Moose Is Hanging 'Em Up

I was at my brother-in law's new house tonight getting ready to munch on some pizza when I felt a vibration in my pocket. I pulled the celly and saw I had a text message. Without looking, I knew who it was from, friend and reader of my blog, Danny Mac. He forwards me the text alerts he gets from ESPN that pertain to the Yankees. I was hoping when I flipped it open to read something along the lines of "CC Sabathia signs with the Yankees." Unfortunately it read, "Fox Sports: Yankees P Mike Mussina will announce his retirement later this week." Ugh.

I kind of knew deep down all along that Moose was going to call it a career. I was still hoping though that he wasn't quite ready and was going to announce his intentions to play. I thought that since he hadn't announced it yet that he was still mulling it over, which I took as a sign that he still had a little gas left in the tank. According to Ken Rosenthal's article on Fox Sports, Moose waited until after all the post season awards were doled out to make his announcement. Yeah, I totally didn't think of that.

As I thought about this over the last few hours, I've made my peace with it. It makes a lot of sense that Moose would hang it up. He's going out as a 20 game winner and that's what people are going to remember. that alone will make a lot of people forget about his lackluster 2007 season. And what more does he really have to prove? Sure he could stick around for 3 more years and in all likelihood would win 30 more games giving him 300 for his career. But then people will call him a "compiler" and cite that he only won 300 because he pitched so long. For my money, Moose is a slam dunk for the HOF. But I know there are a lot of people out there who don't agree with me. Fox Sports is doing a poll, asking if Moose is a HOFer. 69% of the 20,630 voters say yes. I wrote a post back in August called "Elect Moose." I suggest giving it a look if you're interested in seeing some arguments in favor of inducting him into the Hall. I'm hoping to start another website in the coming weeks that will focus on Moose's career and doing what I can to help him turn that 69% into 100%. A grass roots campaign kind of thing. Stay tuned for more info. It's still in the planning stages.

Finally, I want to wish Moose the best in his retirement. I hope to see him in a few months at his annual fan club dinner, which is something I hope he continues even though he's not playing. So take care Mike. You are and will always be one of my favorite pitchers. It was a pleasure to watch you pitch. Hopefully, I'll see you in Cooperstown in 5 years.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie