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London had the top record in the 1960 European Baseball Federation season, winning the Northern Conference’s British Isles Division at 109-53. This was a franchise record for the Monarchs and their fourth playoff berth. Last year’s division champ Dublin fell hard to 69-93. Hamburg won the North Central Division at 104-58 for their second division title in three years. Brussels picked up back-to-back Northwest Division crowns, finishing 96-66. In the wild card race, Birmingham narrowly took it at 90-72, edging Rotterdam by one game and last year’s Northern Conference champ Stockholm by two games. For the Bees, it is their fourth playoff berth in five years. This is the first time in the EBF’s 11 years that the NC wild card came from the British Isles Division.

Northern Conference MVP and Rookie of the Year went to London first baseman Benny Baker. The Englishman from Middlesbrough had a remarkable debut season, leading the conference in WAR (10.7), wRC+ (218), RBI (145), doubles (37), and runs (120), adding 54 home runs and a 1.045 OPS. Pitcher of the Year went to Hamburg’s Aaron Grunauer. A 27-year old Austrian righty, Grunauer was the leader in wins (24-3), ERA (1.41), and WHIP (0.78), adding 32 quality starts and 9.3 WAR. Also notable was Brussels’ Roman Jongmans becoming the second three-time Reliever of the Year winner. The 34-year old Belgian had a 1.85 ERA and 37 saves over 92.1 innings.



In the Southern Conference, Marseille had the best record, earning their first-ever playoff berth with a 104-58 record atop the Southwest Division. Defending European Champion Barcelona was second at 98-64, easily taking the wild card with a seven game gap to the closest competitor Madrid. Zagreb won the Southeast Division for back-to-back seasons with a 94-68 mark, nine games better than Belgrade. Zurich picked up the South Central Division by 12 games with a 92-70 mark. The Mountaineers have claimed six playoff berths in the last seven seasons.

The Southern Conference MVP was Athens 1B Rudjer Bosnjak. The 26-year old Serbian set a single-season record with 1.176 OPS and set an EBF record with a 49-game hit streak. This is tied for the longest hit streak in pro baseball league with MLB’s Jayden Gagnon getting 49 in 1930 f0r Jacksonville. Bosjnak also led the conference in WAR (12.6), triple slash (.368/.456/.721), wRC+ (225), home runs (56), hits (216), and runs (127). He was three RBI short of a Triple Crown season. Pitcher of the Year was Zagreb’s Stefan Crnjac. A 25-year Slovene righty, he was the leader in wins at 25-5, adding a 2.29 ERA, 263 innings, 260 strikeouts, and 8.3 WAR. It was the one big season for Crnjac, who had his career derailed with a torn UCL the following summer.

Both Northern Conference first round playoff series went all five games with London edging rival Birmingham and Brussels surviving Hamburg. In the Southern Conference, Zagreb edged defending champ Barcelona 3-2 while Marseille swept Zurich. In the NCC, the Beavers bested the Monarchs 4-2 for their first-ever conference title. The SCC also had a first-time winner with the Gulls dropping the Musketeers in six. In the European Championship, Brussels took the first three games, but Zagreb rallied in an epic comeback, climbing out of the 3-0 hole to take the championship in seven games.





Other notes: Hamburg’s Peter Plattner struck out 392 batters, tying his own single-season record. Stockholm’s Jens Nilsson became the first EBF pitcher to strike out 20 in a game, doing it on June 1 against Luxembourg. Gabriel Staudt became the first EBF player to 1000 runs scored and the second to 400 career home runs. Danijel Cindric, Wolfgang Heinzmann, and Fabian Wittkowski all crossed 400 homers as well. Cindric also crossed 1000 runs later in the season. Pietro Ribsi became the first pitcher to 3000 strikeouts.