Michael Cole Mussina (born December 8, 1968),
nicknamed
Moose, is a former
Major League Baseball right-handed
starting pitcher. He played for the
Baltimore Orioles ( – ) and the
New York Yankees ( – ).
While spending his entire career in the competitive and
high-scoring
American League
East, Mussina won at least 11 games in 17 consecutive seasons,
an American League record, and recorded a career .638 won-loss
percentage. Among
pitchers, he is 33rd all
time in wins (270), 33rd in games started (535), 66th in innings
pitched (3,562.2), and 19th in
strikeouts
(2,813). A five-time
All Star and seven-time
Gold Glove winner,
Mussina's consistency resulted in six top-five finishes in the
voting for his league's
Cy Young
Award, though he failed to ever win it.
Early life
Mussina
was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania
. At Montoursville Area High School in Montoursville,
Pennsylvania
he had a 24–4 record with a 0.87 ERA for his
baseball team. He also excelled in football and
basketball.
As a high school senior, Mussina barely missed being
valedictorian of his graduating class.
According to some reports, he intentionally came up short to avoid
delivering a commencement speech.
Mussina was drafted by the
Baltimore
Orioles in 1987 but chose to attend college rather than
sign.
College career
In three
years at Stanford
University
, Mussina compiled a 31–16 record with a 3.89
ERA. He made two
College
World Series appearances and was selected as an All-American.
His senior year in 1990 was his best, finishing 14–5 with a 0.99
ERA before being drafted again by the Baltimore Orioles, this time
as a first round pick (20th overall).
Mussina graduated from Stanford in 1990 with a degree in
economics. He was a member of the
Delta Tau Delta fraternity.
Professional career
Baltimore Orioles
In the minor leagues, Mussina posted a 14–4 record with a 2.38
ERA.
1992–1995
In , Mussina's first full season with the Orioles, he finished with
an 18-5 record and a 2.54
ERA in
241 innings. His .783 win-loss percentage was tops in the league,
and his 1.79
BB/9 was second best
behind
Chris Bosio. His 4 shutouts were
tied for 2nd in the league behind only
Boston's Roger
Clemens. He finished 4th in the American League
Cy Young Award voting that year, and was
elected to 1992's
All-Star Game,
pitching one perfect inning.
Mussina struggled in due to shoulder soreness which placed him on
the
DL from 7/22-8/19. Though he still
managed to win 14 games while posting the 7th best winning
percentage in the American League, Mussina also allowed 83 earned
runs in only 167.2 innings of work for a 4.46 ERA while striking
out 117 batters. He was voted onto the
All-Star team,
however he did not pitch in the game. There was a controversial
incident towards the end of the game when Mussina chose to warm-up
in the bullpen, despite the fact AL manager
Cito Gaston had told him that he would not enter
the game.
Orioles fans believed Mussina was warming-up
in preparation to come in and pitch the ninth inning and when
Gaston put Duane Ward in to pitch the
ninth inning, the fans at Camden Yards
spent the rest of the game chanting "We Want Mike"
and booing Gaston very loudly, as the popular slogan "Cito Sucks"
was born in Baltimore. The slogan could be seen on t-shirts
or heard even years later in Baltimore anytime the visiting Blue
Jays came to town. Gaston was never treated well by Baltimore fans
for the rest of his managerial career and he was subject to death
threats for not pitching Mussina in the game. Many believe Mussina
threw on his own as a way of publicly showing up Gaston because he
was angry at not pitching in the game. However, Mussina said he was
just getting his work in, as he was scheduled to throw that day,
and it was apparent Gaston did require his services. Mussina
returned from the DL in August against the
Texas Rangers, only to have the
Orioles shut him down three weeks later in mid-September due to
lower back pain.
Mussina returned to form in , but a
player's strike cut his
season short, causing him to finish with only 16 wins and 99
strikeouts in 176.1 innings of work. Mussina finished tied for 2nd
in the league in wins, and his 3.06 ERA placed him 4th. He was
selected to his 3rd consecutive
All-Star Game and
pitched one inning, giving up one hit while striking out one
batter. Mussina finished 4th in voting for that year's American
League Cy Young Award.
In , Mussina started and won
Cal Ripken's
record breaking 2,131st
consecutive game on
September 6, 1995.Mussina led the league with 19 wins and had one
of his finest statistical seasons. He struck out 158 batters in
221.2 innings, allowing only 81 earned runs for an ERA of 3.29.
