An underappreciated Hall of Famer

The pitcher of “almosts” deserves more recognition

Mike Mussina was the pitcher of “almosts.” He almost threw a perfect game, he almost won a Cy Young, and he almost won a World Series. Michael Cole Mussina earned his Hall of Fame plaque in 2019 that resides in Cooperstown at the hallowed ground of baseball royalty. The rightfully so deserved bronze plaque with no logo due to equated success in Baltimore and New York stands encapsulated at the altar of the cathedral of baseball. Though many believe that Mussina is not worthy of the Hall of Fame honor. I could not disagree more.

I am aware that his ERA was bloated at times. On five occasions in his eighteen seasons his ERA was in the 4’s and once was in the 5’s. But what everyone must take into consideration is the Mike Mussina pitched in the steroid era, where 65% of the batters he was facing were juiced. He spent his entire career in the AL East and with Baltimore he faced the Yankees and in his later years vice versa. Both of those teams were stacked with juicers as well as the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The majority of his career he faced those teams along with other powerhouse offensive AL clubs stocked up with hitters on gym candy such as the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers.

Mussina won 270 career games which is tied for 33^rd all-time with Burleigh Grimes. Moose has two more wins than the great Jim Palmer, four more than the iconic Bob Feller as well as four more than Eppa Rixey, Cincinnati’s fearsome left-handed Hall of Famer, and currently Moose sits eight wins ahead of Justin Verlander. Mussina is also three wins behind Red Ruffing, and trails Jim Kaat and Fergie Jenkins by thirteen and fourteen respectively. That’s righteous company he is sandwiched in amongst all-time wins. Mussina also was a GREAT fielding pitcher. He won seven Gold Gloves which are tied for fifth place all time for pitchers and he’s behind three immortals in Greg Maddux, Jim Kaat, and Bob Gibson. Once again mentioned in the same sentence as elite company.

Unfortunately, in his career he fell upon a lot of hard luck. With the Yankees he came late and left early, wearing pinstripes from 2001 to 2008. The Yankees won the World Series in 2000 and 2009. Nine times he finished in the top six in the AL Cy Young voting, but the award should have gone to the Williamsport native in 2001. It was given to his teammate Roger Clemens, partially because The Rocket won twenty games, but Mussina tallied one more strikeout than the Texan in 2001 and threw eight more innings that him as well. His 214 strikeouts were the most among the six Cy Young finalists and he also induced fewer walks and hit batsmen than the other five on the ballot. Mussina led the AL in Wins Above Replacement in 2001 at 7.1. Freddy Garcia did lead the league in ERA and innings pitched that season but again Mussina had him beat in other categories. Mussina’s ERA that year was 3.15 yet the award winner in Clemens had a 3.51 earned run average, Mark Mulder who finished second had a 3.45, and Jamie Moyer who finished fourth had a 3.43. Clemens did not pitch one complete game nor one shutout. But Mussina and Garcia pitched four complete games, three being shutouts. The voting was unfair and not even close in Mussina’s favor. 1. Clemens 122 vote points. 2. Mulder 60. 3. Garcia 55. 4. Moyer 12. 5. Mussina 2. And he got zero first place votes. I call that a snub. And he always lived up to the “almost” status especially when on a Sunday Night Baseball game in Boston in early September he retired the first 26 Red Sox until Carl Everett prevented history lining a single into left-center to break up the perfect game.

In the Stanford grad’s ten years in Baltimore, he was seen as the Orioles ace but in his eight years with the Yankees he really wasn’t viewed that way. He was more the Robin to the other starter’s Batman. His first three years he was the sidekick of Roger Clemens and later on Randy Johnson who was expected to be the ace, though The Big Unit was “pretty good” not “great” in pinstripes and failed miserably in the postseason. Also, in the late 2000’s the Yankees had their abbreviated ace in Chien-Ming Wang who won 19 games in 2006 and 2007 then was never the same after injuries derailed him post ‘07. 2004 really was the only year Mussina was looked upon as the ace of the staff when the pitching staff was depleted during the midst of a historic collapse to Boston. Mussina went out on top finally winning twenty games in his final big-league game in 2008 and I loved his old school bulldog demeanor especially when he was very adamant in 2006 in Detroit when he barked at Joe Torre who tried to take Mussina out of the game with two outs in the ninth and he screamed “Stay there!” and Mussina’s persuasion led to his recording the 27^th out. If only pitchers today had the balls to do that but they’re too afraid of the analytics police being on their case.

Something I find shameful is that the Yankees are retiring numbers left and right just for a cash grab, but Hall of Famer Mike Mussina’s #35 is not retired. That one doesn’t make sense to me he’s a Hall of Famer! Let’s also not forget that he literally rescued the team in game seven of the 2003 ALCS. Relieving Roger Clemens who had gotten shelled for four runs, Moose came out of relief for the first time in his career and he came into a hornet’s nest down 4-0 runners on first and third and nobody out. He whiffed Varitek on three pitches then got Damon to line the ball hard to Derek Jeter who stepped on second then threw across the diamond to keep the Yankees in the game. He then pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth and Mussina’s B12 shot was the catalyst for the epic comeback to win their 39^th AL pennant.

Moose had many great post-season outings but what was most impressive came in 1997. In the Division Series vs. the Mariners, he won the opener in game one going seven solid innings with nine strikeouts as Ken Griffey Jr. went 0 for 4 and won the clincher in game four going another seven strong with seven K’s giving up two hits and one earned run. What’s most impressive about that feat is that he held Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., and Edgar Martinez 1 for 16 striking out Junior and A-Rod each once and sent Martinez down on strikes twice. Rodriguez and Griffey were hitless on the day. The following week in the ALCS vs. the Indians in a twelve-inning game three Baltimore loss Mussina pitched seven innings yielded one run and struck out 15. And in game six falling to Cleveland in eleven innings Moose pitched eight innings surrendering zero runs, giving up just one hit and striking out ten Indians.

Michael Cole Mussina pitched eight seasons winning seventeen or more games, was a twenty-game winner once, and once led the league in victories in 1995. In ’95 he also led the league in shutouts, led the league in 2000 in innings pitched, and in 1996 and 2008 led the league in games started. 2,813 strikeouts, 270 wins, 3.68 lifetime ERA, 537 games pitched and logged over 3,500 innings in eighteen seasons. Mussina goes on the lower level when you talk about all-time greats. But that’s comparing different facets of baseball pantheons. His numbers didn’t always jump out at you, but he was reliable and accrued good command dominating both sides of the plate as well as the top-notch opponents he faced, and with the majority being steroid users it speaks for itself.