Favorably to Bob Gibson?! Are you serious. Sure he had 19 more wins, but he never ever came close to the dominance of Gibson. I’d put Bert Blyleven in the hall before Mussina. Let’s have a look.
Wins/ CG/ SO/ era/ 20win/ era under3.00/ GS/ IP/ K/ IPP/
Gibson 251 255 56 2.91 5 7 seasons 482 3884 3117 8
Blyleven 287 242 60 3.31 1 9 ” 685 4970 3701 7.2
Mussina 270 57 23 3.68 1 1.5 ” 536 3563 2813 6.6

Mussina was an above average pitcher on great hitting teams. If having one 20 win season is HOF material then Blyleven should go in first. He played on horrible teams with no run support; Pirates, Indians, Twins (2nd), Rangers. Blyleven pitched 9 seasons with an era under 3; Gibson 7. Mussina had 198 fewer complete games than Gibson; 185 less than Blyleven. Life as easy for Mussina; pitch 6 or 7 innings and let Rivera take care of the rest. I’ll bet Mussina’s run support was way higher then Gibson or Blyleven. Don’t get caught up in the New York hype! Mussina is NOT a Hall of Famer!!!

Jack,

Actually both Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. have Donora, Pa., listed as their birthplace. Ken Griffey Jr. went to high school in Cincinnati, where his father played for the Reds, but “The Kid” was born just like the father and “The Man.”

I have talked with Junior about this connection in the past.

You can also double-check me at Baseball-Reference.com:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/griffke02.shtml

dg
-30-

Don’t forget Randall J that Mussina also pitched for Baltimore, which wasn’t the offensive force that the Yank’s are. He did pretty well in Baltimore as well. You can’t completely discount him as a HOF’er.

I agree with you on Blyleven though.

It’s unjust to penalize a pitcher such as Mussina, simply because of the era of the game that he played in. They didn’t use the bullpen back then the way they use it now, so don’t blame Mussina for the way the game is played now. If you want to go ahead and blame him for the way the game is played under the current era, than you must also award him for the Steroid fueled batters that he had to face as opposed to the one’s Bly did.

Moose may deserve the HOF– but no way does his career equal Gibby’s. Gibson was dominant for 5-7 years and generally thought to be the toughest competitor and the “guy you would most want on the mound if you needed a win.” Granted the eras are different– but Mussina never dominated the game the way Gibby did. And BTW, Baltimore did provide offensive support for Moose. What many contemporary fans fail to realize is that Gibby pitched for several Cardinal teams that were just not that good– all the while carrying the “ace” tag. He also competed many times against Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Stargell, McCovey, F Robby(prior to ‘66), et al (as hitters) and was typically matched against the likes of Jenkins, Marichal, Drysdale, Koufax, Maloney, Perry, et al (as pitchers)– and I would challenge anyone to find equals from Mussina’s era.