[FuzzyRussianHat]

Abidjan set the West Africa Baseball record for wins in a season in 1978, finishing atop the Western League standings at 118-44. The Athletes have earned a playoff spot so far in each of WAB’s four seasons to date. Defending WAB champ Freetown was second at 102-60 to earn the first wild card. Kumasi at 98-64 earned their first-ever playoff berth, beating out both Monrovia and Accra by four games. Bamako, who had made the playoffs in their first three years, fell to sixth at 89-73.

Abidjan had the league MVP and Pitcher of the Year with the former going to LF George Nandjou. The 30-year old Cameroonian left fielder had signed a seven-year free agent deal in the offseason with the Athletes. He was the WL leader in runs (122), home runs (57), RBI (138), walks (99), total bases (369), slugging (.635), OPS (1.014), and wRC+ (192). Meanwhile, Kouadio Diao won back-to-back Pitcher of the Year. The second-year righty from the Ivory Coast was one win short of a Triple Crown with a 22-5 record, 1.83 ERA, and 383 strikeouts in 265.1 innings. He also led the Western League in WHIP (0.69), quality starts (28), FIP- (47), and WAR (11.5). Diao also set multiple single-season records that still stand as of 2037, such as 5.05 hits/9 innings, 0.69 WHIP, .1599 opponents average, .1909 opponents OBP, and .4624 opponents OPS.

Kumasi would upset Freetown 2-0 in the wild card round, but wouldn’t hold up against powerhouse Abidjan. The Athletes took the Western League Championship Series 3-1 to earn their second trip to the finals, having done it in the inaugural 1975 season.



In the Eastern League, last year’s second place squad Port Harcourt took first at 115-47. Defending EL champ Lagos was second at 109-53, joining Abidjan as the teams to make the playoffs in each of the first four seasons. Benin City, who had finished fourth the prior two years, this time took third at 107-55 for the final wild card. Kano missed the playoffs for the first time by placing fifth at 93-69.

Douala’s Joseph Ambane won the EL MVP. The 31-year old Cameroonian shortstop had two miserable overworked seasons previously with the abysmal Ouagadougou squad, but had finally found relief and help by signing with the Dingos. In his one year with Douaga, he was the WARlord (12.3) and leader in OPS (1.077), and slugging (.665), adding 48 home runs and 115 RBI. Lagos’ righty Power Bonou won his second Pitcher of the Year. The 28-year old Beninois was the leader in WAR (10.4), wins (27-4), innings (284.1), quality starts (29), and complete games (12), adding 357 strikeouts and a 2.06 ERA. The 27 wins remains a WAB single-season record as of 2037.

Lagos swept Benin City in the wild card round, then upset Port Harcourt in a five-game classic for the Eastern League Championship Series. This sent the Lizards to back-to-back WAB finals.



After falling in seven to Freetown the prior season, Lagos prevailed in 1978 for their first West African Championship. The Lizards defeated Abidjan in five games with rookie catcher Bruno Alaba winning finals MVP. The 25-year old Nigerian had 15 hits, 3 runs, 8 doubles, and 6 RBI in 12 playoff games. Three of the first four champions in WAB history would be based in Nigeria.



Other notes: At 1-161, Ouagadougou set a world record as the worst team in professional baseball history. Conakry at 14-148 in the other league wasn’t much better. The leagues would help resolve their issues in the offseason and they end up with conventionally bad records as opposed to comically bad ones moving forward.* With the Ospreys’ and Coyotes’ awfulness especially, a number of players had historical games beating up on them. Four pitchers tied the single-game record of 21 strikeouts and five no-hitters were thrown.

There ended up being four perfect games in WAB in 1978. Port Hartcourt’s Adebayo Chukwu on June 14 had 16 strikeouts against Ouagadougou. On July 23, Edwin Ibe of Lagos had 12 Ks versus the Osprey. On Spetember 19, Kumasi’s Ayi Usman fanned 16 against Conakry. The most impressive perfecto was by Lome’s Nathanie Schwarzman, since he did it against a good Kano squad with nine strikeouts. In team records: Abidjan had a 2.55 team ERA, 0.902 WHIP and 1092 hits allowed, still the top marks all-time in the WL as of 2037.

*as mentioned in another post, there was an issue with roster limits that I missed initially that caused these teams to accidentally play shorthanded, leading to the atrocious records. I found the issue and fixed it after the 1978 season, so such records wouldn’t occur again.