35 Mike Mussina Starting Pitcher
	Born: 12/08/1968 Height: 6-2 Weight: 185 Bats: Left Throws: Right BirthPlace: Williamsport, PA College: Stanford Awards: 1996 AL Gold Glove-SP 1997 AL Gold Glove-SP 1998 AL Gold Glove-SP 1999 AL Gold Glove-SP 2001 AL Gold Glove-SP

Pitching
Mussina is able to get his two- and four-seam fastballs up to the plate in the 93-94 MPH range. His two-seamer continues to be an effective sinker. The four-seamer is used a little bit less now because it lacks some of the movement it once had. His high homers-allowed total in 2000 was an indicator that his pitching style needed to change. His knuckle-curve is a favorite pitch, though he throws it less than he used to. He has one of the best over-the-top curveballs that continues to freeze American League hitters. Righthanders showed marked improvement versus Mussina last summer, a problem that he corrected later with changes in pitch selection.

2000 Season
2000 Highlights: Despite his very first losing season since going 4-5 in his rookie campaign in 1991, continued to be regarded as one of baseball's finest pitchers...was 11-15 with a 3.79 ERA in 34 games started, leading the American League with 237.2 IP and finishing third with his 3.79 ERA...along with teammate Andy Pettitte has a career .645 winning percentage and trails only Pedro Martinez (.691), Randy Johnson (.653) and Roger Clemens (.647) for highest winning percentage among active pitchers with 100 or more victories...also ranks seventh in Major-Leaguehistory with a .637 career road winning percentage (100 or more decisions, careers starting 1900 or after)...pitched 7.0 or more innings in 23 of 34 starts and was tied with Sidney Ponson for third in American League with 6 CG...finished third in the A.L. with 210 strikeouts and was the second highest single-season strikeout total in Ori-oles" history (behind his own personal record of 218 in 1997)...owns three of the four 200+ strikeout seasons in fran-chise history (Mussina struck out 204 in 1996, Dave McNally struck out 202 in 1968)...received the lowest run support in the league, at 3.71 runs per nine innings...issued just 7 BB in his last 10 starts...finished third in the A.L. in fewest walks per 9.0 IP (1.74), third in K/BB ratio (4.57) and sixth in strikeouts per 9.0 IP (7.95)...al-lowed the second fewest baserunners per 9.0 IP among A.L. pitchers (10.8), behind only Pedro Martinez...ranked eighth in the A.L., holding opponents to a .255 average (236-for-924)...ranked third in the league, holding lefties to a .223 average (90-for-404)...his 2.90 ERA at Camden Yards was the second best home ERA in the A.L. behind only Pedro Martinez' 1.84 ERA...averaged 107.59 pitches per start, third most in the league behind Texas' Rick Helling (108.31) and Clevelands' Bartolo Colon (107.97)...was also second in the league with his 15 losses and tied for third in starts with 34...is the Orioles all-time leader in 10 strikeout games with 26 (Jim Palmer is second with 11 10K games)...recorded 15 strikeouts in a game to establish a Baltimore franchise regular-season record (had 15 K in Game Three of the 1997 ALCS at Cleveland)...recorded 15K in a complete-game, one-hit shutout vs. Minnesota on 8/1...was his third career one-hitter and 15th shutout...also had 15K in his next-to-last-start on 9/24 at Boston in only 7.0IP...Mussina had previously struck out 14 in a regular season game to share the Orioles record with Bob Turley, Connie Johnson, and Mike Boddicker...matched Kim Palmer's club record with his sixth Opening Day start on 4/3 vs. Cleveland, and in the process passed Dennis Martinez for sixth place on the Orioles' all-time innings pitched list...went winless in his first five starts, the first timehe had not won in a span of five consecutive outings since 8/13-9/7/97...lost a career high four straight starts from 5/4-20...allowed a season-high 4 HR in a 5/9 vs. Toronto (7.0IP, 12H, 5ER, 0BB, 6K)...allowed 14 home runs in his first 10 starts but only 14 round trippers in his final 24 starts...in a 8/21 victory vs. Kansas City, passed Mike Cueller for third place on the Orioles' all-time win list with 144.

