(Updated Jan. 22, 2019)
In his lone career appearance against the Cardinals, Mike Mussina gave them an understanding of why he is a Hall of Famer.
On June 15, 2003, Mussina limited the Cardinals to four hits in eight innings and earned the win in a 5-2 Yankees victory at New York.
Mussina, a right-hander who achieved a 270-153 record in 18 seasons with the Orioles and Yankees, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Jan. 22, 2019.
Center stage
Mussina posted double-digit win totals in 17 consecutive seasons (1992-2008) and pitched in 537 regular-season games, all but one as a starter. He debuted with the Orioles in 1991, pitched 10 seasons for them and spent his last eight years with the Yankees.
In 2003, Mussina was 17-8 and one of his best performances was his start versus the Cardinals before 54,797 on a Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees were going for a sweep of the three-game series and matched Mussina against Woody Williams.
Mussina retired 10 of the first 11 batters and had a 1-0 lead before the Cardinals scored twice in the fourth. With one out, Albert Pujols hit a home run, tying the score, Tino Martinez walked and, after Scott Rolen flied out to right, Mussina uncorked a wild pitch, moving Martinez to second. Edgar Renteria’s infield single advanced Martinez to third and Kerry Robinson’s single drove him in, putting the Cardinals ahead, 2-1.
Under control
The Yankees went up, 5-2, with a four-run sixth. Robin Ventura hit a two-run double and scored on a single by Hideki Matsui. Ruben Sierra’s double drove in Matsui.
The Cardinals didn’t get another base runner against Mussina after the fourth. He retired the last 13 batters in a row before Mariano Rivera relieved and pitched a scoreless ninth. Boxscore
“If you’re a control pitcher, things can come and go on you rather quickly,” Mussina said to the New York Daily News, “so you try to stay on top of it.”
Asked about being lifted for Rivera after eight innings, Mussina replied, “I had no problem with that. It would have had to be a much bigger lead for me to go back out there.”
Rivera, baseball’s all-time saves leader, also was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Jan. 22, 2019, the same day as Mussina.
RetroSimba 
If you compare Mike Mussina’s stats with a good sample of pitchers already in the HOF, Mussina’s numbers compare well and in some cases are even better. If what has kept him out so far is that he never really had any dream season or that there were always 2 or 3 pitchers better than him, is very unfair. Not only did he have longevity, but he was very reliable and consistent during the regular season and postseason. How many of todays starters, who are programed to go only 6 innings ( when they make it to the 6th ), will end up with career stats similar to Mike Musina?
Thanks for the insights!
He’s getting heavily promoted mainly because he pitched for the Yankees.
Mussina’s predicament reminds me of someone else…
Jim Kaat, anything you’d like to add? 283 wins? 16 GG’s?
I think that’s an apt comparison. Jim Kaat and Mike Mussina were prolific winners and superb fielders. Also, baseball.refernce.com offers similarity scores, using a formula Bill James developed, and concludes Mussina was most similar in his career to Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mussimi01.shtml