Posted By:
Tim NewcombI don't have any personal feeling either way about Mussina, but the numbers speak:
-- to me the winning percentage argument is compelling -- 100 games over .500!! To me that is a HOFer.
-- don't any of you people flogging the lack of 20-win seasons have any historical perspective?
--Sure, Marichal won 20 games 6 out of 7 years, and was a more dominant pitcher than Mussina over the shorter term.
-- But he won all those games in an era of 4-man rotations and pitchers going deep into games. In the six seasons he won 20 he started 220 games and pitched over 1800!! innings. That workload took its toll -- he had his last great season at the age of 32, and after that he was a mediocre pitcher (52-54 from 1969 on).
-- Nobody wins 20 games that often anymore, because nobody gets 37 starts and 300 innings a year, because everybody knows that unless you're a freak of nature like Nolan Ryan or Walter Johnson, that workload blows out arms and shortens careers. Randy Johnson won 20 three times, Maddux twice. Doesn't take a genius to figure out why Mussina hasn't won 20 more than once.
-- By the same logic, nobody who doesn't hit .400 should be elected to the HOF-- after all, Sisler and Hornsby and Cobb did it, so therefore anybody who doesn't shouldn't be a HOFer. Give me a break!