Mussina led the league with four shutouts, and he also allowed a
league-low 2.03 BB/9, while his 1.069
WHIP was 2nd only to
Seattle's Randy Johnson. Despite his excellent season,
Mussina was not elected to that year's
All-Star Game, and
finished 5th in the American League Cy Young Award voting.
1996–2000
In , Mussina won 19 games, and set a new career high of 243.1
innings. His league leading 36 games started were also a career
high. 18 of his starts that year were
quality starts. In his last start of the
season, the Oriole's bullpen blew a late inning lead, costing
Mussina a 20 win season. Mussina also won his 1st
Gold Glove that year.
Mussina did not start the
Opening Day
game in due to elbow tendonitis. He had been the Opening Day
starter for the Orioles every year since 1993. Mussina finished the
season with a 15–8 record and his 3.20 ERA was 4th best in the
league. In addition his 218 strikeouts were a career high, and
established a franchise record. Mussina was again voted onto the
All-Star
team but did not appear in the game. He finished 6th in the
American League Cy Young Award Voting, and won his 2nd consecutive
Gold Glove. In the
1997 American League
Championship Series he pitched fifteen innings over two starts,
allowing one run, four hits, and striking out twenty five—an ALCS
record at the time. However, the Orioles failed to score in both of
his starts, and Mussina ended up receiving no-decisions for
each.
Mussina's season was punctuated by two separate trips to the DL,
including for injury resultant from when a ball hit by
Sandy Alomar, Jr. struck him on the face
and fractured his nose. Mussina still managed to win 13 games and
post a 3.49 ERA, with 175 strikeouts in 206.1 innings. His
strikeout-to-walk ratio ratio was
good for 2nd in the league. Mussina won his 3rd consecutive
Gold Glove with a perfect
1.000
fielding percentage out of
50
total chances. On 8/4, Mussina
struck out
Detroit's Bip Roberts for his 1000th career
strikeout.
In 1999 he finished 2nd in the league with 18 wins, and his 3.50
ERA and .720 win-loss percentage were good for 3rd. Mussina struck
out 172 batters in 203.2 innings while walking just 52, for a 3.31
K/BB ratio. He was selected as an
All-Star and
pitched one inning, Mussina finished second in the American League
Cy Young Award voting that year behind
Pedro Martínez. He committed just one
error out of 61 total chances and
won his 4th consecutive Gold Glove, further cementing his
reputation as one of the top defensive pitchers in baseball.
In 2000, Mussina recorded his first and only losing season going
11–15. However, he did not pitch as badly as his record suggests,
as he allowed 100 earned runs in a league-leading 237.2 innings for
a 3.79 ERA. He struck out 210 batters while allowing 44 walks.
Opponents batted just .255
off him. He finished 6th in voting for the Cy Young Award that
year.
New York Yankees
Following the 2000 season, Mussina decided to leave the Orioles via
free agency. He signed a 6-year, $88.5
million contract with the New York Yankees on November 30,
2000.
2001–2004
Mussina finished the 2001 season with a 17–11 record. He was 2nd in
the league in ERA (3.15), strikeouts (214), shutouts (3), and
strikeout/walk ratio (5.10), and 5th in strikeouts/9 IP (8.42) and
complete games (4). Mussina pitched seven shutout innings in Game 3
of the
2001
American League Division Series and the Yankees went on to win
the game 1-0, and eventually the series, becoming the only team to
win a division series after losing the first two games at home.
Mussina started Games 1 and 5 of the
2001 World Series against the
Arizona Diamondbacks, posting an 0–1
record with a 4.09 ERA in 11 innings pitched.
In , Mussina was second in the AL in walks/9 IP (1.65), third in
strikeouts (182) and strikeouts/9 IP (7.60), eighth in wins (18),
and ninth in walks/9 IP (2.00). He held batters to a .198 batting
average when the game was tied.
In , Mussina was third in the league in strikeouts/9 IP (8.18) and
strikeout/walk ratio (4.88), fourth in strikeouts (195) and walks/9
IP (1.68), fifth in wins (17), and eighth in ERA (3.40). He held
batters to a .190 batting average when there were two outs and
runners in scoring position. During Game 7 of the
2003 ALCS, Mussina
authored one of the greatest clutch pitching performances of all
time. With the Yankees trailing Boston 4–0 Mussina made the first
relief appearance of his career. With runners on the corners and
nobody out, Mussina struck out
Jason
Varitek before inducing
Johnny
Damon to hit into a double play. Mussina went on to pitch 2
more scoreless innings and kept the Yankees within striking
distance in a game they later came back to win.
