Well we have a new state of mind in New York. It is called "quit while you're ahead." We have seen it from Tiki Barber and now we see it from Mike Mussina. After his first 20 win season of his career, Mike Mussina has called it quits. He said he planned on retiring after this season no matter what but he did not tell anyone. Who knew he would have such a great year after winning only 11 games the prior year. Mike Mussina deserves a lot of credit for a few reasons. Although most Yankee fans will be upset, he is showing that he is not money hungry. After having a 20 win season at his age many teams including the Yankees would without doubt be willing to throw a lot of money at Mussina and he knows that. Instead of being money hungry and being greedy like many professional athletes are, he is just calling it quits. You cannot disrespect that. He also deserves credit for being loyal and true to his decision. He had a poor season prior to this one with just 11 wins like I mentioned above. After that poor season, he most likely said to himself, "I am too old for this so after next season I am going to retire." Despite having a spectacular year to show himself and the MLB that he still is a great pitcher, he has stuck with his decision to retire. I guess when you are with New York teams for a long time, these decisions stick with you. Tiki Barber, Michael Strahan, and now Mike Mussina all had intentions to retire and they all did. There were no Brett Favre's or Mario Lemieux's.
We sure will miss you Mike Mussina and we all praise you for your stint with the Yankees and your loyalty to your decision. Yankee fans now of course will hope the C.C. Sabathia is money hungry and chooses the Yankees. Nobody will beat their offer but if Sabathia stays true to himself, he will be in the National League next year and/or on the West Coast....
Mark Elliot Wishnia
SportsTalkNY Blog Team
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