[VanillaGorilla]

George Mohart enters the HOF at the age of 91. He is not the oldest player to be inducted. That honor still goes to Huston Street (which as I mentioned before, still trips me).

Mohart was selected by the Cardinals with the 21st pick in the 2018 draft. He chose not to sign with them. He was drafted by the Braves with the 26th overall pick in 2019. He decided to play in The Ted. I guess he figured that at the age of 27, he better not wait around another year.

Mohart turned 28 in his first Spring Training. Amazing part number one of his HOF career. Amazing part number 2 is that he was not a player with a great RL reume. It is longer than Alex Serrano's, but then everyone that side of, well, me, has a longer ML resume than Serrano.

Mohart pitched in 16 ML seasons and retired in 2035 at the age of 43.

Choosing the Braves was a good call for George. His rookie season he pitched in 59 games in MR. He posted an OOTP ERA of 2.40 (npa ERA+ 179), collecting 5 saves. That team featured HOFers Dan Brouthers and Ed Konetchy. The brought home the WS hardware. Though not the featured closer, Mohart certainly played his role on the team very well.

In 2021 Mohart became the closer and saved 38 games. The Braves were swept in the LDS by the Cardinals.

In 2022, Mohart ruptured a finger tendon in April and missed most of the regular season. However, he was 100% for the post season, and was put back in the role of closer. He notched 4 saves in post season outings. He again raised the WS trophy with teammate Dan Brouthers.

Note: Personal favorite (because of his OOTP interest) Pat Nashek was also a member of both of these championship teams.

In 2025 he posted a career high 45 saves with an OOTP ERA of 1.94 (npa ERA+ 224).

Mohart was not a big strikeout guy. For his career he fanned 758 men in 844 1/3 IP. What he was marvelous at was keeping the ball in the park. He gave up only 24 HR in his career. That's less than 1 HR per 35 IP. Nice.

Mohart is second on the career OpSLG list (behind only Lefty Wolf, and ahead of Ben Tincup by 0.0002) with a 0.3222 figure.

Mohart saved 327 games (10th) in his career. His 815 appearances rank him 42nd, all time.

Mohart was an All Star 6 times.

Black Ink: 3
Gray Ink: 23
HOFm: 105.7
HOFs: 10

Gorilla Composite: 1.0

-----------------------------------

Mike Mussina, at the age of 88, is the youngster of the pair of Veteran inductees. However, he does enter the HOF as the oldest SP to be enshrined.

Mussina was the 14th overall pick of the Yankees in the 2016 draft.

He broke into the league by going 18-12 with an OOTP ERA of 3.44 (npa ERA+ 129) for a Yankee team that would finish 2 games below .500. This fate of pitching for non-winning teams would be the norm for his career.

The Yankees were again a sub .500 team in 2021. On June 1st, Mussina took the hill against Minnesota and threw a Perfect Game, striking out 10. Before July was out, the Yankees rewarded him by trading him to a cellar dwelling Tampa team. Who did the Yankees get in return? Ray Joblonski and Bob Gallagher. Yeah, it was as lopsided as it looks.

The Rays had been a dynasty in the 2010's. Mussina signed and extension with them prior to 2022 and rewared the Rays with a record of 18-10 on a 76 win team. His OOTP ERA of 2.83 was good for a full season career best npa ERA+ of 154. Mussina was rewarded with a Cy Young trophy for his shelf.

For his career, Mussina won 209 games (38th, three behind Tommy Bridges) and lost 176....and saved 4. He struck out 3339 men (39th, between Pedro Martinez and Francisco Liriano) in 3555 2/3 IP (22nd, 1 spot ahead of Lefty Grove) before he retired in 2038. He threw 43 CGs (t-74th, Willie McGill and Dazzy Vance). 10 of those were shutouts (t-75th, Percy Coleman, Francisco Liriano and Jim Whitney)

Mussina won a GG and was twice an All Star. He enters the HOF with the highest WAR of any eligible player not already inducted.

A note to the purpose of the Veterans Committee:

When Mussina retired, the only pitchers in the HOF were Sandy Koufax and Toad Ramsey. If they set the standard for all HOFers to follow, then there were would be very few pitchers in the HOF...just as there would be very few hitters if they were all judged against Mantle and Aaron.

Over the course of the 46 years since his retirement, Mussina's career has stood up to be that of a HOFer. There was no way anyone would have known this in 2038.

Black Ink: 12 (15)
Gray Ink: 189 (250)
HOFm: 82.5 (121)
HOFs: 38 (54)

Gorilla Composite: 2.5 (3.4)

Using the standards in place here and applying them to his RL career numbers, Mussina should find a place in Cooperstown.