Early Wynn, the Hall of Fame right-hander who won 300 games over 23 seasons, dominating American League batters with a legendary meanness to match his talent, died Sunday night at an assisted-living center in Venice, Fla. He was 79.

The cause was complications of a stroke, Wynn's business manager, Dave Baudouin, said.

When he made his debut in the major leagues with the Washington Senators in 1939, Wynn, a fastball pitcher from the Alabama cotton fields, was ordered by Manager Bucky Harris to knock down every batter he got two strikes on or face a $25 fine.

''It didn't matter if the hitter was DiMaggio or Ted Williams,'' Wynn would recall. ''I was making $350 a month. I couldn't afford giving up $25.''

Two decades later, Wynn was still knocking batters down, but he had added a curveball, slider and knuckleball, prompting Williams to call him ''the toughest pitcher I ever faced.''

Wynn was a 20-game winner five times and an All-Star every season from 1955 through 1960. After eight years with the lowly Washington Senators, he teamed up with Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Mike Garcia to give the Cleveland Indians one of baseball's greatest pitching rotations. In pitching the 1959 Chicago White Sox to the franchise's first pennant in 40 years, he went 22-10 and won the Cy Young award as baseball's top pitcher at age 39. When he retired after the 1963 season, he had pitched longer than anyone else in baseball history.

A 6-foot, 200-pounder with a broad chest and thick legs, Wynn delivered all of his pitches with the same seemingly effortless motion in compiling a career record of 300-244 with a 3.54 earned run average.

Wynn never hesitated to whistle a pitch past a hitter's ear.

''That space between the white lines -- that's my office, that's where I conduct my business,'' he said of home plate. ''You take a look at the batter's box, and part of it belongs to the hitter. But when he crowds in just that hair, he's stepping into my office, and nobody comes into my office without an invitation when I'm going to work.''

A native of Hartford, Ala., Wynn showed up at a Senators tryout camp as a 17-year-old high school junior, determined to escape a life picking cotton and peanuts. He was signed for $100 a month, began pitching in the Florida State League and never did finish high school.

He joined the Senators after three years in the minors and became one of their top starting pitchers, relying on his fastball.

His career began to flourish in 1949 after he was traded to the Indians and was taught to throw breaking balls by their pitching coach, Mel Harder, a star right-hander of the 1930's.

Wynn led the American League in e.r.a. in 1950 with a mark of 3.20. He tied Lemon for the league lead in victories in 1954, with 23, as Cleveland beat out the Yankees for the pennant by winning a league-record 111 games. But he was the loser in Game 2 of the World Series as the Indians were swept by the New York Giants.

Although he led the league in strikeouts in 1957, Wynn was traded to the White Sox after the season. He topped the league in strikeouts again in 1958. After pitching Chicago to a pennant in 1959, he won Game 1 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was hit hard in two other Series starts.

Although long plagued by gout, Wynn kept pitching, and he got victory No. 299 on Sept. 8, 1962. But in his final three starts that season, he was unable to become the 14th pitcher in major league history to reach the 300 mark.

Wynn was released by the White Sox after going 7-15, then was signed by the Indians for a second stint on May 31, 1963. He reached the 300-victory milestone on July 13 when he left after five innings with a 5-4 lead against the Kansas City Athletics.

''I never slept the night before; the gout was killing me,'' Wynn said afterward. He expressed gratitude to his manager, Birdie Tebbetts, for lifting him for a pinch-hitter because ''I might have fallen on my face. I was exhausted.''

Wynn retired after that season and became the Indians' pitching coach, succeeding Harder, his former mentor.

He later served as a coach for the Minnesota Twins and a broadcaster for the Toronto Blue Jays and White Sox. He also campaigned to secure enhanced pension benefits for old-time players.

He is survived by a daughter, Sherry Van Tilburg, and a son, Joe Early Wynn, both of Venice; a half-sister, and three grandchildren.

Wynn, who entered the Hall of Fame in 1972, was remembered as much for his relentlessness as for his 300 victories.

''Every hitter I face is a man trying to take money out of my pocket,'' he said. ''Every hitter is an enemy.''

Wynn was incensed whenever a batter drove the ball through the mound, as first baseman Mickey Vernon, his teammate with the Senators and Indians, could attest.

''We were roommates and good friends,'' Vernon remembered. ''After I was traded back to Washington, I got four hits off of him the first time I faced him, the last one knocking the glove off his hand. When I got to first base, he was steaming. He looked over and said, 'Roommate or not, you've got to go in the dirt seat next time I see you.' Sure enough, the next time I faced him, the first pitch was up over my head -- to let me know he hadn't forgotten.''

Wynn was supposedly asked if he would throw at his own mother.

His reply: ''It would depend on how well she was hitting.''

Early Wynn Jr