Should Mike Mussina’s number have been retired?

[Roll Tide]

On 5/23/2022 at 7:54 AM, Frobby said:

I didn’t want to derail the thread on Adley’s debut, but SG posted this tweet from Buster Olney:

What’s your view of this?   Personally, Mussina was one of my favorite players ever, and I did not blame him one bit when he left the team.   I strongly supported his election to the Hall of Fame and of course the Orioles Hall of Fame.   But with all that said, I’m not offended that the O’s chose not to retire his number.   He chose to leave, in the prime of his career.   If the O’s had retired his number, that would have been OK with me, but I’m also OK with their decision not to retire it.  

As to Olney’s tweet, I wonder how many Hall of Famers voluntarily left their original team after 10+ years and while still in their prime.   
 

I have no interest in seeing Moose’s number retired. At the end of the day he left to become a Skankee

[OriolesMagic83]

36 minutes ago, BMann said:

Same. Mussina could've signed here for 6 years/$72 mil but took the extra $16 mil from the hated NYers, hoping to win a ring (which thankfully he never did). Had he stayed here, he'd have a nice statue outside Oriole Park and a shiny #35 on Eutaw Street. Instead, he's a "who cares?" figure in NY (never having led them to a title, which for better or worse is the standard up there) and a pariah to many here in Baltimore. And I don't think he cares one bit... so why should we?!? I'm happy to cheer for Rutschman wearing that number.

Free agents almost always take the most money.  Pujols took $250 mill from the Angels instead of $200 mill from the Cardinals.  He would have probably made up the difference in endorsement deals.  Kudos to the Angels fans for not booing him much (it would have been ugly if he went to Boston or New York).  If Cal had started his career in 2003 not 1982, he would probably have ended his career w/ another club. 

[crowmst3k!]

22 hours ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Mussina's number should have been retired, but he shouldn't get a statue.  The old mantra for not retiring Mussina's number was that he wasn't in the Hall of Fame.  If the Hall of Fame put an Oriole on his plaque, the O's would come up with a new reason not to retire his number.  There was a lot of hard feelings and pettiness both ways.  Shouldn't a player get to chose his own cap, within reason?  Wade Boggs supposedly wanted to go into the Hall of Fame with a Yankee cap is out of bounds, IMO.

Didn't he want to go in with a Devil Rays cap?

[OriolesMagic83]

4 minutes ago, crowmst3k! said:

Didn't he want to go in with a Devil Rays cap?

Yeah, I looked it up, he did.  He pretty much proclaimed his love of the Yankees and Rays and his hatred of the Red Sox and they still retired his number.

[Sports Guy]

DBag #2 has entered the fray

 

[NCRaven]

21 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

If Cal had started his career in 2003 not 1982, he would probably have ended his career w/ another club. 

Very few players begin their career at the age of 43. 

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

So does Ken Rosenthal weigh in on this non-controversy with Mike Mussina's jersey not being retired by the Orioles tomorrow. 

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

By probably you mean 99.99% chance he would have signed elsewhere instead of re-upping with a team on the cusp of a long total rebuild that had failed previously to extend him when they were actually good.

That’s exactly what I mean.  But on the other side of the coin, the O’s weren’t going to offer him a contract that was even in the same universe as what he’d get as a free agent. 

[btdart20]

13 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

DBag #2 has entered the fray

 

Earning their money by taking their pot shots at everyone's favorite punching bag...  

[Frobby]

18 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

DBag #2 has entered the fray

 

The stupid thing about this tweet is that Rutschman is far from being the only Orioles player who has worn that number since Mussina left, retired and got inducted into the Hall.  There’s actually never been a season since Mussina left where no Oriole wore No. 35.  So whatever was “odd” about assigning no. 35 to another player stopped being odd a long time ago.  And it happened way before Mussina chose a blank cap for his HOF plaque.  

[OriolesMagic83]

Did someone wear #8 after Ripken retired until he made the Hall of Fame?  I'm going to guess not.  The decision to not retire Mussina's number was made when he left. 

[maybenxtyr]

I understand that opinions vary, but this just seems like a non story.

 

Did the Yankees retire whatever number he wore there? 

 

Mussina seems like a decent enough of a guy and I doubt he cares one bit about a jersey he hasn't worn in 20 years.

[SteveA]

35 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

DBag #2 has entered the fray

 

I wonder if these idiots realize that Adley is like the 7th player to wear 35 since Mussina left.   Did they sound the alarm when Adam Plutko wore it last year???

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, SteveA said:

I wonder if these idiots realize that Adley is like the 7th player to wear 35 since Mussina left.   Did they sound the alarm when Adam Plutko wore it last year???

They didn't.  But that shouldn't let anyone stop them from making terrible points.

 

[Frobby]

18 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

I understand that opinions vary, but this just seems like a non story.

 

Did the Yankees retire whatever number he wore there? 

No, and the Yankees have retired 22 numbers, including several players not as good as Mussina.   https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/

That said, I don’t think his number should have been retired by the Yankees.