When the American League and National League All-Star teams met on July 13, 1993, Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston was the American League skipper, and though he was the home team manager in an American League ballpark, he was in enemy territory. The Orioles-Blue Jays rivalry was hot, with the Orioles chasing the defending World Series-champion Blue Jays in the American League East. Three Toronto players had already been voted to the starting squad by fans, and Gaston named four more of his players to the team, meaning 25 percent of the AL roster consisted of his players. Cal Ripken had been voted to the starting team, and the only other Oriole player selected was pitcher Mike Mussina. Orioles fans cried foul at the roster makeup—and they would do more than that when the game ended.

With the AL leading 8-3 in the seventh inning, Gaston bypassed Mussina and put in Jeff Montgomery. The AL added another run in the bottom of the inning for a 9-3 lead, and Gaston passed over Mussina again, opting instead to go with Rick Aguilera.

As the top of the ninth began, rumblings went through the ballpark. Surely Gaston would give the hometown fans a chance to see Mussina in such a lop-sided game? But Gaston brought in his own closer, Toronto's Duane Ward, to pitch the ninth inning.

The fans booed when they saw Ward come into the game. Then all hell broke loose when Mussina got up to warm up in the bullpen. They showed him warming up on the JumboTron, and the ballpark was filled with chants of "We want Mike."

Gaston, though, had no intention of using Mussina. "I would have put Mussina in the game if it went to extra innings," he told reporters after the game. "But I didn't have any intention of letting him finish the game."

The game ended with a 9-3 AL win and the American League team being booed off the field by the sold-out crowd. Then, as Mussina walked in from the bullpen, he waved to the crowd as they cheered his walk from the bullpen to the clubhouse. It may have been the most bizarre ending in All-Star Game history.

Orioles president Larry Lucchino told reporters after the game he was "outraged." His general manager, Roland Hemond, said, "Why you can't get Mike Mussina into a 9-3 game is beyond me."

Mussina said he got up to warm up on his own, not to show up Gaston, but to get some work for his start the next day. But he also reacted to Gaston's explanation for not using him by saying, "You can make that excuse if you want, but it was a 9-3 game."

The furor continued for days. The talk shows in Baltimore were flooded with angry calls targeting Gaston, and kicked off the T-shirt campaign, "Cito Sucks." Orioles announcer Jon Miller declared, "After all the efforts the people of this city put forth this week, to have Cito Gaston do something like this was like he was thumbing his nose at the city of Baltimore."