1999 Season
1999... Was 18-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 31 starts...won 18 games for the second time in his career (has won 19 games twice)....tied for 2nd in American League in wins with Cleveland's Bartolo Colon and Texas' Aaron Sele...was 3rd in A.L. with a 3.50 ERA, 3rd with a .720 winning percentage and 6th in strikeouts with 172....his 18-7 record improved his career mark to 136-66...His .673 career winning percentage is the highest in baseball history among right-handed pitchers with at least 200 career decisions and third all-time behind only left-handed Hall of Famers Whitey Ford (236-106, .690) and Lefty Grove (300-141, .680)...finished second to Boston's Pedro Martinez in AL Cy Young Award voting, his highest finish ever (finished fourth in 1994, 5th in '95 & '96 and sixth in 1997)...allowed only 4 of 9 runners to steal successfully, tied for the league's best percentage (44.4) with Kansas City's Jose Rosado...also was among the AL leaders in strikeouts per 9IP (6th, 7.61), walks per 9IP (5th, 2.30), hits per IP (10th, 1.02) and K/BB ratio (3rd, 3.31)...had AL's 2nd best mark in Baseball Digest's Power Proficiency Ratings, which rates pitchers with the largest margin of K/9IP to BB/9IP...at 5.31, trailed only Pedro Martinez's 11.64 among AL hurlers...Texas' Aaron Sele, 3rd at 5.10, was only other AL starter over 5.00...allowed only 11.5 baserunners per 9IP, 3rd best in the league, and had the 4th best ERA at home (3.22) and 5th best ERA on the road (3.71)...op-ponents batted .228 (42-184) off him with runners in scoring position, sixth lowest in the league...pitched at least 7.0 innings in 18 of his 31 starts and had 17 "Quality Starts"...n his last 17 starts, did not walk more than two batters in a game and his K/BB ratio was 5.14 (113K, 22BB) in 106 IP...struck out a season-high 12 batters at Philadelphia in 7.0 innings on 7/10 and on the season had four games with at least 10 strikeouts...in his career, he has struck out 10 or more batters an Oriole-record 20 times during the regular season...missed 4 starts after he was struck on the right deltoid by a line drive off the bat of Chicago's Brook Fordyce on 8/22 at Camden Yards...left after three shut-out innings in a game the Orioles went on to win, 9-4...returned to rotation on 9/14 and went 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA in his final four starts, finishing the season with 13 scoreless innings...suffered losses in three of his four complete game efforts...his only 9.0 inning CGs came in back-to-back outings, 6/18 at Chicago and 6/24 vs. Boston...Chicago game marked his only winning CG...lost three straight starts, 6/27-8/6, for the first time in his career...it was only the fourth time in his career he has lost three straight decisions...allowed a career-high 10 ER on 4/21 at Tampa Bay in 3.2IP...earned his 4th straight Rawlings Gold Glove Award...had a .984 fielding percentage, committing one error in 61 total chances...On 6/2 at Seattle, he was charged with his first error since 8/7/ 95, a span of 120 starts between E's...was named to the A.L. All-Star team for the fifth time in his career and pitched one shutout inning in the game, striking out Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire back-to-back with runners on two runners on...on 6/13 at Atlanta, became the first Orioles pitcher to collect 3 RBI in a game since Dave McNally on 8/9/72 and the first Oriole hurler to bat five times in a game since Jim Palmer on 7/3/72...O's won game, 22-1.

