Next Sunday, the Hall of Fame will induct 6 new members into its hallowed halls. In honor of this event, I'm going to do a daily series this week showing off my 5 favorite cards in my collection for each player.
Today's Hall Of Famer is someone I readily admit I underestimated. He never struck me as a Hall level player, just as a very good player who played on some very good teams. Once again, I present these in chronological order:
1991 Bowman
#97 Mike Mussina (RC)
I could have gone with his uglier Score Draft Pick card, but this rookie card is just so much nicer - blue cloudy sky, orange jersey and black cap make this a winner!
1992 O-Pee-Chee Premiere
#87 Mike Mussina
Just a heads up to any Yankee fans reading this: As I was going through my Mussina collection, it turns out all the cards I have from him are from his Baltimore days. Sorry/Not sorry. Mussina will go into the Hall with a blank hat, having split his career almost exactly in half between the two teams.
1992 Upper Deck #675 Mike Mussina
Mussina was a 5-time All-Star, all with the Orioles. He also won 7 Gold Gloves and finished in the Top 6 for Cy Young 9 times, finishing as high as second. (losing unanimously to Pedro in 1999 I might add!)
1997 Upper Deck #22 Mike Mussina
Fun Fact: Moose was the starting/winning pitcher when Cal Ripken Jr record braking 2,131st consecutive game!
1999 Upper Deck Black Diamond
#14 Mike Mussina
This is officially my favorite Mike Mussina card in my collection. The Black Diamond cards look much cooler in person than this scan justifies.
Congrats, Moose! Welcome to the Hall!
Even though he played almost the same amount of games for each team, I'll always think of him as an Oriole. And it's not because I don't like the Yankees. I think it's because I was big into collecting Moose in the early to mid 90's when he a perennial all-star and a threat to win the Cy Young Award year in and year out. I can still remember treasuring his 1991 Leaf Gold Rookies insert card. I also like his 1990 Classic card which has him pictured wearing his Stanford jersey.
ReplyDeleteI collect him too, and only on the Orioles. Had to separate him and Jim Palmer into their own 4" binder. Most of the other ones I can fit six to eight guys. Can't imagine the size of the binder it would take to house his Yankee cards too!
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