FOX Sports on MSN - MLB - Yanks' Mussina to retire after first 20-win season.
After a great deal of speculation, Mike Mussina is retiring. There has been a great deal of discussion during the past year about whether or not he should be in the Hall of Fame. He doesn't have the numbers that make him a lock (300 wins, 3000 K's), although he is close.
These standards, however, are long outdated. Why should he be compared statistically to pitchers who pitched in four-man rotations and during times when a 40 home run-season was considered huge. How many times was the home-run record broken during Mussina's career. Here are some reasons why he should be a lock for the Hall of Fame:
- He 11 or more wins in 17 consecutive seasons, every year except his first.
- 11 of those seasons he won 15 or more.
- He finished his career with 270 wins, 2813 K's, and a 3.68 ERA, all while pitching in the American League East, half of which as a member of the Orioles where he faced the Yankees and Red Sox many times.
- .638 winning percentage - not bad at all.
- 15 seasons in the top 10 for strikeout to walk ratio.
- 5-time All-Star, 7 gold gloves.
- He pitched against players who were on steroids. If Roger Clemens didn't juice, would his stats be any better?
I kept hearing all year that not having a 20-win season would hurt his chances, now what's going to stop him?
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