Taking a bite out of hitters: 'Mad Dog' Greg Maddux is the thinking man's pitcher, yet he has kept it simple on his way to milestone victory No. 300

Sporting News, The, August 9, 2004 by Dennis Tuttle

Winning 300 games in a major league career is heady stuff, but Cy Young made it an almost run-of-the-mill number. He won more than 300 games--317 to be exact, according to STATS Inc., after he turned 30 years old.

Young, of course, wound up with a record 511 victories--a figure worthy of having a pitching award named in your honor. He pitched in the big leagues from 1890 through 1911.

At first glance, Young's middle-to-late-career success appears to be one of those long-ago occurrences that couldn't possibly happen in the modern era. True, no one else has posted 300 victories after turning 30, but STATS Inc. reports that two other pitchers--relative latecomers--won more than 250 games after hitting the 30 mark. Phil Niekro, whose career ended in 1987, notched 287 of his 318 victories after turning 30. Warren Spahn, whose last season was 1965, won 363 games overall--277 after he was 30. Young and Spahn retired at age 44, and Niekro quit at 48.

Greg Maddux's 300th victory will be his 149th win after reaching the ripe or age of 30. Maddux is a mere 38 now.--Joe Hoppel