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From Don Amore (Hartford Courant):

Mike Mussina is not the un-retiring type.

“Baseball was great,” said Mussina, who walked away after winning 20 games for the Yankees last season. “But there comes a point where you have to say it’s time to go home.”

Mussina, 40, went home to Montoursville, Pa., last October and has stayed there. He coaches his son’s Little League team and tinkers with his muscle cars. He came back to New York for Old-Timers’ Day on Sunday, bringing his 10-year-old son Brycen with him — and that’s about as close as he expects to get to a comeback.

“It’s a long way to the plate when you haven’t pitched in eight months,” said Mussina, who threw to a few batters.

There are any number of athletes who talk of going out on top but can’t resist the temptation to come back when they believe they still can. Mussina, who had a subpar season in 2007, decided before the ‘08 season began that it would be his last, though he withheld his announcement until after the season. He finished with 270 wins.

“If I had another bad year, it would have been obvious,” Mussina said. “And if I had a good year, it would be the perfect way to go out. … If I came back now, it would ruin what I did last year.”

So anyone wondering about a possible Mussina comeback can dismiss that thought.

“There’s less than half a season left,” he said, “and it would take me at least a month to get ready. At this point, I wouldn’t know what ‘ready’ is. It might be throwing 78 mph. I know I can throw from my knees through an L-Screen.”

His son’s team is still playing. Mussina is quite active in Little League and will be visible at the World Series in Williamsport, Pa., just 15 miles from his home.

“I can still play,” Mussina said. “But there are just a lot of other things that go with it that wear you down, the late nights, the travel. I got tired of missing my boys’ stuff.”

He watches very little Major League Baseball on TV. Mussina was asked how he might pitch in the new, homer-friendly Yankee Stadium.

“Poorly, probably,” he said. “I pitched in a small ballpark, Camden Yards, for years. When you see a ball hit in the air and the first thought in your mind is, ‘That could go out of here,’ it’s difficult to pitch.”

How cool would it have been if Mussina actually came out retirement, ala Roger Clemens, and pitched for the Yankees down the stretch? I’m sure at least one person from the organization thought about him once Chien-Ming Wang went down. And while he sounds happy with his decision, I do detect just the slightest hint of intrigue regarding a return.