Moose: Hall of a choice picking hat
In the immediate aftermath of getting the call to the Hall of Fame, Mike Mussina had not yet figured out which cap — Orioles or Yankees — he would wear on his plaque.
The next day, with a night to sleep on it, he still had no decision.
Looking back on it now, nearly six months later, Mussina said there was never much of a debate in his mind after all.
“Honestly, it wasn’t a very tough decision at all. I kind of made it in about three or four minutes,” Mussina said on a conference call Friday, just over a week before he will be inducted with no logo on his plaque in Cooperstown. “I don’t feel like I can honestly pick one organization over the other. They both were tremendously involved in my career. The time in both places is almost even.
“I did a lot of good things in Baltimore, they gave me my first opportunity to pitch in the major leagues. I did a lot of good things in New York, we got to the playoffs seven out of eight years I was there. The year we didn’t go to the playoffs, I won 20 games. So both organizations were tremendously involved in this. I just don’t feel right picking one over the other. So the decision to go in without one logo versus the other was the only decision I could make that I feel good about.”
Mussina picked between the two American League East foes once before in his career, as a free agent following the 2000 season. The right-handed pitcher chose the Yankees’ six-year, $88.5 million offer, even if it was the unpopular decision in Baltimore.
Eight seasons in pinstripes — after his first 10 with the Orioles — helped solidify Mussina’s Hall of Fame career, which he finished with 270 wins, 2,813 strikeouts, a 3.68 ERA and seven Gold Gloves. Seventeen of the 23 career postseason games in which he pitched came with the Yankees, including three starts in the World Series, though they came up just short in both trips (2001 and 2003).
“When I made the change from Baltimore to New York, I knew it was going to be not taken so well in some places,” said Mussina, who made the Hall in his sixth year on the ballot. “But I was making the change for me and my family and what I felt was the best move for my baseball career. ... It turned out to be really good. I had a great eight years in New York and I’m glad I made the decision that I did.”
On the final day of his career — Sept. 28, 2008 — Mussina became a 20-game winner for the first time by tossing six shutout innings in a win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Mariano Rivera got the save that day, the last of 49 win-save combinations the two teamed up for during their careers, a mark that ranks third all-time. That they will be enshrined on the same day next Sunday is not lost on Mussina.
“I know he saved a bunch of games for me and I know I set up a bunch of games for him,” Mussina said. “We kind of helped each other out to be here.”