Mike Mussina’s ‘surprising, somewhat’ road to Hall of Fame

Mike Mussina lived the baseball dream and, as it turns out, knew exactly when to quit. He grew up in Montoursville, Pa., near Williamsport, home of the Little League World Series, and will wind up in Cooperstown.

Not a bad ride — with long stops in Baltimore and The Bronx.

The former Orioles and Yankees star beat the odds and made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night on his sixth try, getting in with 76.7 percent, just clearing the 75 percent threshold, of the vote from the members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Mussina finished with 270 wins, winning 20 games in the final year of his career with the Yankees. Many thought Mussina should hang on for a few more years to get to the magical 300 win total, but he wanted to live his life and knew it was time to retire.

As it turns out, the right-hander had enough wins to make it to Cooperstown. Over his 535 career starts, his team won 325 games. Mussina knew how to pitch and how to keep his team in games. He did things his way, his brilliance covering 10 years with the Orioles, then eight with the Yankees.

“It was surprising, somewhat,’’ Mussina said on MLB Network soon after being elected. “I was steadily improving (in the voting), but it was a pretty big jump from last year to this year. People were paying attention. I knew it was going to be close, but it’s pretty cool.’’

In his first year of eligibility, Mussina received just 20.3 percent of the vote, but every year he grew on the voters. Last year, he was at 63.7 percent, and this year he hit the magic number.

Mussina was coming off the basketball court at Montoursville Area High School, where he coaches boys basketball, when he got the call.

As for which hat he will wear on his plaque, Mussina said, “I can’t choose. I wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame without both organizations. There is no way I can pick one over the other.’’

Mussina gets to say if he has a preference, but the Hall ultimately decides. He could also go without a logo on his cap.

He was elected along with former teammate Mariano Rivera, who captured 100 percent of the vote to become the first player in Hall of Fame history to do so, the late Roy Halladay, who was voted in his first time on the ballot and DH Edgar Martinez, who made it to Cooperstown in his last year of eligibility.

Mussina did what he had to do on the mound, and no game better showed that than Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. After Roger Clemens gave up four runs over three innings, Joe Torre called on Mussina, who came on in relief to save the day by pitching three shutout innings.

The Yankees won in 11 innings on Aaron Boone’s walk-off home run, getting the final three shutout innings from Rivera. Now both men will be on the stage this July in Cooperstown as the village becomes a pinstripe party the next two years as Derek Jeter will join them in 2020.

From 1992-2008, Mussina won at least 10 games every season. He finished with a career ERA of 3.68. In the voting, he was a strong finisher, just as he was in his career, winning 20 for the first time in his last season at the age of 39, when he led the majors with 34 starts.

“The guy you saw at the end was not the guy at the beginning,’’ Mussina said.

Mussina pitched in the AL East his entire career, a nightmare for pitchers. His 82.9 pitching WAR ranks 19th since 1901, according to Baseball-Reference.com, even though his ERA of 3.68 ranks 137th since 1901.

Mussina never won a Cy Young. He never was the best pitcher but was always among the best, and his consistency was his calling card. In addition, he won seven Gold Gloves.

He did his job his way in the toughest division in baseball.

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