Later, Moose!

Mike Mussina retired from baseball tonight after a distinguished 18-season career. The obvious debate over the next few days - and maybe over the next few decades - will be whether Moose is worthy of being  inducted into the Hall of Fame. Mussina is definitely a borderline case, deserving of much praise and serious Cooperstown consideration. But at the end of the day, I'm afraid Moose falls just short.

Before we get into it, here's my blog post (expert analysis) on what I think makes a HOFer.

In Moose's case, a few big things hold him back. First, he falls short of 300 wins. Second, he only won 20 games once (in his last year, on a 3rd place team), never won a Cy Young award, and never won a championship. 

Most importantly, he wasn't in the top 5 starting pitchers of his era and might not have been in the top ten. Clemens, Maddux, Glavine, Pedro, Randy, Schilling, and Smoltz were all probably better than Mussina. If nothing else, every one of those guys has won at least one Cy Young and at least one World Series. Do you really belong in the Hall when you're the eighth best guy of your era? 

The answer, I'm sorry to say, is no. 

Comments

[Steve G]

I agree with most of what you write, but I do have a problem when a player who would not normally be considered a Hall of Famer is elected because his numbers got padded because of longevity.

I use Don Sutton as an example. He was not a Hall of Fame pitcher, but just because he pitched for 63 years and attained a level of 300 wins he was elected. He was on teams with good relief pitchers that saved his games.

You mention Goose Gossage as deserving and I think he should be elected, but I also think Sparky Lyle needs to be considered. He won a Cy Young and was the dominant relief pitcher before Gossage reached the Yankees.

I also think Pete Rose should be in the Hall.

There are certain players under investigation that will deserve to be in the Hall. If what they supposedly did was not illegal when they did it, why keep them out.

[Dave G]

Longevity is definitely a huge discussion point for Mussina, too. There's a lot to be said for him walking away on top, rather than limping around for the next 3-4 years to try to get to 300 wins. What would be the point? So yeah, I give him a lot of credit over a guy like Sutton.

As far as receivers go, you saw Lyle. I didn't. So I really can't say much about him. As far as I'm concerned, Mo is the benchmark for all relievers. I don't understand why Bruce Sutter is a Hall of Famer...he's like the Kirby Puckett of relievers.