1998 Season
1998... Suffered through two stints on the disabled list but still reached the teens in victories for the 7th straight season...was 13- 10 with a 3.49 ERA in 29 starts...captured his third Rawlings Gold Glove Award...compiled a 1.000 fielding percentage, fielding all 50 of his chances flawlessly...in Baseball America's annual "Tools of the Trade" poll, was named as having the third Best curveball and third best change-up in the American League...was among the league leaders in a number of categories: Strikeout/Walk Ratio (2nd, 4.27); BB Allowed Per 9IP (4th, 1.79); On-Base Pct. Allowed (4th, .283); Fewest Baserunners Per 9IP (4th, 10.2); Shutouts (T5th, 2); ERA (6th, 3.49); Ks Per 9IP (6th, 7.63); ERA On the Road (T6th, 3.36); Slugging Pct. Allowed (7th, .383); BA Against LH Hitters (8th, .246); Strikeouts (8th, 175); Hits/IP (8th, 0.92); Batting Average Against (8th, .242)...notched his 1,000th career strikeout on 4/11 at Detroit (Bip Roberts)...on the year, struck out 10 or more batters in a game seven times...left game on 4/16 vs. Chicago when a wart on his right index finger split open...following the game he underwent cryotherapy, a procedure in which liquid nitrogen is sprayed on the wart...the procedure was performed by Dr. Mark Lowitt at University of Maryland Hospital...was placed on the 15-day disabled list on 4/17 and activated on 5/3...tossed his 13th career shutout, 5/9 at Tampa Bay, blanking the Devil Rays, 7-0...on 5/14 vs. Cleveland, he was struck above the right eye by a line drive off the bat of Sandy Alomar, Jr. with one out in the 6th inning...suffered laceration over his right eye and a displaced nose fracture and was placed on 15-day DL on 5/18, retroactive to 5/15...was activated from DL on 6/6 and that day allowed 8ER in 4.2 innings against Atlanta, but recorded 10 strikeouts...on 8/4 vs. Detroit, he had a perfect game with two outs in the 8th inning...after retiring first 23 Tiger batters, he allowed a double to Frank Catalanotto...Moose finished the game with a 2-hit, 4-0 shutout, his 14th career shutout.

1997 Season
1997... Went 15-8 with a 3.20 ERA in 33 starts...surpassed the 200-innings pitched mark for the third straight season and fourth time in his career...due to a calcium deposit in his right elbow, did not start on Opening Day for the first time since '93...finished the season with 218 strikeouts, fourth most in the league...the 218 Ks set a new Orioles single season record, breaking his own mark of 204 set in '96...five of the pen's 10 blown saves on the season came in games that Mussina left with the lead...Mike was among the league leaders in a host of categories: sixth in ERA (3.20); fourth in strikeouts (218); sixth in BA against (.234); third in On-Base Pct. Allowed (.282); sixth in Hits/IP Ratio (.88, 197 in 224.2)...captured his second straight Rawlings Gold Glove Award, compiling a perfect 1.000 fielding pct., joining seven other AL pitchers with flawless fielding percentages...on 5/8 at Camden Yards, defeated Randy Johnson and the Mariners, 13-3...the win ended Johnson's 16-game winning streak, one shy of the major league record...on 5/30 at Oriole Park, Mussina retired the first 25 batters he faced before losing a perfect game bid with one out in the 9th with a single by Sandy Alomar...after the single he struck out the final two hitters in the game for his second career 1-hitter...It was the 10th time that an Orioles pitcher lost a no-hitter in the 9th inning and the first since Eric Bell in '87...On 6/25 at Milwaukee, Mike had a no-hitter through 7.0 innings before Jose Valentin opened the bottom of the 8th with a single...was named to the American League All-Star Team for the 4th time in his career but did not appear in the game played in Cleveland on 7/8...his single off Atlanta's John Smoltz on 6/14 at Atlanta made him the first Orioles pitcher to collect a hit in a regular season game since Roric Harrison homered at Cleveland on 10/3/72 on the final day of the season in the last year before the designated hitter rule was instituted...Tim Stoddard singled in Game 4 of the 1979 World Series...defeated the Phillies on 6/30 in Baltimore for his 100th career win...the win gave him a 100-43 career mark, the eigjth fewest losses at 100 wins in history...also became the fourth youngest Oriole to reach 100 wins (28 years, 6 months, 22 days)...on 7/5 at Detroit he matched his career-high and the Orioles club record with 14 strikeouts...it was the fifth time that an Orioles pitcher struck out 14 in a game, the second time for Mussina...in the AL Division Series vs Seattle, Mike went 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA, defeating Mariners ace Randy Johnson in Game 1 and again in the clinching Game 4...in two ALCS starts vs Cleveland, he did not receive a decision despite allowing just one earned run in 15.0 innings, including 4 walks and 25K's..in Game 3 at Jacobs Field, he struck out 15 batters in 7.0 innings...the 15 K's set an LCS record for most K's in a game, later tied in the NLCS by Florida's Livan Hernandez, and the total was two shy of Bob Gibson's single game post season mark of 17 set in '68 WS...in Game 3, he tied Curt Shilling's '93 LCS record with five consecutive strikeouts...in addition, his 31 strikeouts in his three post-season starts shattered Dave McNally's club record for strikeouts in a single post season...McNally struck out 24 in the '69 post season.

