San Francisco Giants Mulholland was drafted by the
San Francisco Giants with the 24th overall pick in the
1984 MLB draft; he was chosen as a compensation pick from the
Detroit Tigers for the signing of
Darrell Evans. Mulholland made his major league debut with the Giants on June 8, . After that, he played for eleven different Major League teams: the Giants, the
Phillies, the
Yankees, the
Mariners, the
Cubs, the
Braves, the
Dodgers, the
Pirates, the
Indians, the
Twins, and the
Diamondbacks. He is well known for having one of the "nastiest" pickoff moves in the game. While pitching for the Giants, Mulholland made a play that is often shown on sports bloopers shows. On September 3, 1986, against the New York Mets, Mulholland fielded a hard-hit ground ball hit by
Keith Hernandez. However, the ball got stuck in the webbing of his glove. Mulholland then trotted towards first base and tossed his glove to first baseman
Bob Brenly, who recorded the out.
Philadelphia Phillies On June 18, , the Giants traded Mulholland,
Dennis Cook and
Charlie Hayes for former
Cy Young Award winner
Steve Bedrosian and a
player to be named later. On August 15, , Mulholland
no-hit the Giants 6–0 at
Veterans Stadium. In pitching this, the first no-hitter in the stadium's history, Mulholland became the first pitcher to no-hit a former team since the
Houston Colt .45s'
Ken Johnson did so against the
Cincinnati Reds in (Johnson lost the game 1-0—the only game, to date, whose losing pitcher had pitched a nine-inning no-hitter). He faced the minimum of 27 batters. The only batter to reach base was on a
throwing error by Hayes on
Rick Parker's ground ball leading off the seventh inning; Parker was retired on
Dave Anderson's
double play ground ball one batter later. The 27th out was made by Hayes with a lunging catch of
Gary Carter's
line drive down the 3rd base line. He defeated
Don Robinson, who also served up the 500th career
home run to
Phillies legend,
Mike Schmidt, just three years earlier. Mulholland was the starting pitcher for the
National League in the
1993 Major League Baseball All-Star Game played at
Camden Yards in
Baltimore, Maryland. Mulholland started two games for the Phillies in the
1993 World Series versus the
Toronto Blue Jays. He was the winning pitcher of game 2, and also started game 6 in which the Blue Jays would win the series on a
walk-off, series-ending home run from
Joe Carter against Phillies closer
Mitch Williams.
Chicago Cubs Mulholland was instrumental in the Cubs' playoff run, pitching primarily in
relief.
Atlanta Braves At the 1999 trading deadline, the Braves acquired Mulholland along with infielder
José Hernández from the
Chicago Cubs for
Micah Bowie,
Rubén Quevedo and a player to be named later. He appeared in 16 games down the stretch with the Braves, going 4–2 with an ERA of 2.98, during a season that the Braves went to the
World Series. The next season, Mulholland was used as a spot starter for the Braves, and went 9–9 with a 5.11 ERA in 156.7 innings of work. He became a free agent after the season ended.
Minnesota Twins While pitching for the Minnesota Twins Mulholland became one of the few players who have beaten every Major League team.
Arizona Diamondbacks On June 21, , the Diamondbacks waived Mulholland. ==Personal life==