It’s been four seasons since Mike Mussina retired and pretty soon there is going to be a lot of talk about him getting into the Hall of Fame. It might not seem like it, but he’s got a pretty solid case too. When he was healthy there weren’t many pitchers better than him and considering the fact that he pitched through the entirety of the steroid-era that’s a pretty big accomplishment. When he won 20 games in 2008 he might have locked up a spot in Cooperstown.
The biggest decision could be which cap he wears on his plaque, an interlocking N-Y for the Yankees or black and orange for the Orioles. Which would Mussina prefer? He isn’t quite sure.
“I don’t think I get to choose,” Mussina told Roch Kubatko of MASN. “If I got to choose? That’s a tough question, because my career obviously is pretty evenly split between both places. You eliminate one and it changes everything about what I was able to do. I accomplished a lot of things here, I accomplished a lot of things in New York. I can’t stand here and say it’s one over the other.
“Baltimore people want me to say Baltimore, New York people want me to say New York. When I was here, I loved being here, and there’s nothing else I can say about it. This was the only place I had known for the first 10 years of my career and it was a great place to play and it was tough to leave when I had to go.”
Thanks for being nice to Yankees fans Mike, but in reality it doesn’t seem like he has much of a chance of going into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee.
I mean with the Yankees he wasn’t elected to one All-Star team, he never finished better than fifth in the Cy Young voting. His ERA+ was 114 compared to 130 with the Orioles. He did win 20 games with the Yankees, but he never won a World Series. Most Yankees fans probably don’t even realize how good his Hall of Fame credentials really are.
Meanwhile, he made five All-Star teams with the Orioles. He finished in the top five in Cy Young voting five times and finished sixth twice. That’s dominance over a 10 year period.
Take a look at the stats decide for yourself. Should Mussina go into the Hall as a Yankee or an Oriole.
Here are his numbers with the Orioles:
| Year | Tm | W | L | G | CG | SHO | IP | Awards | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | BAL | 4 | 5 | 2.87 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 87.2 | 139 | 1.118 | 7.9 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 5.3 | 2.48 | |
| 1992 | BAL | 18 | 5 | 2.54 | 32 | 8 | 4 | 241.0 | 157 | 1.079 | 7.9 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 4.9 | 2.71 | AS,CYA-4,MVP-21 |
| 1993 | BAL | 14 | 6 | 4.46 | 25 | 3 | 2 | 167.2 | 100 | 1.235 | 8.7 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 6.3 | 2.66 | AS |
| 1994 | BAL | 16 | 5 | 3.06 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 176.1 | 164 | 1.163 | 8.3 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 5.1 | 2.36 | AS,CYA-4,MVP-20 |
| 1995 | BAL | 19 | 9 | 3.29 | 32 | 7 | 4 | 221.2 | 145 | 1.069 | 7.6 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 6.4 | 3.16 | CYA-5 |
| 1996 | BAL | 19 | 11 | 4.81 | 36 | 4 | 1 | 243.1 | 103 | 1.368 | 9.8 | 1.1 | 2.6 | 7.5 | 2.96 | CYA-5,GG |
| 1997 | BAL | 15 | 8 | 3.20 | 33 | 4 | 1 | 224.2 | 137 | 1.117 | 7.9 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 8.7 | 4.04 | AS,CYA-6,GG |
| 1998 | BAL | 13 | 10 | 3.49 | 29 | 4 | 2 | 206.1 | 130 | 1.115 | 8.2 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 7.6 | 4.27 | GG |
| 1999 | BAL | 18 | 7 | 3.50 | 31 | 4 | 0 | 203.1 | 133 | 1.274 | 9.2 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 7.6 | 3.31 | AS,CYA-2,GG |
| 2000 | BAL | 11 | 15 | 3.79 | 34 | 6 | 1 | 237.2 | 125 | 1.187 | 8.9 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 8.0 | 4.57 | CYA-6 |
| W | L | G | CG | SHO | IP | Awards | ||||||||||
| BAL (10 yrs) | 147 | 81 | 3.53 | 288 | 45 | 15 | 2009.2 | 130 | 1.175 | 8.5 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 6.9 | 3.29 | ||
Here are his numbers with the Yankees:
| Year | Tm | W | L | G | CG | SHO | IP | Awards | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | NYY | 17 | 11 | 3.15 | 34 | 4 | 3 | 228.2 | 143 | 1.067 | 8.0 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 8.4 | 5.10 | CYA-5,GG |
| 2002 | NYY | 18 | 10 | 4.05 | 33 | 2 | 2 | 215.2 | 109 | 1.187 | 8.7 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 7.6 | 3.79 | |
| 2003 | NYY | 17 | 8 | 3.40 | 31 | 2 | 1 | 214.2 | 130 | 1.081 | 8.0 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 8.2 | 4.88 | GG |
| 2004 | NYY | 12 | 9 | 4.59 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 164.2 | 98 | 1.324 | 9.7 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 7.2 | 3.30 | |
| 2005 | NYY | 13 | 8 | 4.41 | 30 | 2 | 2 | 179.2 | 96 | 1.369 | 10.0 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 7.1 | 3.02 | |
| 2006 | NYY | 15 | 7 | 3.51 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 197.1 | 129 | 1.110 | 8.4 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 7.8 | 4.91 | |
| 2007 | NYY | 11 | 10 | 5.15 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 152.0 | 88 | 1.467 | 11.1 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 5.4 | 2.60 | |
| 2008 | NYY | 20 | 9 | 3.37 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 200.1 | 131 | 1.223 | 9.6 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 6.7 | 4.84 | CYA-6,MVP-19,GG |
| W | L | G | CG | SHO | IP | Awards | ||||||||||
| NYY (8 yrs) | 123 | 72 | 3.88 | 249 | 12 | 8 | 1553.0 | 114 | 1.212 | 9.1 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 7.4 | 4.02 | ||
So players don't choose their cap anymore? If that's the case he'll certainly be in an O's cap
Players can't choose their own cap anymore since Wade Boggs agreed to go in as a Devil Ray.
better statistically than Tom Glavine
And Mussina didn't have the gigantic strike zone Glavine enjoyed all of his career.
I would love to see more Yankee hats enshrined but he should go in as an Oriole. And while I would love to see a much more stringent barometer for induction, Mussina does seem to easily deserve it based on where that line for induction is drawn today.
Would be a big thrill if he went in as a Yankee, but his career was better as a Bird. it's close though. One can make an argument either way.
If he gets in, that is.