Bent Corner

Yankees 40-year old pitcher Mike Mussina is calling it quits after achieving his first 20 win season in 18 years of playing Major League Baseball. Mussina was an Orioles first round draft pick in 1990. He played for the Orioles from 1991 to 2000, and then went on to sign a free agent contract with the rival Yankees.

The big knock on Mussina – if there was one — was that he never registered a 20- win season. He had two back to back 19-win seasons while playing for the Orioles as well as two 18-win seasons. With that said, he was almost always the number one pitcher on his team for much of his entire career.

I happened to be in Camden Yards the night he scored his 100 win. I don’t remember the date, but it was an interleague game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Baltimore Orioles. I remember there being more Philly fans in attendance then Oriole fans. That’s a trend that only worsened as the Orioles worsened. Not just with the Phillies, but with the Yankees and the Red Sox too.

The most exciting sporting event I have ever seen in my life was a game between the Cleveland Indians and the Baltimore Orioles. Mussina was on the mound. He had a perfect game going into the ninth inning. Indians catcher Sandy Alomar then got a one-out single to break up the perfect game.

If Mike Mussina somehow doesn’t end up in the Baseball Hall of Fame, it will be a crime against humanity. He finishes his career with a 270-153 record and 3.68 ERA. He has 2,813 career strikeouts and just won his seventh Gold Glove award. He spent his entire career in the offense happy AL East and 10 years of that pitching in hitter-friendly Camden Yards. He’s also a total class act. That shouldn’t matter much when it comes to Hall of Fame consideration, but it counts a lot in my book.

Not that I even have a book.

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Former Baltimore Orioles outfielder and human growth hormone (HGH) junkie Jay Gibbons has finally found a place in professional baseball. Too bad for Gibbons it’s with a team in the independent Atlantic League.

Evidently he sent a letter to 29 Major League Baseball teams asking for chance to play. No team was interested.

It’s not like he needs the money. Even though the O’s released him last year after he admitted to using HGH, they are still paying him. He is being paid a guaranteed $11.9 million by the Orioles until the end of the 2009 MLB season.

Far be it from me to ever criticize anything the Oriole front office do, but I wouldn’t have released him. I would have kept him around. They have to pay him no matter what. I would have made him sell beer or cotton candy at Camden Yards. I’m sure the MLBPA would have had something to say about it, but I would have at least tried.

I would never fire someone I had to still pay.

Gibbons to join Atlantic League [Baltimore Sun]