 Red Sox, shrugs his shoulders and smiles a distant smile.
“That’s what’s humbling,” he says. “That’s what makes you shake your head, when you realize: ‘Look at the company I’m keeping.’ “
As the seven living members of the 300-victory club prepare to welcome a new, honored guest – possibly as early as tomorrow afternoon, when Clemens tries to add a poetic twist by earning No. 300 against his old friends from Boston – they do so with the intimate knowledge that theirs is a clubhouse whose windows have already been shuttered, whose front door is creaking to a close, as well.
From 1901-1963, 14 men reached or shattered the 300 ceiling. In the 30 years since, that total has swollen by only six. It may take another 100 years before we see six more. And, in truth, once Clemens is joined by Greg Maddux and, possibly, Tom Glavine in the next few years, it’s conceivable the 300-win club’s entrance requirements may make Augusta National’s look like an open-door policy by comparison.
“It’s a long haul, and it separates the men from the boys when you win 300,” says Warren Spahn. “You don’t win 300 games without being pretty darn good. But you have to remember, to win 300 games you also have to lose 200 or more. It means you were always willing and able to go out every fourth day and do your job.
“Now, with guys going every fifth day, it makes it that much easier to stay healthy but that much harder to win a lot of games.”
That’s what bonds these men, and binds these men. Any pitcher can get lucky and throw a no-hitter – hell, Steve Busby did it twice. Any pitcher can trap lightning for one year – Steve Stone once won 25 games for the Baltimore Orioles. And a lot of guys can stick around long enough to win 200 games. Ask Chuck Finley.
“Three-hundred, though . . . that’s different,” says Gaylord Perry. “That means something different altogether. Even now, thinking of it gives me goose pimples. Even now, every May 6, my son calls me and says, ‘You know what day it is?’ Are you kidding? It’s been 21 years and I remember it like it happened 10 minutes ago. It was the best day of my life in baseball.”
There is no cool detachment about this milestone for these men. Maybe that’s the wisdom of years – Ryan, at 56, is the baby of the bunch; Spahn, at 82, the dean. More likely, it’s the knowledge that sustaining excellence with health is such an elusive parlay.
Ford’s arm gave out on him. So did Koufax’s. Gibson suffered a damaging broken leg late in his career. Feller was felled by World War II. And then there is Dwight Gooden, Clemens’ contemporary, who had a record of 100-39 on his 25th birthday, Nov. 6, 1989, and seemed as sure a sure thing to reach 300 as anyone ever born. Yet, Doc never even made it to 200.
“Seven thousand pitchers in history, and when Roger gets there only 21 will have won 300?” Phil Niekro asks. “When I was a kid, I would have killed for the chance just to pitch 300 games in the big leagues, let alone win them.”
Adds Nolan Ryan: “The guys I always admired on the other side of the plate were guys who performed with excellence over a long period of time – Willie Mays, Henry Aaron. Getting to 300 tells me you did your job about as well and as long as they did theirs.”
It also changes you. Ryan knows. Winning 300 made him something more than a freak who could still hit 99 on the gun at age 45. For Don Sutton and Niekro, it guaranteed them a spot in the Hall of Fame, rather than up against the window with their noses pressed up against it, the way Tommy John (288 wins), Bert Blyleven (287) and Jim Kaat (283) are destined to spend their baseball afterlife.
“It was a milestone that very few pitchers achieved, and it assured you of election to the Hall of Fame,” says Steve Carlton in his inimitable, sparse style.
“What Roger will find out is that winning 299 and winning 300 is like the difference between going to bed on Christmas Eve and waking up on Christmas Day,” says Sutton, who ought to know.
What he will also discover is that the men who’ve preceded him to the other side of the threshold will welcome him with warm words and a warmer embrace. Make no mistake, Clemens is their kind of pitcher, tough, steely-eyed, gritty, “the kind of guy who would’ve succeeded in a four-man rotation every bit as much as a five-man,” Spahn says.
Even if Clemens has never pitched as many as 300 innings in one season, the way so many of them did – Carlton threw 346 1/3 innings in 1972, which just thinking about makes Seaver wince – there is the idea that if he had to, he could. If asked, he would.
He’s one of them.
“Roger has all the qualities of a 300-game winner and a Hall-of-Fame pitcher,” Carlton says. “He is a tough, aggressive, hard thrower who has kept himself in great condition throughout his career.”
