The San Diego Padres were on-site Wednesday to unveil a 25-foot tall mural of Joe Musgrove at his alma mater, Grossmont High School.
The large mural, created by Paul Jimenez and Signe Ditona of Ground Floor Murals, was commissioned in honor of Joe's contribution to the Padres history-making no-hitter game on Friday, April 9. It was painted onto one of the school's administration buildings and features Musgrove, in a victory pose with the words "MEANT TO BE".
During the mural's unveiling presentation, Joe's positive impact on the community and the Padres was shared. "He’s an amazing representative of a great school and baseball program," said Grossmont's Principal Dan Barnes. "One of my favorite things, though, about Joe… is that he regularly visits our campus because he truly cares about our student-athletes and our community."
Padres CEO Erik Greupner said, "If you talk to Joe, he’ll be quick to tell you that pitchers don’t throw a no-hitter in a vacuum. It's with a team behind him, and he sees this as a team accomplishment."
The really remarkable thing about Joe's no-hitter game is that it happened on only the second game Joe played for the Padres and 61-years and 1-day after the team played it's first professional game in San Diego. It was a long time in coming, but worth the wait to have a San Diego native - who grew up with the team - make this milestone a reality.
Joe Musgrove graduated from Grossmont High School in 2011. That same year, he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the first round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft and decided to join them team instead of attending San Diego State University.
On July 20, 2012 Joe was traded to the Houston Astros where he played until being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on January 13, 2018. On January 19, 2021 Joe was traded by the Pirates to the San Diego Padres.