Mike Mussina: Hall of Famer?

Mussina's HOF vote percentages so far:
20.3 percent
24.6 percent
43 percent

He is a ways from 75 percent. He has some support, and he took a step up in support last year, but it demonstrates that he is a bubble case at best. As I would suggest. I wouldn't vote for him. His best bet will be to jump into that 50+ percent range next year, 60 percent range the following year. ... and then he has 4 years left to get in. If he is close, maybe he will get the last few votes before he drops off the ballot a la Bert Blyleven.

My biggest argument against Mussina is that he was never among the very top pitchers of his era. He also was never a guy I really wanted on the mound in the biggest games -- as a fan of the team he played for a long time for. His biggest moment came in relief in game 7 of the ALCS in 2003 in the Aaron Boone game. ... he came in with the Yanks losing and he held Boston, and the Yankees came back and won. I am not taking the performance away from him -- it was a clutch performance. But that is it for him. He seemed to shrink from big games. In that 2003 series, one of the reasons their backs were against the wall in the first place was because Mussina had gotten outpitched in his two starts in the series. Which was sort of his story as Yankee at least. I never thought it was coincidental that the Yankees run of World Series titles ended when he came along and David Cone was gone, and then Andy Pettitte went to Houston.

 

From my vantage point as a fan. ... Their success was always predicated on pitching. In 1998, for example, they had one of the greatest teams ever. It was a year of incredible offense in baseball w/the PEDs. Bonds and McGwire had their home run race. The Yankees' top home run hitter had 28. They were a good offensive team, but it was the pitching (and the depth of pitching) that carried them. Not just starting pitching, but their middle relief. A lot of that depth disappeared by the time Mussina came along, and that isn't his fault. So the point isn't a cut and dried statement about Mussina being a "loser." The team was different by the time he came along. But at the same time. .. David Cone was a big game pitcher. El Duque was ridiculously a big game pitcher. Pettitte was a well above average post season pitcher. David Wells didn't shrink in big games. . ... Mussina didn't have that kind of personality. The Yankees needed him to be the pitcher who stepped it up those years between 2001 and 2007, and he never was that guy. He was actually pretty bad in quite a few of his post season starts.