Mussina is a Hall of Famer
Posted: Friday, November 21, 2008 10:07 AM
I’ve watched Mike Mussina for most of a career that ended Thursday, the last nine at fairly close range when he was playing for the Yankees. And it wasn’t until this year that I ever thought I’d write these words: Mike Mussina is a Hall of Famer.
I’ve got to credit – or blame – my friend, EastsideAl, for being forced to that conclusion. I’d always viewed Mussina through the lens of what he didn’t do. EastsideAl made me change the lens and think about what he has done.
The old lens showed a pitcher with great talent who always came up just short of the milestone by which we judge greatness. He obviously had the talent to win 20 games, but until this year had never won more than 19. Except for 1992, the first full season of his career, he never had a sub-3.00 ERA. He was the ace of Baltimore’s staff, but was basically the No. 3 starter in most of his years with the Yankees. Only once, in 1995 when he won 19 games, did he ever lead his league in any of the major pitching stats – wins, ERA and strikeouts.
To me, he was a superior pitcher but not a great one.
But in the middle of the 2008 season, EastsideAl started bombarding me with emails suggesting that Moose, as he was known to fans, was looking like a Hall of Famer. At the time, my friend suggested that all he needed was two more good years or three decent ones to finish with 300 wins, which would guarantee his spot in Cooperstown. But even without 300 wins, he was 270-153, 117 games over .500 for his career, and every other pitcher who won that many more games than he lost was in the Hall. (Get Mussina’s career stats here.)
I finally agreed that if Mussina won 20 games, I would have to think very seriously about voting for him. He did that this year, winning No. 20 on the final day of the season in what would be the final game he would pitch.
I can still come up with reasons not to vote for Mussina in five years when his name goes on the Hall-of-Fame ballot. The biggest is his career 3.68 ERA, which Bill Chuck of Billy-Ball.com points out is the second highest by any pitcher with 270+ wins. Red Ruffing, who ended his 22-year career with 273 wins in 1947, had a 3.80 ERA. Ruffing, who pitched most of his career for the Yankees, also won just 48 more games than he won, but he’s in the Hall of Fame.
Ruffing did win 20 or more games four times, but when he pitched, 20 wins wasn’t what it is today, and Ruffing never won more than 21. Given that in this era 17 wins is the new 20, Mussina comes off as a much better pitcher than Ruffing.
Chuck also unearthed some other interesting Mussina facts. One is that he pitched fewer games and gave up fewer walks than any other pitcher with 270 wins. And here’s the clincher, in Chuck’s words: “Of all the pitchers with 270+ wins, only Lefty Grove, Christy Mathewson, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander have a higher winning percentage than Mussina's .638.” Moose’s winning percentage is 38th all-time. Among active pitchers, only Pedro Martinez (.684), Johan Santana (.681), Roy Oswalt (.668), Roy Halladay (.665), Cliff Lee (.661), Tim Hudson (.655) and Randy Johnson (.648) are better.
Those are all Hall-of-Famers. And if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for Moose.
Just a couple of years ago, I couldn’t have imagined voting to put Moose in the Hall. Now, I can’t imagine not voting for him. By the standards of this or any era, he was one of the greats.
