May you enter the Hall of Fame in 2014, you unappreciated, gorgeous sonofagun.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3713851

So hard to believe this was his first 20 win season. And I'm right there with you thinking Mussina is total hotness. I hope he gets into the HOF but I fear one 20 win season may turn many voters off to him.

He may live long enough to see the day when the HOF voters are people who realize W-L record is not something a pitcher has much control over. Pitchers make 8-10 fewer starts a season than they did 30 years ago.

But Bert Blyleven is not an encouraging precedent.

(Does anyone really think Don Sutton was better than Mussina?)

Copied from baseball-reference.com: wins leaders among active pitchers (plus Mussina):

1. Greg Maddux (42) 355 R
2. Tom Glavine (42) 305 L
3. Randy Johnson (44) 295 L
4. Mike Mussina (39) 270 R
5. Jamie Moyer (45) 246 L
6. Kenny Rogers (43) 219 L
7. Curt Schilling (41) 216 R
8. Andy Pettitte (36) 215 L
9. Pedro Martinez (36) 214 R
10. John Smoltz (41) 210 R

Other than Randy Johnson, are any of these pitchers going to get to 300 wins? No. The way the pitchers are handled now with pitch counts and such, I doubt any pitcher will make it. So either the voters will have to change their standards or else there won't be any more HOF pitchers.

Probably not, but there have been more than a few great pitchers with fewer than 300 wins who had dominating enough careers to merit entry in to the Hall of Fame. Starters Addie Joss, Dizzy Dean, Robin Roberts, Sandy Koufax, Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale, Catfish Hunter, Ferguson Jenkins, etc. are all in there. By those standards, Johnson (whether he gets the five more wins or not), Martinez (easily) and probably Schilling to deserve to be in the HOF. Pettitte played for several World Series and playoff contending teams and was a key of their success, so that's in his favor, while Smoltz was a linchpin to one of the most consistently strong pitching lineups for over a decade. I'm not so sure about Mussina, Moyer, and Scab (Rogers).

It's the old argument of peak value (Pedro, Koufax, Dean) vs career value (Spahn, Ryan, Glavine). Mussina sort of belongs between these groups -- he was among the best 5-10 active pitchers for most of his career, just likely never one of the best three.