By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com | 11/26/2013 10:00 A.M. ET
NEW YORK -- It is almost difficult to believe that more than five years have passed since Mike Mussina stood in the visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park, his fingers digging into a container of McDonald's french fries with a satisfied grin spreading across his face.
Mussina had just logged his 20th victory of the 2008 season, altering a reputation that had him known as a "Mr. Almost" of sorts: He had been a runner-up for a Cy Young Award, fell one inning shy of being a World Series champion and was one strike short of a perfect game in 2001.
Though he waited a few weeks to make his decision public, Mussina knew he had finished on a high note. In doing so, he had completed a career that makes an interesting case for enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
"It's not easy to go out there 30 times a year and be successful and stay healthy and do what everybody is expecting you to do every time," Mussina said in 2008. "Yeah, I lost, and I didn't pitch great every time.
"But for the most part over the long haul, I did what I was supposed to do. When you're asked to do a job, you expect yourself to go out there and do it. I'm proud of myself that I went out there and did it as well as I did."
This will mark Mussina's first turn on the Hall of Fame ballot, with his fate to be decided by the voting members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Pitching for 18 seasons with the Yankees and Orioles, Mussina compiled a lifetime record of 270-153 and a 3.68 ERA.
A candidate must receive 75 percent of the vote from BBWAA to gain election to the Hall. No players reached that threshold in 2013. Second baseman Craig Biggio (68.2 percent), starting pitcher Jack Morris (67.7 percent) and first baseman Jeff Bagwell (59.6 percent) are the top returning vote-getters from last year's ballot. Results of the 2014 election will be announced on Wednesday, Jan. 8. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Jeff Kent and Mussina highlight the first-time candidates.
A five-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove Award winner who toiled for his entire career in the American League East during an era marked by performance-enhanced slugging, Mussina was able to win at least 15 games in 11 seasons.
He enjoyed six top five finishes in voting for the AL Cy Young Award, finishing second to Pedro Martinez in 1999. Mussina's 270 wins are tied with Burleigh Grimes for 33rd place on baseball's all-time list, and he retired as the oldest pitcher to record a 20-win season for the first time.
Only five pitchers in the game's history have had as many wins as Mussina while matching his .638 career winning percentage: Grover Cleveland Alexander, Christy Mathewson, Roger Clemens, Lefty Grove and Randy Johnson.
That select company becomes more impressive when you consider that a strength of Mussina's career was his ability to reinvent himself, and that he completed his run with the Yankees relying on guile and finesse, a much different approach than he had used during his Baltimore days.
Some were surprised that Mussina walked away after his 20-win season in 2008, believing that he could have held on for a few more years to further bolster a Hall of Fame case that -- as it stands -- compares nicely to past inductees Juan Marichal and Jim Palmer.
That was never part of the equation for Mussina, who realized that his best days were behind him at age 39. There were no guarantees that Mussina would quickly be able to reach the vaunted 300-win plateau; in his mind, it might have taken three more years of hanging on.
"I didn't want to be one of those guys that bounces all over the place," Mussina said in 2008. "That's not how I feel about the game. If I can't contribute at the level I want to contribute at, then someone else should be doing it."
Mussina spoke openly at the time about having decided to make his exit while he was still having fun.
"I just felt so good about the season, the way it was going, and enjoying it and not getting caught up in the bad times," Mussina said. "It was like the last year of high school. You know it's going to end, and you just enjoy the ride."
In the years since his retirement, Mussina has returned to life in his beloved hometown of Montoursville, Pa., where he continues to avidly collect John Deere tractors and classic cars while serving as the head coach of the local high school varsity basketball team.
The Orioles inducted Mussina into their Hall of Fame in 2012, and now it will be up to the voters to decide if Mussina's accomplishments on the field also warrant a road trip to Cooperstown, N.Y. in the near future.
Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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