In , plagued by a series of injuries, Mussina ended the year with a
12-9 record and a 4.59 ERA. He was fourth in the league in
strikeouts (195), and eighth in walks/9 IP (2.19).
2005–2008
In , Mussina finished with a 13–8 record and a 4.41 ERA. He was
seventh in the AL in strikeouts/9 IP (7.11).
In , he ended the season with a 15–7 record. He was second in the
league in
OBP against (.279),
third in the American League in walks/9 IP (1.60; a career-best),
batting average against (.241), and strikeout/walk ratio (4.91),
fourth in ERA (3.51), sixth in win-loss percentage (.682). He
fanned
Cody Ross to reach the 2,500
strikeout mark on June 25. Mussina also became the first pitcher in
American League history to win 10 or
more games for 15 consecutive seasons.
Mike Mussina with Yankees on September
28, 2007.
In , Mussina became just the ninth player to win 100 games with two
different teams—he had won 147 with Baltimore. However, with the
Yankees locked in a tight pennant race, Mussina struggled and
temporarily lost his spot in the rotation to prospect
Ian Kennedy. After just one relief appearance,
(the first of his regular season career), Mussina returned as a
starter, going 3–0 in his final four starts to end with 11-10
record and a career-high 5.15 ERA. The '07 season for Mussina and
Mets' pitcher
Tom Glavine was the
subject of a 2008 book by
John
Feinstein,
Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams,
One Season to Remember', showcasing a pivotal season for two New
York City pitchers as Mussina nailed down milestone career win #250
with the Yankees and Glavine earned win #300 with the cross-town
Mets. ISBN 0-316-11391-3
In 2008, Mussina started his 8th season with the Yankees as a
much-needed veteran of an inexperienced rotation. The year began
with difficulty reminiscent of 2007, and many noted a sharp decline
in his pitch velocity. Owner
Hank
Steinbrenner suggested that Mussina should "learn how to pitch
like
Jamie Moyer," and no longer rely so
much on his fastball. Although that remark was widely interpreted
as a slight, Mussina joked in response that he could not pitch like
Moyer because he did not throw left-handed, and afterwards he
excelled, going 9–1 in his subsequent eleven starts. On June 15, he
recorded his 10th win of the season, extending his American League
record to 17 consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins.
On
September 18, Mussina notched his 18th victory of the season and
lead the Yankees to a 9–2 victory over the first place White Sox in
his final start at Yankee
Stadium
. On September 28, he won 20 games for the
first time at the age of 39, with a 6–2 win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park
, becoming the oldest first-time 20 game winner in
MLB history. He finished 20–9 with a 3.37 ERA. His 67.6%
first-strike-percentage was the highest among major league
starters.
[89967]
Mussina would later finish second to
Cleveland Indians pitcher
Cliff Lee in the voting for American League
comeback player of the year honors. On November 6, he was awarded
his seventh career
Gold Glove
Award, and the third in his career with the Yankees. He would
later finish behind Lee again in the balloting for the 2008 AL Cy
Young Award. Mussina's sixth place finish was his best since
2001.
On November 20, 2008, Mussina officially announced his retirement.
Mussina is the first pitcher to call it quits following a
20-victory season since Hall of Famer
Sandy
Koufax in 1966.
Career earnings
On November 20, 2006, Mussina and the Yankees reached a preliminary
agreement, pending a physical, on a two-year, $23 million contract.
Earlier in the off-season the Yankees declined the 1-year, $17
million option on Mussina's previous contract. Under that
back-loaded six-year, $88.5 million contract, Mussina earned $19
million in each of the last two seasons.
| Year |
League |
Team |
Salary ($) |
|
American League |
New York
Yankees |
11,071,029 |
|
American League |
New York
Yankees |
11,070,423 |
|
American League |
New York
Yankees |
19,000,000 |
|
American League |
New York
Yankees |
19,000,000 |
|
American League |
New York
Yankees |
16,000,000 |
|
American League |
New York
Yankees |
12,000,000 |
|
American League |
New York
Yankees |
11,000,000 |
|
American League |
New York
Yankees |
10,000,000 |
|
American League |
Baltimore
Orioles |
6,786,032 |
|
American League |
Baltimore
Orioles |
6,623,143 |
|
American League |
Baltimore
Orioles |
6,653,143 |
|
American League |
Baltimore
Orioles |
6,825,000 |
|
American League |
Baltimore
Orioles |
4,000,000 |
|
American League |
Baltimore
Orioles |
2,925,000 |
|
American League |
Baltimore
Orioles |
750,000 |
|
American League |
Baltimore
Orioles |
425,000 |
|
American League |
Baltimore
Orioles |
137,500 |
| Career Total |
144,136,270 |
Near-perfect games
Mussina has pitched several near-
perfect
games throughout his career:
- On July 17, 1992, he retired the first 12 Texas Rangers before surrendering a
double to Kevin Reimer. Mussina retired
the final 15 batters he faced for a one-hit 8–0 shutout.