But also a thinking-man’s pitcher, too, something that especially appeals to Ryan, probably the pitcher most closely identified to Clemens. Both are Texans and fiercely proud of it. Both threw gas as kids, and continued to throw it into their 40s.
“But neither of us would have survived just with our fastballs,” Ryan says. “I developed a change-up. Roger has the split-finger. You have to adjust to keep going. And you have to keep going to get to 300.”
And tomorrow, if Clemens does get there, if their ranks are expanded by one, there is a good chance the loudest roar you hear won’t be from inside a sold-out Yankee Stadium but from the living rooms, dens and broadcast perches of seven proud men eager to welcome an eighth.
“Roger,” Perry says, “makes us an even classier group than we already are. Let me be the first to shake his hand.”
When he does, Clemens can close the door behind him. Not completely shut, perhaps. But almost.
BASEBALL’S LIVING 300 CLUB
PITCHER: Warren Spahn
LIFETIME RECORD: 363-245, 3.09 ERA
DATE HE WON 300: Aug. 11, 1961
DETAILS: The Milwaukee Braves held Spahn out of a start against the Dodgers two days earlier so he could go for No. 300 against the Cubs at home in County Stadium. Spahn got Jim McAnany to fly out to Hank Aaron to wrap the game up in the top of the ninth.
PITCHER: Gaylord Perry
LIFETIME RECORD: 314-265, 3.10 ERA
DATE HE WON 300: May 6, 1982
DETAILS: Perry, pitching for the Seattle Mariners, becomes the first pitcher in 19 years to join the 300-win club by allowing nine hits in a 7-3 win against the Yankees at the Kingdome.
PITCHER: Steve Carlton
LIFETIME RECORD: 329-244, 3.22 ERA
DATE HE WON 300: Sept. 23, 1983
DETAILS: Carlton allows seven hits across eight innings and strikes out 12 to push the Phillies to a 6-2 win against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, eliminating the defending World Champions. He declines to speak to reporters afterward.
PITCHER: Tom Seaver
LIFETIME RECORD: 311-205, 2.86 ERA
DATE HE WON 300: Aug. 4, 1985
DETAILS: On Phil Rizzuto Day at Yankee Stadium, Seaver, pitching for the White Sox, scatters six hits in beating the Yankees, 4-1. He retires Don Baylor on a lazy fly to left field on his 145th and final pitch of the day.
PITCHER: Phil Niekro
LIFETIME RECORD: 318-274, 3.35 ERA
DATE HE WON 300: Oct. 6, 1985
DETAILS: After failing four times to reach the magic number, Niekro becomes the first player to win No. 300 in a Yankees uniform by blanking the Blue Jays on four hits, 8-0, at Exhibition Stadium in the final game of the ’85 season. He strikes out Jeff Burroughs to seal the deal.
PITCHER: Don Sutton
LIFETIME RECORD: 324-246, 3.26 ERA
DATE HE WON 300: June 18, 1986
DETAILS: Sutton, pitching for the California Angels, threw a three-hitter, going the distance in beating Texas, 5-1, at Anaheim Stadium. He strikes out Gary Ward to end the game.
PITCHER: Nolan Ryan
LIFETIME RECORD: 324-292, 3.19 ERA
DATE HE WON 300: July 31, 1990
DETAILS: Ryan threw 146 pitches but could only make it through 7 2/3 innings; he did strike out eight in earning an 11-3 win over the Brewers at County Stadium in Milwaukee.
Ballpark figures
Roger Clemens fires away Wednesday night in his 99th career win at Fenway. Here’s a park-by-park breakdown of the Rocket’s 299 major-league victories:
STADIUM CITY WINS
Fenway Park Boston 99
Yankee Stadium New York 46
SkyDome Toronto 28
Edison/Big A Anaheim 13
Kingdome Seattle 11
Metrodome Minnesota 11
Kaufman/Royals Kansas City 10
County Stadium Milwaukee 9
Municipal Stadium Cleveland 8
Tiger Stadium Detroit 8
Oakland Coliseum Oakland 8
Arlington Stadium Texas 7
Memorial Stadium Baltimore 6
Camden Yards Baltimore 5
Tropicana Field Tampa Bay 5
Jacobs Field Cleveland 4
Comiskey (old) Chicago 4
Comiskey (new) Chicago 4
Comerica Park Detroit 3
Exhibition Stadium Toronto 3
Safeco Field Seattle 3
The Ballpark Texas 2
Pro Player Florida 1
Olympic Stadium Montreal 1
