The 300 Club

324
DON SUTTON (1966-88)
The former Dodger knew early on that he wanted to be a broadcaster after he retired, so he began to practice by sitting in the dugout on his days off and doing play-by-play into a tape recorder. He joined the Braves' crew in 1989, the year after he retired, and now works 150 games a year. "I never envisioned myself just packing up and going off and running a dive boat," says Sutton, 59. "I always assumed I would have to work, and if I was lucky, it would be in this sport."

311
TOM SEAVER (1967-86)
When not broadcasting his annual slate of 50 Mets games, the two-time Cy Young Award winner, 59, returns to Napa Valley, Calif., to tend to the three acres of Cabernet grapes on his property. He'll be ready to produce his first wine in 2005 but hasn't decided if he will have his own label or sell his harvest to someone else. "It's very much like baseball," he says of his vineyard. "It develops over the course of a season. And then it all gets pruned back, and the next year you start all over again."

329
STEVE CARLTON (1965-88)
One of the hardest pitchers to hit remains, even in retirement, the hardest to catch. While declining virtually every interview request since 1974, the former Phillies great, 59, embraces the quiet of Durango, Colo., where he makes his home. The winningest living pitcher is an avid golfer, playing four to five rounds a week at the Dalton Ranch Club.

324
NOLAN RYAN (1966-93)
Baseball's strikeout king has three Texas cattle ranches and is a majority owner of two Astros minor league clubs as well as a bank in Round Rock. "I'm much busier now than I was as a player," says Ryan, 57.

314
GAYLORD PERRY (1962-83)
In his numerous personal appearances each year the former spitballer plays the country yarn-spinner, recounting tales about the slippery stuff. When not on the road, Perry, 65, splits time between his 38-acre home in Spruce Pine, N.C., where he runs a small livestock operation, and what he calls his "fishing home" on the Outer Banks.

322
ROGER CLEMENS (1984-)
When Clemens left Game 4 of the 2003 World Series after a seventh-inning strikeout, his career was over. Of that he was 99% sure. His plans changed two months later when his buddy, Andy Pettitte, signed with Clemens's hometown Astros, igniting a Rocket comeback. "It's been as good as I hoped," says Clemens, 42. "I'm glad I left that one percent open."

318
PHIL NIEKRO (1964-87)
When not fishing, the 65-year-old coaches pitching for an American Legion team. He makes a few trips each year to see the Braves, but he mostly follows his former team from his Flowery Branch, Ga., home, set on a lake. "I find the parking here easier," the old knuckleballer says. "The popcorn is free, and it's a pretty good seat."