1996 Season
1996... Matched his career-high by winning 19 games for the second straight season, going 19-11 with a 4.81 ERA in 36 starts...Mussina made four attempts in his effort to become the Orioles first 20-game winner since Mike Boddicker in 1984...18 of his 36 starts on the year resulted in "Quality Starts" (6.0 or more IP, 3 or fewer ER)...on 5/9 vs. Seattle he yielded a career-high 13 hits...on 7/26 he lost a third straight decision for the first time in his career...captured his first career Rawlings Gold Glove award for defensive excellence...in the annual Baseball America "Tools of the Trade" poll, Mike was tabbed as having baseball's "Best Changeup", "Best Control" and was the overall "Best Pitcher"...placed 5th in the BBWAA Cy Young Award balloting with one second place and two third place votes for a total of five points...finished behind Pat Hentgen, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Charles Nagy...the 19-game winner received the second best Run Support Per 9IP in the American League at 6.84 (243.1IP, 185R), trailing only Boston's Tom Gordon at 7.34.

1995 Season
1995... The Orioles ace tied Greg Maddux for the major league lead with a career-high 19 victories, going 19-9 with a 3.29 ERA...left-handed hitters batted just .210 (102-486) against Mussina, the best average against left-handers in the league...in addition, he averaged 3.16 strikeouts for every walk allowed, the 2nd best K/BB ratio in the league, second only to Seattle's Johnson and his On-Base Percentage Allowed was .270, second lowest to Johnson's .266...on the year, opposing baserunners stole four bases with Mussina on the hill but were caught stealing six times...the 40% success rate was the third lowest among A.L. pitchers...through his first 11 starts of the year he was 5-5 with a 5.13 ERA (66.2IP, 61H, 38ER) and 15 HR allowed...over his final 21 starts he was 14-4 with a 2.50 ERA (155IP, 126H, 43ER) and 9 HR allowed...compiled a career-best eight-game winning streak over nine starts, 6/23-8/2...had a string of 24.0 consecutive innings without a walk spanning from 4/26-5/18...with runners in scoring position in '95 held opponents to a .212 average (31-146) and with runners in scoring position and two out he limited batters to a .208 average (16-77)...with runners on base, his .230 (62-270) average against was 7th best in baseball...put together a string of 26.0 consecutive scoreless innings, 9/ 21-10/1 as he ended the season with three straight CG victories...it was the second longest consecutive scoreless innings string in the league behind Kenny Rogers' 39.0...named at the right-handed pitcher on The Sporting News A.L. All-Star Team and the right-hander on the USA Today Baseball Weekly American League "Best of '95"...finished 5th in the American League Cy Young balloting behind Randy Johnson, Jose Mesa, Tim Wakefield and David Cone. 1995... Was 16-5 with a 3.06 ERA in 24 starts...finished in a four-way, second-place tie for most wins in the majors (16), behind the Yankees' Jimmy Key (17), along with David Cone, Ken Hill and Greg Maddux...he and Ben McDonald combined for 30 wins in the abbreviated season, most by a pair of major league teammates...tied the Orioles record for most wins at the All-Star break with 13...Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar each did it twice...threw five home run balls on 7/1 vs California to join Jim Palmer in the Orioles record books...on the road, Mike was 8-1 with a league best 2.04 ERA...only 7 of 13 baserunners attempting to steal were successful against him...Became the first Oriole ever to be chosen for the All-Star team in each of his first three full seasons.