- On May 30, 1997, he retired the first 25 Cleveland Indians before surrendering a
single to Sandy Alomar Jr. with one
out in the ninth. Mussina struck out the last two batters for a
one-hit 3–0 shutout.
- On August 4, 1998, he retired the first 23 Detroit Tigers he faced before surrendering a
double to Frank Catalanotto with
two outs in the eighth. Mussina gave up another hit in the eventual
4–0 shutout.
- On September 2, 2001, he retired the first 26 Boston Red Sox he faced; he then ran
pinch-hitter Carl Everett (batting for
Joe Oliver) to a
1-and-2 count before Everett lined a single to left-center. Mussina
then retired leadoff man Trot Nixon on a
grounder, striking out 13 batters in a one-hit 1–0 shutout. The
losing pitcher was David Cone. Although
Mussina did not achieve perfection, James Buckley, Jr. considered
it special enough to include an appendix chapter about it in his
2002 book Perfect: The Inside Story of Baseball's Sixteen
Perfect Games. ISBN 1-572-43454-6
- On October 12, 2004, he retired the first 19 Boston Red Sox he faced in Game 1 of the
2004 American
League Championship Series. On Mark
Bellhorn's third trip to the plate, Mussina surrendered a
double to left field on an 0-2 pitch. He would work innings and
record the 10-7 Yankee win.
Other career achievements
- Seven-time Gold Glove award
winner.
- Seven-time Cy Young Award nominee, placing in the top five six
times.
- Three-time MVP award
nominee, garnering 2 points in 1992, 8 in 1994, and 3 in 2008.
- Baseball America First-Team
American League All-Star starting pitcher.
- Baseball America Second-Team American League All-Star starting
pitcher.
- Led AL in Won-Loss percentage (.783) in 1992
- Led AL in Wins (19), Walks/9IP (2.03) and Shutouts (4) in
1995
- Led AL in Games Started (36) in 1996
- Led AL in Innings (237 ⅔) in 2000
- Reached both the 2001 and
2003 World Series with the
New York Yankees
- Won 15 games in a season 11 times.
- One 20 win season ( ), two 19 win seasons, three 18 win
seasons, and two 17 win seasons.
Postseason performance
Mussina collected an overall 7–8 record and 3.40 ERA, with 142
strikeouts in 22 career postseason games. His finest posteason
occurred in 1997 for the Baltimore Orioles when in 4 games he went
2-0 with a 1.24 ERA in 29 IP with 11 H, 4 ER, 7 BB and 41 K.
Pitching style
Early in his career, Mussina's arsenal included a
four-seam fastball that topped out at
95 mph, a
two-seam fastball,
a
slider, a
changeup,
and a plus
knuckle-curve. He has
always been a finesse pitcher and coming up through the Orioles'
organization, he was often compared to
Jim
Palmer. He has received praise for the ability to make in-game
adjustments to compensate for days when he is not at his
best.
Mussina's prolonged success is also the result of his ability to
make adjustments. He has added a
splitter
to his repertoire and replaced his knuckle-curve with a more
conventional
curveball. He has become more
skilled at changing speeds with his breaking pitches and using
different arm angles to confuse batters as well as to compensate
for the diminishing speed of his fastball, now at 86–88 mph
(tops out at 90.91 mph).
During
spring training in 2006,
Yankees catcher
Jorge Posada noticed
the unique grip Mussina used for his changeup and promptly hit a
home run off it during an intra-squad game. Posada alerted Mussina
to the tip-off, and he adjusted the grip. This new changeup has
been difficult for batters to recognize, and was considered a main
reason for his success that season.
Mussina's remarkable results in 2008 have been attributed to
changes in pitching style. While in the past he was known for
painting the outside corner of the plate with a mid 90's
four-seam fastball, he now works more on
both sides of the plate with his diminished upper 80's fastball.
Additionally, when throwing the fastball he often uses the
two-seam grip, which gives the ball late
breaking motion. Despite his lower fastball velocity, Mussina has
maintained a significant differential in pitch speed by also
lowering the velocity of his
changeup. In
addition to those more obvious changes, Craig Brown of
The Hardball Times also attributes
Mussina's renaissance to excellent control, noting that he is
walking fewer batters than ever before and is becoming a ground
ball pitcher for the first time in his career.
