edonline wrote:
> http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSTRE4AJ7PJ20081120
>
> Yankees pitcher Mussina retires
> Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:16pm EST
>
> NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Yankees starter Mike Mussina announced
> his retirement Thursday, becoming the first pitcher to end his career
> after posting a 20-win season since Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax in
> 1966.
>
> Five-times All-Star Mussina, 39, capped a career that argues for Hall
> of Fame consideration with a 20-9 season for the Yanks, his first
> 20-win campaign.
>
> In 18 major league seasons, the first 10 spent with the Baltimore
> Orioles, Mussina compiled a mark of 270-153.
>
> The slightly-built right-hander, a master of control, walked 31
> batters in 200 1/3 innings in 2008 and struck out 150 in registering
> an earned run average of 3.37.
>
> Pitching his entire career in the hard-hitting American League East
> and during a period marked by widespread doping abuses that inflated
> power statistics in baseball, Mussina was a model of consistency.
>
> Mussina reached 15 wins in a season 11 times and his .638 career
> winning percentage is sixth-best on the all-time list among major
> leaguers with at least 500 career starts.
>
> The Stanford University graduate pitched to a career 3.68 ERA, notched
> 2,813 strikeouts and earned seven Gold Glove awards as the American
> League's best fielding pitcher.
>
> He is the only American League hurler to record 17 consecutive seasons
> of 10-or-more wins (1992-2008) and only Walter Johnson (18) had more
> seasons of double-digits wins than Mussina among AL hurlers, according
> to Elias Sports Bureau.
Great pitcher. Only drawback was when he left the Orioles and said it
was not due to the money. Yeah right, the Yankees gave him a ton more
money than anybody else was offering. Good for him but don't say it
wasn't about the money (of course it was).
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