COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Mike Mussina didn’t mind the wait. Six years was nothing to the former Yankees and Orioles pitcher. He was thrilled he didn’t have to hold out any longer.

“I was as surprised as anyone [to get in],” he said Saturday, the day before entering the National Baseball Hall of Fame alongside closers Mariano Rivera and Lee Smith, designated hitter Edgar Martinez, first baseman Harold Baines and Blue Jays and Phillies starting pitcher Roy Halladay, who died in 2017. “I was surprised that I hung on to make it this time around.”

Mussina was named on just 20.3 percent of ballots of ballots in 2014, his first year of eligibility. But the numbers increased every year, until this past January, when he received 76.7 percent — just past the 75 percent threshold for election. On Sunday, he will join the exclusive club.

“I don’t think until it’s all done and we get to head home and then it’s probably going to settle in better than it has so far,” the right-hander said. “Just it’s a crazy weekend and I’ve had a chance to see guys I haven’t seen in a long time. I’ve had opportunities to meet players that I’ve never met before.”

After getting elected, Mussina said he wasn’t sure which team’s hat he would wear into Cooperstown. The next day, he still didn’t have an answer. Soon after, he had clarity. He chose neither the Yankees nor the Orioles, opting to go into the Hall with a blank hat.

Mussina spent 10 years with the Orioles and eight with the Yankees. He never reached the World Series with Baltimore, though he did twice with the Bombers in 2001 and 2003. He did make all five of his All-Star Game appearances with Baltimore.

He said he enjoyed both experiences. The Orioles gave him his first shot in the major leagues and the Yankees put him on the biggest stage in the sport in The Bronx, as 17 of his 22 postseason appearances came with them.

“New York brought me in and put my right in the rotation and had all the confidence in the world in me,” said the 50-year-old Mussina, who now coaches high school basketball. “It was a little bigger stage pitching for the Yankees, more trips to the postseason, but they’re both equally important in my success.”

Of the most significance to Mussina, his two sons, Brycen and Peyton, are getting to enjoy this experience with him. They were too young to really understand the kind of player their father was at the time. Which was fine. It meant he got to spend those important years with them.

“You have to make the trade somewhere,” Mussina said. “It’s awesome to have them here and join me in this.”