Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
November 22, 2008
Mussina and the Hall

King Kaufman looks at the pros and cons of Mike Mussina making the Hall of Fame.

Mussina got his 270 wins in 536 starts, meaning he got a W in 50.4 percent of them. Sutton got 321 wins -- he won three as a reliever -- in 756 starts, which was 42.4 percent. Tom Seaver, who pitched on a lot of bad teams and a few good ones, got 310 wins in 647 starts, 47.9 percent. Perry won 44.2 percent of his starts.

If Mussina had won at the same rate in Seaver's 647 starts, he'd have retired with 326 wins. That would have tied him with Eddie Plank for 13th all time, and not only would no one have suggested he didn't belong in the Hall, no one would have dismissed the gaudy win total because he played on a lot of winners. With Sutton's 756 starts -- including the one during the Battle of Bunker Hill -- Mussina would have won 381, more than anyone but Cy Young and Walter Johnson.

Mussina went fairly deep in games, averaging 6 2/3 innings per start. That didn't give the bullpen too much time to blow games. Combine that with a low ERA and playing for high scoring teams, and Mussina was a win machine. I have no doubt he could hang around long enough to win 300 games like Maddux and Glavine. He just wants to move on.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:32 AM | All-Time Greats | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Do you think the lack of a Ring hurts?

I think he belongs. He didn't hit that mark, but he was still a HOF pitcher while he was out there. Put him on the mound and expect a win (or at least a quality start).

Posted by: Jesse R at November 22, 2008 06:14 PM

Sutton and Seaver stayed longer in games putting them in more losing situations.

His absence of a dominating year is what really hurts Mussina. During his best years there was always somebody better than him. Not just Clemens, Johnson or Martinez, but guys like David Cone, Kevin Appier, and Joe Mays. If a pitcher has enough big years nobody is going to be counting career win totals. Since Mussina hasn't had one, he's going to be stuck in Hall of Fame purgatory with Blyleven, John & Kaat. If he was concerned with getting into the Hall, he would keep playing long enough to get the 300 wins that would put him in with Sutton and Niekro.

His wanting to move on is going to delay or obstruct his admittance into the Hall.

Posted by: geb4000 at November 23, 2008 03:25 PM

A lot of smart baseball reporters say that he belongs in the HoF. I just don't see it. No Cy Youngs. No rings. No true dominance. His career ERA is good, but not great. He averaged good (but not great) strikeout rates.

The main argument for him is that he had 100+ more wins than losses. Don't the sabremetric folks tell us that wins are largely a function of playing on good teams, and not so much about individual players greatness?

To me he belongs in the "Hall of Very Good".

Posted by: Gary at November 23, 2008 09:08 PM
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