Isn't Mike Mussina Dreamy?

Yup, another non-Roto, Hall of Fame post.

Dr. Hibbert - like many I've encountered in my non-blogging life - sounds skeptical about the idea of Mike Mussina as a Hall of Famer:

I enjoy the analysis, Mike. I think era+ is an excellent way of comparing players across the years. But I dislike the "If X then Y" type of arguments for the HOF. I prefer to hold them to the standard: "Were they a DOMINANT player of their era?"

Moose was a very good pitcher for 18 seasons. I guess I'd need to be convinced that he was dominant amongst his peers. As someone said (Bill James?), "It's not the Hall of Very Good"

To answer Dr. Hibbert's question, I went back through Baseball Prospectus' VORP pitcher ratings and ranked pitchers (going back to 1954) on the number of seasons they finished in the Top 10 in VORP. Here's what I came up with:

MLB Top 10 VORP Seasons: 1954-2008

Pitcher	# of Years	Years	HOF?
Roger Clemens	13	1986-1992, 1994, 1996 1997, 1999 2004, 2005
Greg Maddux	9	1992-1998 2000, 2001
Jim Palmer	9	1970-1973 1975-1978 1982	YES
Randy Johnson	9	1993-1995 1997 1999-2002 2004
Tom Seaver	9	1967-1971 1973, 1975 1976, 1981	YES
Bert Blyleven	8	1971 1973-1975 1977, 1981, 1984, 1989	NO
Bob Gibson	8	1962 1964-1966 1968-1970 1972	YES
Mike Mussina	8	1992, 1994 1995, 1997 1999-2001 2003
Jim Bunning	7	1957, 1960 1961 1964-1967	YES
Pedro Martinez	7	1997-2000 2002-2005
Whitey Ford	7	1955, 1956 1958 1961-1964	YES

These are what I would call the "consistently dominant" pitchers. Within this category, there are two classes of pitchers.

• Pitchers who were not only dominant for a long time, but incredibly dominant at their peak. These pitchers put up VORPs of 80 or higher for three or more seasons. Maddux, Johnson, and Martinez fall into this class of pitchers, while Palmer is straddling the fence.
• Pitchers who didn't put up a stretch where they were the absolute best during their time but were still among the elites for a long time. Blyleven, Mussina, and Bunning are examples of this type of pitcher.

Mussina passes another unofficial Hall of Fame test with flying colors. He sits up there with pitchers who were dominant within their era for long stretches of time. Blyleven's the only eligible pitcher who isn't in the Hall, and I suspect that he'll get there before his eligibility runs out.