behind the dugout

After being taken in the first round of the 1990 amatuer draft Mussina was assigned to Dobule-A Hagerstown working 4 scoreless innings in his debut. In total hehad 11 starts that season he allowed more then 2 runs only once.

The following season Mussina was promoted to the big league roster at the end of July and made his first start August 4th, the losing pitcher in a 1-0 game in which he pitched 7.2 innings. His first win came agains the Texas Rangers, a start in which he struck out 10 batters.

By the start of 1992 Mussina had arrived and in his first full season in the majors Mussina finished 4th in the AL Cy Young vote after posting a 18-5 record with a 2.54 ERA in his 32 starts. His .783 win percentage led the majors. Mussina even had his first one-hitter on July 17th, days after his first All-Star apperance(1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K).

He missed six weeks of the 1993 season due to a sore right shoulder and lower back pain. Despite the pain by the end of the season Mussina had worked five or more innings in 48 of his first 50 major league starts.

Strike shortened seasons in 1994 and 1995 limited Mussina to 16 and 19 wins respectivley. He became the first Oriole to ever be selected to All-Star games in his first three full big league seasons.

In 1996 he receieved his first Rawlings Gold Glove, he would receive a second in 1997 along with setting a career high with 218 strike outs. He had his second career one-hitter on May 8th at home against Cleveland, allowing just a single to Sandy Alomar in the ninth with one out. 1997 also marked his fourth All-Star selection, though he did not play. In addition he also collected his first hit off of John Smoltz on June 14th in Atlanta. On june 30th of that year he collected his 100th career win.

 His 1000th career strikeout was recorded on April 11th in Detroit in 1998. The Tigers got a bit of revenge as later in the year with two outs in the 8th inning infielder Frank Catalanotto smacked a double off Mussina to break up a perfect game.

He was awarded his fourth staright Gold Glove following the 1999 season and was named to his fifth All-Star team that season striking out Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire back-to-back with runners on base. Later that year he knocked in 3 RBI against Atlanta.

In his final year with the Orioles Mussina posted his first losing season since his 4-5 rookie campaign. All this despite ranking third in ERA and leading the AL with 237.2 IP.

Moose finished his Orioles career with 147 career wins and a 3.74 ERA in 2009 innings pitched.

Acquiring some pinstripes (2001 - Present) 

Despite the success Mussina and the Orioles had during his stay in Baltimore the one thing the team had failed to do was reach the World Series. After the 2000 season in which owner Peter Angelos and Mussina had soured on contract negotations it was annouced that the veteran pitcher had signed with the New York Yankees.

In his first season in pinstripes Mussina showed why he was still one of the games best pitchers going 17-11 with a 3.15 ERA notching his fifth Gold Glove in 2001. Along with teammate Roger Clemens they became the first pair of Yankees to record 200 plus stikeouts in a season since 1904.  In his first start against the Orioles on May 6th he picked up career win 150. In Setember he again flirted with perfection, this time in Boston, before a Carl Everett single in the bottom of the ninth gave him his fourth career one-hitter. In his first World Series outing Mussina was tagged for a loss in Game One against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Mussina picked up 18 wins in 2002 and had topped 200 innings for a major league best 8 seasons in a row. Another 17 wins followed in 2003 and again he topped 200 innings. Was awarded Player of the Week honors for August 11-17 after 17 shutout innings of work in back to back wins. He picked up his first World Series win in Game Thee against the Florida Marlins after 7 innings allowing just a lone run. The Yankees still had not won a World Series with Moose. Nabbed his sixth Gold Glove in 2003.

In 2004 Mussina picked up career win 200 against the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium. Mussina was briefly demoted to the bullpen in 2007 making his first ever relief apperance after nearly 500 career starts. He appeared in his 500th game (499th start) on September 12th at Toronto picking up a wina nd six days latter defeated the Orioles in his 500th career start.

Mussina is the only American League pitcher to win 10 or more games over 15 years, making 2007 his sixteenth. Only Greg Maddux has a longer active streak at 20 seasons.