1994 Season
1994... Was 16-5 with a 3.06 ERA in 24 starts...finished in a four-way, second-place tie for most wins in the majors (16), behind the Yankees' Jimmy Key (17), along with David Cone, Ken Hill and Greg Maddux...he and Ben McDonald combined for 30 wins in the abbreviated season, most by a pair of major league teammates...tied the Orioles record for most wins at the All-Star break with 13...Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar each did it twice...threw five home run balls on 7/1 vs California to join Jim Palmer in the Orioles record books...on the road, Mike was 8-1 with a league best 2.04 ERA...only 7 of 13 baserunners attempting to steal were successful against him...Became the first Oriole ever to be chosen for the All-Star team in each of his first three full seasons.

1993 Season
1993... Went 14-6 with a 4.46 ERA in 25 starts...reached 36 major league wins in 69 games; only two pitchers have reached 36 wins with the Orioles in less time and neither were original Orioles...Mike Cuellar had 36 wins in his first 63 games with the Birds in '69-'70 after coming over to the Orioles from Houston prior to the '69 season...Steve Stone earned 36 wins in 68 games with the Orioles in '79- '80 after coming over to the Orioles from the White Sox prior to the '79 season...was one of only three active pitchers to go eight games over .500 in each of his first two full seasons in the majors, joining Dwight Gooden and Mike Boddicker...worked five or more innings 48 out of his first 50 major league starts...no pitcher in Orioles history had ever done accomplished that feat...finished with the seventh best winning percentage in the A.L. (14-6, .700)...missed six weeks during the season with a sore right shoulder and lower back pain...was on the disabled list from 6/22-8/19 with the shoulder 8/20 before the return of soreness in his shoulder and back sidelined him in mid-September...on 5/16 at Detroit tied a club record with 14 strikeouts, a mark that was last accomplished in a regular season game more than 35 years ago (Connie Johnson, 9/2/57 vs. NY).

1992 Season
1992... Finished 4th in the AL Cy Young voting, going 18-5 with a 2.54 ERA in 32 starts...his .783 winning percentage led the majors and was fourth best in club history behind Dave McNally (.808, 21-5 in 1971); Jim Palmer (.800, 16-4, in 1969) and Wally Bunker (.792, 19-5 in 1964)...at 23, became the O's youngest 18-game winner since 19-year-old Wally Bunker won 19 games in 1964...the only other Orioles to win that many games at a younger age are Steve Barber and Chuck Estrada, who both won 18 games as 22-year-olds in '61 and '60 respectively...his 2.54 ERA was third best in the A.L. and the lowest by an Oriole (excluding abbreviated '81 season) since Jim Palmer in '78 (2.46)...the last time an A.L. pitcher Mike's age or younger posted an ERA that low was in '76 when Mark Fidrych (2.34) and Frank Tanana (2.43) did it at 22 and 23 respectively...led the O's in innings pitched (241.0) and was eighth in the A.L....his IP total was the most by an Oriole since Mike Boddicker's 261.0 in '84...Allowed two runs or less in 20 of 32 starts and one run or less 14 times...began the season 5-0 and finished the year with a seven-game win streak over his last nine starts...in his first start after the All-Star break, 7/17 at Texas, pitched the 29th one-hitter in club history, winning 8-0 with 10 strikeouts over 20-game winner Kevin Brown...Kevin Reimer broke up the no-hit bid with a one-out double in the fifth...at 23 years-8 months became the youngest Oriole pitcher to make the All-Star team since Chuck Estrada (22) in '60.

1991 Season
1991... Split the season between Triple-A Rochester and the Majors...went 4-5 with a 2.88 ERA in 12 starts with the Orioles...joined the Orioles on 7/31 and became the O's most effective starter over the fianl two months of the season...finished with the lowest ERA (2.87) among the 29 Major-League rookies with 10 or more starts...posted the A.L.'s second best ERA after 9/1 (1.66), behind only Oakland's Mike Moore (1.46)... After 9/1, Mussina allowed 2tworuns or less in all six starts, but was only 2-1...fanned 10 batters in his first ML win, 10-2, at home over Texas on 8/14...lost 1-0 in his Major League debut on 8/4 at Chicago (7.2IP, 4H, 1ER, 4BB, 1K) on a homer by Frank Thomas...when promoted from Triple-A Rochester on 7/31, was tied for the International League lead in wins (10), 2nd in ERA (2.87) and 2nd in strikeouts (107)...was the winner of the first Palmer Prize as the top pitcher in the O's minor league system.

Career Highlights