Throughout his career, Mussina has also complemented his pure
pitching ability by doing the little things well. He issues very
few walks, holds baserunners well, and fields his position
superbly.
Hall of Fame debate
Mussina's
candidacy for the Hall of Fame
has come under recent debate. "Do I compare
to some guys who are in? I think I do," Mussina told
USA Today in 2006. The only other pitchers to
match Mussina's 17 seasons of 10 or more victories are
Greg Maddux,
Warren
Spahn,
Cy Young,
Don Sutton, and
Steve
Carlton; all are Hall of Famers except Maddux, who also retired
after the 2008 season and thus is not yet eligible. Of the 23
eligible pitchers who have at least 265 wins and an ERA of 3.69 or
less, 20 are in the Hall of Fame. Mussina's consistency is often
overshadowed by the dominant peaks of contemporaries like
Pedro Martínez and
Randy Johnson. Baseball writer
Tim Kurkjian stated on the August 3, 2008,
edition of Baseball Tonight: "He's a Hall of Famer. I've looked at
the numbers and he's in."
He is the oldest pitcher to ever
win
20 games in a season for the first time at the age of 39 in . He
never won the
Cy Young Award, but
finished in the top six of Cy Young voting eight times. Mussina
also came tantalizingly close to pitching a
perfect game and winning a
World Series, having lost chances at achieving
both in the 9th inning in .
Only five pitchers in the history of major league baseball have as
many victories as Mussina and a better winning percentage:
Lefty Grove,
Christy Mathewson,
Grover Cleveland Alexander,
Roger Clemens, and
Randy Johnson.
Mussina has won seven gold gloves.
Personal life
Mussina married Jana McKissick in 1997. The couple has two sons,
Brycen and Peyton, and he is also stepfather to Jana's daughter
Kyra, from a previous marriage. He still resides in his hometown of
Montoursville where he is well-known. During the off-season, he
often helps out with the athletic programs at his high school and
he operates a training camp for student athletes in the area.
He serves
on the Little League International
Board of Directors, based in nearby South
Williamsport, Pennsylvania
.
Mussina is of
Slavic descent. Due to
his last name, which was Americanized by his ancestors, he is often
misidentified as an
Italian-American; before the inaugural
World Baseball Classic in
2006, Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the
players union,
even asked him to play for Italy on that assumption.
Mussina is also a crossword puzzle enthusiast who is featured in
the 2006 documentary film
Wordplay.
He is also a collector of
tractors and
vintage cars.
See also
References
- Smith, Chris, "Be Like Mike (Mussina)", New York
Magazine, November 5, 2001
- Barra, Allen, "Mike Mussina, Businesslike Baseball Great",
Wall Street Journal, November 25, 2008
- Altman, Billy. "The All-Star Game: Should Everyone Get to
Play?" Village Voice, July 17, 2002
- Elliott, Bob. "Elliott on Baseball" Toronto Sun,
September 5, 2004
- "Absolutely no way - Mussina says he is resigned to
free agency", CNNSI.com, July 26 2000.
Retrieved December
16 2006
- "Mussina, Yankees agree on six-year, $88.5M deal",
ESPN, November 29 2006
- AP, "Mussina outpitches Willis, Damon drives in both Yanks'
runs", ESPN.com, June 25, 2006
- Kepner, Tyler, "The Yankees Rebound, but Damon Falls to the
Side", The New York Times, July 6, 2006
- Hoch, Bryan, "Hank sticking with Yanks' plan for Joba",
MLB.com, April
21, 2008
-
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080930&content_id=3574777&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle
- Mike Mussina announces his retirement
- Photo Gallery
- Girardi: Yankees expecting Mussina to retire
- Mike Mussina Set to Retire
- Feinsand, Mark, "Yankees bring back Mussina: Right-hander agrees to
two-year, $23 million deal", MLB.com, November 20, 2006
- http://mussinahof.com/?p=10K
- BASEBALL; Mussina Shuts Down Orioles With Surprise
and His Splitter - New York Times
-
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/hallfame/2006-07-26-borderline-veterans_x.htm
- Will the Moose Be Mounted?
-
http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/mike-mussina-future-hall-of-famer/
- Hall spot for Moose? Era, as much as ERA, may help
sway
- AP, "No Celebrity Status: Mussina just another face in
his hometown ", October 26, 2001
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