HOF Cap for Mussina

[howie14]

If the other team wasn't the MFY (or perhaps Boston) there wouldn't even be a discussion. He was a much more dominating pitcher here than there.

Still, he is much more famous as a Yankee. If we take the name of the joint at face value, he's a Yankee.

[RShack]

I'm completely confident he will prefer a MFY hat, and that the HOF will be fine with his preference.

[markdublya]

But the national media has absolutely no say in what hat a HOF member displays on his plaque, they only vote on who gets in and that's it. What hat is a decision made primarily by the Hall of Fame in conjunction with MLB.

He may get more votes because he was a Yankee, causing him to gain more national exposure, if that's what your saying.

EDIT: BTW I voted for the O's hat.

Didn't Catfish also request a Yankee hat and get an A's hat?

[Mark Carver]

Didn't Catfish also request a Yankee hat and get an A's hat?

According to here. He has no logo on the cap. They also list other players with multiple teams.

Catfish Hunter: When elected to the Hall of Fame in 1987, he could not choose between either of the teams for which he played — the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees — as he had been successful with both teams. Hunter's plaque shows him wearing a cap without a logo.

[DrungoHazewood]

Games Started as Orioles: 288

Games Started as MFY: 248

He got more Cy Young and MVP votes as an Orioles, by a wide margin, according to Baseball Reference.

I don't think he gets in, but if he does, I think they put a bird on his cap.

BR lists these as the most similar pitcher:

1. Juan Marichal (866) *

2. David Wells (863)

3. Curt Schilling (860)

4. Jim Palmer (855) *

5. Carl Hubbell (855) *

6. Kevin Brown (844)

7. Jack Morris (838)

8. Clark Griffith (831) *

9. Jim Bunning (826) *

10. Andy Pettitte (824)

Marichal, Palmer, Hubbell, Griffith and Bunning are in the Hall. I don't think Wells, Schilling, Brown, Morris, or Pettitte should get in but I suspect Pettitte, Schilling and maybe even Brown will make it.

In my opinion only the best of the best belong. But, BR HOF monitor says he makes it:

Black Ink: Pitching - 15 (141) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)

Gray Ink: Pitching - 244 (23) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)

HOF Standards: Pitching - 54.0 (28) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)

HOF Monitor: Pitching - 121.0 (67) (Likely HOFer > 100)

First off, his best similarity score is under 900, meaning he's a unique pitcher. That is a sign of quality.

Second, if he's comparable to a bunch of guys from the 1960s, and he scores well on the Ink and Standards tests that's more evidence that he's definitely a HOFer. It's much harder to score on the Ink tests today than in the past because there are many more teams and players. And the HOF Standards/Monitor are based on those already elected, so they're heavily biased towards players who played when it was far, far easier to pile up huge numbers of innings and wins.

As the BBWAA brings in more young writers and moves away from 75-year-old ink-stained curmudgeons we'll have fewer and fewer pitchers left out of the Hall because they didn't live up to the standards of prior eras. That Mussina only won 20 once isn't a fault of his abilities, nor is the fact he never threw 300 innings. It's because of his birth year, plain and simple.

[isestrex]

Still, he is much more famous as a Yankee. If we take the name of the joint at face value, he's a Yankee.

Is he? In my opinion he made a name for himself in Baltimore then, because the Yanks never won a championship after he got there, he sorta disappeared in NY. He was only the Ace in hard times (like last year) and was never the face of the pitching staff.

He made the All-Star game 5 times as an Oriole and not once as a Yankee. I'm not certain he's "much more famous" as a Yankee as you state.