Here are a few initial reactions as we await official word from The Moose on how he's retiring to the Pennsylvania countryside while the rest of us make him this generation's classic Hall-of-Fame argument.

(And if it takes the pitcher a little while to pull the trigger? Don't forget to give Dave Brown's excellent Answer Man session with Mike Mussina last August another re-read as well.)

UPDATE: It's now a done deal. Pete Abe has the official press release from the Yankees.

Tyler Kepner, NY Times: "As a beat writer, I'll miss him a lot. Mussina was one of my all-time favorite players to cover. He could be amused by his surroundings or curmudgeonly about any inconvenience. He did crossword puzzles, of course, and read novels and issues of Old Car Trader magazine. He wore funny T-shirts from 80stees.com — the Flux Capacitor, Abe Froman: Sausage King of Chicago, and many more. And he guzzled Mountain Dew all day long.

"When you needed a big-picture, insightful quote about the state of the team — and you wanted unvarnished honesty — Mussina was the go-to guy among the pitchers. When you had a question about a labor or rules issue, Mussina was the man to ask. And when you wanted to learn about pitching — this was my favorite thing about him — Mussina was willing to share."

Aziz Nekoukar, Pride of the Yankees: "I was constantly skeptical that Mike Mussina was actually going to retire. Who in their right mind would walk away from $25 million for two years of service? Then, you remember he has three kids. You look at his Baseball Reference page (scroll to the bottom and look to the right) and see he's earned a ridiculous $144,533,619 over 18 seasons -- in other words, he is not pressed for cash. Then you remember that he's a borderline hall of famer. And he just feels that he can be content and call it a career. A pretty amazing career, at that."

Ed Valentine, Bugs & Cranks: "Mussina was never the dominant pitcher in the league, and never won a Cy Young. He was almost always among the best, however. Before last season I thought he was short of Hall of Fame caliber. Now, considering how the game has changed and that the 300-victory plateau should probably not be the benchmark, I'd say he should get in."

Andrew Fletcher, Scott Proctor's Arm: "This is a rather significant blow to the Yankees' pitching staff. The Yankees may have to give in to Andy Pettitte's demands to simply fill up the rotation with capable arms. But those are decisions for another day. Today we celebrate Mussina's extraordinary career. Mussina finishes with a record of 270-153 and a 3.68 ERA. Pitching his entire career in the American League East, those are terrific numbers. Thanks for the memories, Moose."

Stacey, Camden Chat: "When I got in my car this evening the first thing that flashed on my XM radio was, 'Report: Mike Mussina to retire,' and I'll be honest, it caught me off guard how emotional I felt. I sat in the parking lot looking at those words flash across the screen and I welled up with emotion. Since he'd declared free agency, I'd harbored this fantasy that Mussina would sign a three year deal with the O's and during those three years he'd get his 300th win and also the WS ring he's been chasing his whole career. I knew it wouldn't happen, but I wanted it to so badly."

Neal S., The Loss Column: "I first saw the news a few hours ago on a TV at the grocery store (of all places), and I greeted it with a shrug. Then I tried to conjure up some sense of wistful emotion, some sense of fondness for his time in black-and-orange. No luck. As far as I'm concerned, Mussina isn't an Oriole and may as well have never been one. He pitched here, yes, but lots of guys did that. I didn't feel any particular fondness when Randy Myers retired, either."