I remember in 1970 when Fritz Peterson was going for a 20 win season. Fritz was a decent, but not great pitcher, who did have outstanding control... except over his wife. In the days of horrible Yankee teams, individual accomplishments were the only real joys a fan could hope for.

In the last game of the year, the Yanks faced a much better team, the Boston Red Sox at Fenway, with Fritz going for #20. Peterson pitched a very good game, and after giving up 2 runs in the 8th, was taken out for Lindy McDaniel in the 9th, with a 4-3 lead. When Lindy threw his first pitch, the TV camera showed Fritz hiding behind the watercooler, almost afraid to watch. It turned out to be too much, and he soon disappeared into the locker room, to await his fate. I remember the camera showing the water cooler with Fritz nowhere to be found.

But Lindy held on, Fritz got #20, and 1970 had meaning.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=197009300BOS

I can almost see Moose doing the same thing. If I know the baseball Gods, Moose will get 19, and have to reflect on a number of games that we easily could have won. I really, really hope he gets 20, but this smells like a setup to me.

Shaun, if you're reading: Hughes is scheduled to pitch Tuesday. I'm going to buy PawSox tickets today -- there are some box seats, or I might just get Gen Ad and arrive early.

The previous post featured the first regular-issue (meaning non-traded or specialty set) Topps cards of both Mussina and Ivan Rodriguez. Note that Mussina is wearing not his usual #35 (as in the card above), but his rookie number 42. Also, on first glance I was sure he was pitching in Yankee Stadium in that pic, but checking his gamelogs, he didn't pitch in the Bronx until his third big league season (1993). That means the photo was taken at either new Comiskey, Tiger Stadium, or old Cleveland Municipal (the sleeves would seem to rule out his August start at old Arlington Stadium). If it's new Comiskey, it would be a photo from his major league debut.

4 thanks oyf - i appreciate the interesting but generally overlooked stories you share about the yankees during that era - i have learned a lot from it.

i was just exploring moose's page over at br.
he really logged a ton of innings from 1992-2003. he jumped from 87.7 plus whatever he did in the mil in 1991 to 241.0 ip his first full year in 1992.
career whip at 1.190 and era+ of 122.
certainly a guy like pedro had a much higher and amazing peak, but moose has really been a top pitcher for a long time.
i am very happy for him and really want him to get 20 and 300 - i would buy that shirt.

Looking at his gamelog, there's not too much to be found in the bad luck department. Many of Moose's losses came in games when he was terrible There's two games against the Orioles, the one where he didn't make it out of the first inning on May 20, and another blowout July 28. In general, when Moose pitches well, the Yankees win. There are two exceptions I can see from his no-decisions:

June 9 against the Royals: 8 IP 7 H 2 ER 0 BB 3 K. The Yankees managed just two seventh-inning runs against Luke Hovchevar, and Rivera blew the tie game in the ninth inning.

July 10 at Pittsburgh: 6 IP 9 H 2 ER 0 BB 5 K. The Yankees offense could barely touch Paul Malhom and Mussina left a tied game to Jose Veras, who gave up a two-run homer to Nate McClouth that was the difference. At 98 pitches, it wasn't impossible to send Mussina out for the seventh that day, perhaps things could have gone differently.

Those are Mussina's only two no-decisions. I think when you look at it closely, Mussina's win total is largely his own design and not the result of luck in either direction. If he misses 20 wins, it will be up to Mussina, not the Bronx Buddha.

i get the sense from some his interviews that moose would like to keep going since he is feeling healthy and see how many more wins he can get and try to get to another ws and give that a shot; but doesn't want to really change up his whole life to do that, so he might be amenable to staying with the yanks without having to sign more for multi years.

Yeah, 1970 was a great year, the year when they turned the corner for the first time. Munson won ROY, Danny Cater came over and had a pretty good year, Murcer and White in the outfield - but it was mostly about the pitching. In fact, even through the lean years their pitching wasn't bad: Stottlemyre, Peterson, Downing, Bahnsen's ROY year. They also built up an excellent bullpen led by Jack Aker, the aforementioned McDaniel, and Steve Hamilton.

They jumped from 80 wins to 93 that year, good for second place - 15 games behind a monster of an Orioles team.

Yaz won the Batting Title in 1968 with one of the lowest BAs ever: .301. Who finished 2nd? Danny Cater, .298.

16 You also have to ask about Andy. Even IF we get 'a CC type' of pitcher, considering our youth and their IP limits, both Moose and Andy might be reasonable insurance.
For both these buys, ESPECIALLY Andy (who will be in his final year just to pitch in the new stadium), staying a Yankee should be in the bag.

Short of lowballing them, I believe they will both come back at reasonable salaries... maybe $10m each (HA! TEN MILLION DOLLARS is only reasonable). Certainly Moose wants to be on a winning team, as his goal is both a ring and 300 wins.

Also, we know there is a ton of money coming off the books, and I think we all expect one, or more likely two impact players to be signed.

CC and Tex?
In terms of Winshares, a high end position player is more valueable then a high end pitcher. For example, ARod often has 50% more Winshares then Santana. Considering Melacon and Sanchez, and all the other kids, would it be smarter to sign 2 stud position players (instead of CC)?

And what of Mr. $17m Giambi? And if we don't get Tex or resign Giambi, Sean Casey(34) is a pretty solid and well priced alternative.

Of course, what studs are out there, aside from Tex?
Milton Bradley (31) worth considering.
Pat Burrell (32) I thought this guy was 42.
Adam Dunn (29) Giambi lite.
Manny Ramirez (37) Just say No to idiots
Juan Rivera (30) not good for Yankee Stadium

Not a long list.

In 2010:

Jason Bay BOS
Carl Crawford TB
Jermaine Dye * CWS
Vladimir Guerrero LAA
Matt Holliday COL
Austin Kearns * WAS
Magglio Ordonez * DET