300 Wins, 500 Home Runs

There have been only 3 seasons in Major League Baseball history when a pitcher with 300 career wins and a hitter with 500 career home runs played together for the same team. There is about to be a 4th.

Lefty Grove and Jimmie Foxx were teammates for 15 years, 9 with the Philadelphia Athletics and 6 with the Boston Red Sox. On July 25th 1941, Grove won his 300th and final game for the Boston Red Sox. A season earlier Foxx had hit his 500th of 534 career home runs, making 1941 the first time a 300 game winner and a 500 home run hitter shared the field as teammates. Grove retired after 1941, Foxx played only 3 more seasons.

After being released by the New York Mets on July 22nd 1965 after only 20 games, 44 year old Warren Spahn took his 360 career wins to the San Francisco Giants. On September 13th 1965 Willie Mays blasted his 500th career home run for the Giants in a game at the Astrodome, making Spahn and Mays the second set of teammates with 300 wins and 500 homers. Spahn only played in 16 games for the San Francisco Giants and retired after that 1965 season with 363 wins, while Mays played 8 more seasons and ended his career with 660 home runs.

Though each played most of their careers for other teams, Don Sutton and Reggie Jackson were teammates with the California Angels in 1985 and 1986. Jackson had belted his 500th homer on September 17th 1984, so when Sutton won his 300th game on June 18th 1986 the two became just the third pair of 300 win, 500 home run teammates. After 1986 Reggie Jackson played 1 more season with the A's and then retired with 563 home runs, while Sutton played 2 more seasons with the Angels and Dodgers and finished with 324 career victories.

As of July 29th 2004, the Chicago Cubs roster includes Sammy Sosa who has hit 561 career home runs, and Greg Maddux who has won 299 games in his career. When Maddux wins his 300th game, he and Sosa will be the fourth pair of 300/500 teammates in major league history. Maddux has 2 more seasons on his contract and Sosa has 1 more and an option for '06, so it looks like this pair might be the first to play together for multiple seasons after achieving 300 wins and 500 homers.

Here are all of the other pairings of members of the 300 win club with members of the 500 home run club, when they had not yet both reached their milestones.

Pitchers who won 300 games while being teammates with future 500 homer hitters:

1939-1941 Lefty Grove and Ted Williams; Boston Red Sox
1952-1964 Warren Spahn and Eddie Mathews; Boston/Milwaukee Braves
1954-1964 Warren Spahn and Hank Aaron; Milwaukee Braves
1965 Warren Spahn and Willie McCovey; San Francisco Giants
1972-1986 Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt; Philadelphia Phillies
1989-1993 Nolan Ryan and Rafael Palmeiro; Texas Rangers

Hitters who hit 500 home runs while being teammates with future 300 win pitchers:

1962-1971 Willie Mays and Gaylord Perry; San Francisco Giants
1964-1974 Hank Aaron and Phil Niekro; Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves
1972 Frank Robinson and Don Sutton; Los Angeles Dodgers
1972-1973 Willie Mays and Tom Seaver; New York Mets
1973-1974 Frank Robinson and Nolan Ryan; California Angels
1974-75 Frank Robinson and Gaylord Perry; Cleveland Indians

Teammates who would reach 300 wins and 500 homers after being separated:

1989 Nolan Ryan and Sammy Sosa; Texas Rangers
1964-1966 Phil Niekro and Eddie Mathews; Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves
1962-1971 Gaylord Perry and Willie McCovey; San Francisco Giants
1980 Gaylord Perry and Reggie Jackson; New York Yankees
1986-1988 Greg Maddux and Rafael Palmeiro; Chicago Cubs (assuming Maddux wins 1 more game)