Moose (and 20)!

No, this isn't a post about Sarah Palin's hunting prowess...

It's about the only baseball player I still follow with any passion: Mike Mussina.

Who? You know, Moose! One of the quietest-best pitchers in baseball history.

Today, he won his 20th game of the season at age 39, becoming the oldest pitcher to win his 20th game in a season for the first time. (The former record-holder was Jamie Moyer at age 38.)

It was his 270th career win-- 33rd on the all-time list. (Earlier this week, he passed up Jim Palmer on the career win list-- my favorite player when I was growing up.)

Mussina is the 10th pitcher to win 20 games in a season at age 39 or older-- a feat accomplished 12 times in all (twice by Cy Young and Warren Spahn).

Mussina had been the pitcher with the most wins who had not won 20 games in a season. But he is now re-replaced on the top of that list by Dennis Martinez-- another former Oriole.

If he comes back for two more years, Mussina still has a good chance to join two select clubs: 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts. (At present, he is 19th all-time in K's with 2,810.) But, it's not clear whether he will retire or become the first pitcher to retire after a 20-win season since Sandy Koufax.

For a look at the best pitchers after age 40, click here. Four pitchers stand out for their late-career excellence: Phil Niekro (in particular, check out what he did when he was 40, 43, and 45), Nolan Ryan (look at his career before and after age 31 and the season he had when he was 42), Warren Spahn (who averaged 21 wins between ages 35-42), and Jamie Moyer (half of his wins have come after his 37th birthday).