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Keidel: Are Andy, Bernie, Posada And Moose Hall Worthy?

By Jason Keidel
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There's lots of Hall of Fame haggling going on. Do we vote for marginal players who were clean or stained players who were monsters? Are we more about the kale guzzlers with warning-track power, or will we lionize those who shot equine potions into their buttocks and just build them a separate, juicing wing in Cooperstown? Should we just put a prison within a shrine?

This allows us to take a different road to memory lane: the old salt from the Joe Torre teams. Beyond the obvious bona fides in Derek Jeter and the immortal Mariano Rivera, it's hard to just pluck another player from those years. Indeed, those teams were bubbling with borderline greats. Do any deserve to hop that opaque line between memorable and immortal?

ANDY PETTITTE 

He was the best big-game hurler in the Bronx since Whitey Ford. A fellow southpaw, Pettitte mesmerized us with his autumnal prowess and charmed us with his humble, Louisiana mien, betraying the ancient baseball aphorism that you can't be kind and a killer on the mound. Much like Eli Manning in MetLife, Pettitte proved that southern sensibilities translate quite well when you win, as victory is a universal language and currency.

While the pious pitcher often saved his best for last, Pettitte didn't exactly embarrass the Bronx Bombers during the summer. His stellar regular-season record (256-153), respectable ERA (3.85), and 19 postseason wins make for quite a compelling case for Cooperstown. But unless you go Pedro or summon some Koufaxian magic, 256 wins aren't enough to laminate  a ticket to Upstate New York.

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If you can just pull playoff numbers, Pettitte has all the credentials. He's the all-time leader in wins (19), innings pitched (276 2/3), games started (44) and is second in strikeouts (183). If pitching and personality were the metrics, then Pettitte would wave the flag of our pastime.

Sure, he said he didn't used PEDs, then said he did, then said he did just twice. He got mixed up with some unsavory folks (Roger Clemens) and briefly broke the implicit bond we had with him. Pettitte's charm was equal parts piety and pitching, the holy spirit and an ungodly splitter. So we felt betrayed. But we forgive our heroes when we feel they're sincere. And while it's hard to imagine anyone taking HGH just twice, it seems we accept the sentiment that Pettitte was still a good guy, even if he tweaked the truth.

BERNIE WILLIAMS

Perhaps the most adored player of the epoch, Williams was universally beloved, at least as much as that's possible in the baseball crucible of NYC. The iconic, laconic center fielder played the field as smoothly as his guitar. And no player was more clutch than Williams, who morphed from a meek, bespectacled teen to a Bronx behemoth, especially when the chill grew sleeves on the players. No non-pitcher had more high deeds under brown leaves than Williams.

Unfortunately, the cold calculus of baseball doesn't grin on his prospects. His 2,336 hits don't approach the magical 3K and his 287 homers don't ring any historical bells. He fell agonizingly short of a lifetime .300 average (.297), though he did win one batting title in perhaps the Yanks' most enchanted year of all (1998), when he hit .339.

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But Williams' career was an amalgam of moments. His 22 home runs in the postseason are second -- most in MLB history -- as are his 128 hits. He's also No. 2 all time in playoff doubles (29), total bases (223), walks (71) and runs scored (83). Not always an October bridesmaid, Williams ended his bejeweled career with the most postseason RBIs (80).

If it feels like I'm making a case for Cooperstown, I am. Sadly, I can't close the case.

Besides, Williams hasn't even retired yet. Or has he?

JORGE POSADA

Stop it.

The only reason his name is here is because he was there during the ethereal days, and Jeter was his BFF. And because I had to annoy someone today. The Posada apologist has a Fan Guy quality. And when he removed himself from that Red Sox game, humiliating himself, his family and his team, he came up with more maladies than the local ER. WFAN host Craig Carton's faux game-show parody of the debacle is still the funniest thing I've ever heard on radio.

Posada's career numbers don't even graze greatness. He hit 275 homers, 10 triples, had 1,065 RBIs, batted .273 and, and....zzzzz.

He did lead the league in hitting into double plays. Twice. During his prime he banged into 23 and 24 twin-killings in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Then, oddly, he batted .338 when he was 35. When you consider that he never hit higher than .287 in any other season, it could arch an eyebrow. Then again, if he were a steroid guy he probably would have used them before and after 2007.

For some reason, Posada held some kind of grudge toward Joe Girardi. It's hard to get that, or his overall moody demeanor, considering he won the catching job from the aging G.I. Joe. He was the starting catcher for the New York Yankees for over a decade, making nearly $120 million in the process. Maybe he's more relaxed now, slurping some of that Johnnie Walker he hawks on TV.

MIKE MUSSINA

Perhaps the toughest pick of all.

With a sublime record (270-153) and reasonable ERA (3.68), the laconic righty was often seen as aloof and even condescending. While never a media or fan favorite, Mussina was easily the best Yankees pitcher post-dynasty. Mussina's biggest flaw was timing. He simply got to New York two years too late, or else there would be no doubt about his Hall of Fame bio.

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Mussina won at least 18 games six times, which is transcendent in the juicing era considering bats dripped like syringes with all manner of malfeasance, corked lumber was trendy and bulging buttocks were used as pin cushions. He also was 10 games over .500 10 times. Of all active pitchers, only Tim Hudson is within 50 career wins. And just to tickle the sabermetricians, Mussina's 82.7 WAR is supposedly surreal.

The best arguments for enshrinement are as follow: All MLB pitchers who are at least 117 games over .500 are in the Hall of Fame; 36 pitchers in the Hall have fewer than 300 wins; and 32 pitchers have fewer wins than Mussina. And Mussina's legendary Baltimore predecessor, Jim Palmer, had an eerily similar career mark of 268-152.

Two twists of fate may cost him his hanging HOF chad. A broken-bat single in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series cost Mussina his ring. And another ninth-inning single cost him his perfect game, this time in Fenway.

Mussina said some dubious things about 2001, essentially asserting that Rivera cost him his best chance at a championship. It was inelegant and inappropriate, but that was just Mussina. Even when he was trying to be benign, he was always seen through a most cynical prism. And that's mostly because he was indeed cynical or reserved or ornery. Which is a shame, because his career is Cooperstown worthy. Almost, anyway.

Follow Jason on Twitter @JasonKeidel.

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