It’s April 12, 1996, and Orioles ace Mike Mussina twirled a complete-game 2-hitter as the O’s topped the Twins, 3-2, to move to 8-1 on the season.

“I’ve had some awfully good pitchers,” said O’s manager Davey Johnson. “But I haven’t had as much confidence [in the others] as I do in him.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1C, April 13, 1996)

First baseman Rafael Palmeiro provided all the runs with a three-run homer in the sixth. That’s all Mussina would need, as the only two blemishes were solo home runs by Chuck Knoblauch and Scott Stahoviac. Moose retired 16 straight hitters at one point.

“He’s pitching great,” said Minnesota manager Tom Kelly. “It’s the second time we’ve had to face him in nine games. … Lucky us.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 8C, April 13, 1996)

Here is the box score with the lovely totals.

Because Moose was shoving, we didn’t need to see the bullpen tonight, but in 20 innings so far this year, they’ve combined to give up just one earned run. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Across the field in the other dugout, there is still significant concern about the health of superstar outfielder Kirby Puckett. He hasn’t played at all this season due to blurred vision in his right eye. Doctors say it is a treatable form of glaucoma, but in a sport that requires superhuman eyesight and reflexes, Puckett’s career is very much in the balance. Puckett is coming to terms that his time on the field might be nearing an end.

“It’s just a game,” he said. “I can still see out of one eye. I can still see my wife and play with my kids. Even if I don’t play baseball ever again. I’ve done everything I wanted to do. I’m very lucky.”

Puckett’s on-field exuberance made him one of my favorite players as a child. I once saw him hit two home runs at old Memorial Stadium. 

But in 1996, his eyesight never improved. He would never play another game. He would be inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 2001. He died of a hemorrhagic stroke in 2006. He was 45 years old.

Rafael Palmeiro turns another brick orange!

Minnesota (4-5) at Baltimore (8-1), 1:35 p.m. ET

Starting Pitchers
MIN – LaTroy Hawkins, 0-0, 1.50 ERA
BAL – Kent Mercker, 1-0, 1.50 ERA 

The #1 movie in America the weekend of April 12, 1996, was once again the Ed Norton/Richard Gere joint “Primal Fear.” But it just edged out a newcomer this week, as the animated feature “James and the Giant Peach” came in second place. The peach was admittedly quite large.

While the splashy headline in today’s paper is about a deadly love triangle between College Republicans at Johns Hopkins, there’s a small story at the bottom of the page that is more important.

Baltimore’s single worst export, the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, “catapulted into the power elite of American media companies” by purchasing River City Broadcasting out of St. Louis in a $1.2 billion deal.

It’s the first billion-dollar deal made by the national parasite, and it was done 25 years to the day after WBFF (Channel 45 here in Baltimore) became their first station to go on the air.

“We will not stop here,” the odious goblin CEO David Smith said. “The opportunity to have literally more than 100 television stations is a potential objective in the next few years.” (Today, Sinclair’s right-wing propaganda network extends to about 190 stations nationwide.)

Just like with the merger of Baby Bell companies a few days ago, we can thank the newly signed Telecommunications Act of 1996 for this deal, which brings 10 television stations and 34 radio stations under Sinclair control. 

Welcome to a recurring segment where I find fun things in today’s (in 1996) Baltimore Sun!

We mentioned the ill-fated Baltimore City Life Museum yesterday, but though it didn’t last long, they did bring Little Nipper back home. The bric-a-brac RCA dog is still downtown, but now it’s outside the Maryland Center for History and Culture.