My, how fast 18 years goes by. Mike "The Moose" Mussina is set to hang up his pinstripes and cleats. Let the great debate begin: HALL OF FAMER OR NOT?
He finally got a 20-win season under his belt and his seventh Gold Glove. He was a first-round pick of the Orioles in 1990 and will finish his career with a 270-153 record and 3.68 ERA. Mussina's 2,813 career strikeouts rank sixth among active pitchers and 19th all-time.
The debate begins now because of the "unofficial" acceptance to the Hall of Fame being 300 wins.
Here is a guy that did nothing for 18 years but go out and pitch when asked. There were very few times in his career when injury prevented him from taking the mound. He was never a distraction in the clubhouse, was a team leader, mentor to the pitchers and appears to be a good family man.
Then there is the fact that he had a good relationship with the sports media. Which, at times, holds the real key to election into the Hall of Fame. Just ask Jim Rice!
With the way pitchers are used today, we may never see too many more 300-win pitchers. Therefore, when looking at his entire career stats and championships, getting onto the ballot in five years will make voting quite interesting.
He should be in the New York Yankee Hall of Fame. Whether he makes it to Cooperstown or not is another story. Given the state of baseball today I would vote YES. But, then again, I don't have an official ballot to cast.
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about 1 month ago
no doubt Hall of Famer......or the voters are gay
about 1 month ago
He deserves it, when joe torre took him out of rotation, he went out quietly, even pitched in elimation game and through out never complained. This yr he was awesome if wasnt of his 20 wins yanks would have been below .500 and god knows who would have been fired by now.
from about 1 month ago
Thank you for your feedback. As I stated, I would vote Yes
about 1 month ago
everyone wants to ban mark mcgwire, sammy sosa, and barry bonds from the hall for using steroids. Mussina made his living pitching in the AL East during the height of the Steroid era. Mussina never got seriously hurt and was a model citizen while being the poster boy for consistency during his major league career.The fact is he is 117 games over .500 for his career while battling the best hitters possibly roiding in the best division in baseball. If the baseball hall of fame is going to ban bonds and others like him for using performance enhancing drugs, then players like Mussina whose numbers some might feel fall are a little below hall credentials need to be viewed in a brighter light. His accomplishments become that much more impressive. Moose was always just a little short, one strike short of a perfect game, one game short of a world series title, one season or two short of 300 wins. let him in, lets not short the guy again, he deserves it. way to go moose
from about 1 month ago
Well done....
about 1 month ago
also would like to add the only other pitchers of his era(who came from college) with more wins were roger clemens and randy johnson
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