Mike Mussina: Where Does He Rank?

Currently pitching for the New York Yankees, he is one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball. How does Mike Mussina rank vs. his peer, and the all time greats?

Here is Mussina's record at the start of the 2007 season:

Lifetime record of 234-139. Good for a winning percentage of .641. That is good for 32 place all time on the active list, and 24th place all time on the retired list. The wins total is currently good for a tie for 52nd place all time with Hall of Famer Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown.

His K rate is 7.2, while his BB rate is just 2.0. That works out to a 3.6 K to BB ratio. Superb. Mussina is a relatively high strikeout pitcher with excellent control.

Career ERA of 3.63, which is just 80% of the League ERA over Mussina's career. An excellent number that less than two dozen retired pitchers can match, and equal to Sam Leever, Bob Lemon, Sal Maglie, Ed Reulbach and Warren Spahn. Lemon and Spahn are in the Hall of Fame.

Mike Mussina has yet to win a Cy Young Award, but finished 2nd in the 1999 voting. He has been an All Star 5 times, and has won 6 Gold Gloves.

He currently has 2,572 Strikeouts, which is good for 25th place on the all time list, just 9 strikeouts behind Hall of Famer Bob Feller, and 11 behind Spahn.

Mussina has pitched in 15 playoff series, and has a 7-8 record, with a 3.40 ERA. His teams have also gone 7-8 in the playoff series. Mussina has pitched in two World Series for the New York Yankees, and gone 1-1, with a 3.00 ERA. The Yankees lost both Series.

Over his career, the teams Mike Mussina has pitched for have a combined record of 1384-1137 (.549). Mussina's win percentage is currently .641, so he has pitched .092 better than his teams.

Only eight retired pitchers in baseball history have done better, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Sandy Koufax, Sal Maglie, Jesse Tannehill, Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove, Cy Young and Tom Seaver. Three retired pitchers are also at.092, Smokey Joe Wood, Whitey Ford, and Dazzy Vance. Four active pitchers are currently ahead of Mussina, Pedro Martinez (.146), Randy Johnson (.134), Roger Clemens (.124), and Curt Schilling (.110).

Mike Mussina enters the 2007 season as a 38 year old pitcher with the New York Yankees. Barring a career ending injury, he will likely pitch for a few more years and accumulate more stats, but the statistics he has already accomplished in his 16 year career, especially his winning percentage above teams pitched for, already stamp him as one of the best pitchers in baseball history.