"Groucho Marx once said "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." However, if he was a pitcher, this is the ONE club he'd kill to get into- the 300 Win Club, the most rarefied club in baseball, a sport that is analyzed & re-analyzed by statisticians & non-stat-heads alike!!! But nearly everyone would agree that gaining membership into a club that numbers only 24, out of the tens of thousands of players who have ever pulled up a stirrup, is a remarkable accomplishment, indeed.
So why, you might ask, has no one thought to write extensively about this exclusive society, one that counts Cy Young, Warren Spahn, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Greg Maddux & Roger Clemens, but one in whose doors are closed to the likes of Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Fergie Jenkins, Robin Roberts & Juan Marichal?? Well, thankfully, baseball expert/author Dan Schlossberg has rectified that oversight, with his fantastic new book, "The 300 Club."
Covering every member of the club, from Pud Galvin to Early Wynn, Schlossberg is able to capture the lives of these incredible pitchers in a mere 12-20 pages each, where other authors have crafted far longer and less interesting bios over entire books. This captivating book explains why each pitcher achieved their entry, lists their stats and, most interestingly, includes the box score of each of their 300th win. Perhaps most impressive, Schlossberg interviewed each of the 10 living members, including some difficult subjects (my words, not the author's) such as Carlton & Seaver. It's like a modern version of "The Glory of Their Times" for the top pitchers of all-time!!
What makes this book so striking isn't just the excellent profiles of the pitchers who did make it into the club, but the thought that so many incredible pitchers from the past, as well as the present, will fall short- sometimes far short- of entry into this club for, perhaps, many years to come (unless Jamie Moyer pitches for another 5 years-LOL!!). Unlike the 500 home run club, those who have gained admittance into this club won't see the bar set higher, to, say, 400 wins, as many have speculated that 500 homers isn't enough to warrant entry into the Hall of Fame on the heals of so many PED-cheaters achieving that once rarefied air, in favor of, say, 600 homers as the new benchmark. In order to gain admittance into this club, one would have to win a minimum of 15 games per year, for 20 years, which means a combination of great health, incredible fortitude, and amazing consistency, something that most pitchers today will not achieve in a game run by pitch-counts, guaranteed contracts, expansion, smaller ballparks and stronger bats!!
In a nutshell, this is one book that will never go "out of style" - and will make a great gift for Father's Day, baseball fanatics and casual fans alike!!"
