Wake Up With Mike Mussina Striking Out 15 Indians To Set An LCS Record (1997)
Unless you’re an Orioles fan or a Yankee fan, is it wrong for me to say that it’s almost easy to forget how good Mike Mussina was? I mean, no disrespect — if you were watching him every fifth day, then it’s easy to see how good he was — but he pitched during a time when several other pitchers’ names carrier more weight than his. Because of that, he never won a Cy Young award, and he didn’t have a 20-win season until his final year in 2008. But in reality, we’re talking about a guy who won 270 games, and finished in the top six for the Cy Young award nine times. That’s nearly a decade of being one of the top pitchers in the league, and his top six finishes were spread out over 17 seasons.
Mussina’s career WAR (82.7) ranks just above Hall of Famer Bob Gibson’s (81.9), should-be Hall of Famer Curt Schilling’s (80.7), and Hall of Famer Tom Glavine’s (74.0). That’s the company he’s in. He’s one of those guys who doesn’t jump off the paper as a slam dunk candidate, but when you look at the entire body of work, it’s clear that Moose belongs. He got 51.8% of the vote in 2017, which was his fourth year on the ballot. It might take him three or four more years, but he’ll end up in Cooperstown.