Moose in the WSJ!

OK, this wasn't my last post on Mike Mussina...

Here's Allen Barra in the WSJ (hat tip: Patrick Becka)...

Paul Anka wrote the lyrics to "My Way" for Frank Sinatra, but he well could have added a verse for Mike Mussina.

At Stanford, where Mr. Mussina earned a degree in economics -- and pitched in two College World Series -- he wrote a thesis on the wisdom of signing a professional baseball contract out of college rather than out of high school. Having mapped out his plan, he proceeded to follow it. After graduating in 1990, he was signed by the Orioles organization and pitched 10 years for Baltimore before choosing to go to the New York Yankees.

Last week, he made a choice, one that surprised [some/many?] fans and colleagues alike: After 18 years, and just two average seasons shy of the magic totals of 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts, Mr. Mussina announced his retirement. Why, many wanted to know, did he hang it up so close to achieving numbers that would guarantee him the Hall of Fame?...

The main reason turns out to be family-- time with his young children in particular: "I'm not getting any younger, they're not getting any younger, and you can't get that time back. It's just the right time for me."

One other detail from Barra:

His Yankee teammates were stunned to find out that Mr. Mussina, along with comic Jon Stewart, filmmaker Ken Burns and former President Bill Clinton, was a star of the 2006 documentary on crossword-puzzle enthusiasts, "Wordplay"; he never mentioned it to anyone, and most found out when they saw it on TV.

Then, Barra details the pros and cons of his Hall of Fame credentials:

The naysayers note that he has never won a Cy Young Award (though he placed in the top six in nine of his 18 seasons); that he doesn't have a World Series ring (though he's pitched in two Series as a Yankee); that he has a losing record in the postseason (though he has a respectable playoff ERA of 3.42 and has struck out 145 batters in just 139.2 postseason innings); that he never led the American League in earned run average (though he was in the top six 10 times); and that he led the league in wins just once (1995, though he finished second three times, including 2008). But such arguments focus on what he hasn't done, rather than on his achievements -- which are considerable.

To make the case for Mr. Mussina in the Hall of Fame, start with winning. His 270 victories against 153 defeats are good for a won-lost percentage of .638, tied with Hall of Famer Jim Palmer for 10th among pitchers with 3,000 or more innings pitched. He won at least 11 games for 17 consecutive seasons....

...a statistic by Sabermetrician Lee Sinin -- RSAA, or Runs Saved Against Average, which measures the amount of runs that a pitcher saved vs. what an average pitcher would have allowed. By that yardstick, Mr. Mussina is in very good company indeed: Just four pitchers in all of American League history -- Lefty Grove, Walter Johnson, Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez -- are ahead of Mike Mussina. No. 6, by the way, right after Mr. Mussina, is Whitey Ford.