Club History
Members' Current Standings
|
|
Members' Current Standings
|
|
|
|
|
THE
THREE
HUNDRED
CLUB
The oldest
continuously active contest in Sport One early spring
day in 1949, Germain G. Glidden sent a sealed envelope to his
brother, Nathaniel F. Glidden, with the following note: "Enclosed in
the sealed envelope is a list of ten major league batters whose sum
total average will bat higher than any ten you can name by the
deadline of May 9. Also enclosed is a ten spot. If you like the
idea, pick your ten tigers and then at the end of the season we'll
see who won." His brother "Nat" liked the idea so much that he told
Dick Mullowney about it, and by the May 9th deadline four others
joined the fray, and the Three Hundred Club was born! The following year,
an eleven-inch sterling Tiffany bowl was presented to the winner,
engraved with his name and average. Renamed the Germain G. Glidden
Bowl in honor of our Founder at his passing in 1999, the Bowl has
been engraved with the name and average of every winner every year
since 1951. Each year, at the annual banquet, the winner is
presented with the Bowl for the following off-season, along with a
similarly engraved pewter replica he gets to keep (plus first-prize
winnings of $500, of course).
In the Club's history, there has been one
three-time winner:
Duncan Bruce won in 1997, 2008, and
2009.
There have been 5 two-time winners:
Tad Jones, Jr., won back to back in 1953 and 1954, Jim Rohde won in
1969 and 2000, Travis B. Nutting won in 1993 and again in 2001, Jim
Klein won in 1985 and 2003, and Richard Sanderson, the current
Titleholder, won in 2002 and in 2010. Jim Klein and his
dad Phil, an original Member, are the only father-son combo ever to
win the prize.
Tad
Jones, after winning $700.00 in 1953, suggested that first prize
thereafter be limited to $500.00 so that more Three Hundred Club
members could win cash prizes down the line. Thus, when he won
$500.00 in 1954 he philosophized, "Guess I should have kept my big
mouth shut!" Today, first prize remains $500.00. We hand out the
remaining dues money each year, less expenses, as prizes. Annual
dues remain $50, with a one-time initiation fee of $25, due with the
Member's ballot of picks on the second Monday in May. You can find
more details by visiting our Rules page.
In 1955, we realized that with so many
Members, we had to figure 4 decimal places for the overall batting
average. In our history, the highest winning average was Joel
Crowell of East Dennis, MA, whose team batted .3441 in 1994; the
lowest average was "Bunny" Sears of Hamilton, MA, whose team batted
.3001 in 1968. (We note that the following season was the year that
Major League Baseball lowered the mound). For information on past
winners of the Germain G. Glidden Bowl and past years' results,
please visit our Hall of Fame page. In 2001, to conform to the
change in Major League Baseball rules, we changed batters’
eligibility from 400 At-Bats to 502 Plate Appearances.
The Three Hundred Club today offers five
additional contest prizes to our Members: Pick the four pitchers
with the most total victories for the season (1957), the four
sluggers with the most homers (1967), the hitter with the most RBI's
and the number of RBIs
(1982); the runner with the most stolen bases
and the number of SBs
(1994); and the Dimaggio award -- the longest consecutive-game
hitting streak of the season (1999). In 2004, we added a
weekly batters prize of $20 for that Member whose picks performed
best over the course of the prior week. We also added the weekly
"Perfect Ballot," consisting of those major league players who led,
season to date, in each Club Contest. Additionally, we instituted
electronic payment along with a simplified electronic ballot. All current
contests will continue as they always have. As we enter our
sixty-first season, we welcome all good baseball fans who'd like to
try the challenge of picking "ten major league batters whose sum
total average will bat higher than any ten [anybody else] can name
by the deadline." To this day, The Three Hundred Club remains, in
the words of Germain Glidden, "a non-profit, fun-making
organization." Board of Directors: Germain G. Glidden
1913-1999 |