[FuzzyRussianHat]

Eurasian Professional Baseball inducted two into the Hall of Fame for 1997 with both guys getting in easily. LF/1B Darian Tasos got 99.7% and SP Azer Sattrali received 98.5% in their debuts, easily making the cut. A third debutant came close to joining them, but 1B Vyacheslav Afonin’s 64.4% fell just short of the 66% requirement. Also above 50% was 1B Bartlomiej Tarka at 59.8% for his eighth ballot and SP Maxim Aivazyan at 52.0% on his second go.



One player was dropped after ten ballots in relief pitcher Iosif Kusainov, who had a 19-year career between 12 teams. He debuted at 45.8% in 1988, but was down to merely 6.2% at the end. Kusainov had 314 saves and 410 shutdowns, a 2.42 ERA, 1158.2 innings, 1308 strikeouts, 83 FIP-, and 19.7 WAR. Impressive longevity for a reliever, but he had no major awards and wasn’t nearly as dominant as other contemporary relievers.



Darian “Horseface” Tasos – Left Field/First Base – St. Petersburg Polar Bears – 99.7% First Ballot

Darian Tasos was a 6’0’’, 200 pound right-handed hitter from Bulqize, Albania; a small municipality of 32,000 people. Tasos was one of the top bats of his era with great power plus respectable contact ability. He had a solid eye for drawing walks, but did strike out a bit more than average. Tasos regularly averaged around 40 home runs per year while adding about 30 doubles/triples per 162 games. He had decent speed and base stealing ability, especially for a slugger. Tasos split his career nearly evenly between left field and first base. Defensively at both spots, he graded out as delightfully average. He was durable and reliable, becoming a fan favorite throughout his two decades of pro ball.

Despite being from humble beginnings in Albania, Tasos was able to get looks at various camps across the Eastern Bloc as a teenager. In May 1967, it would be St. Petersburg that noticed him, signing Tasos to a developmental contract at age 16. He made his official debut at age 20 in 1971 with a mere 24 plate appearances that year. Tasos also had three at bats in the postseason as the Polar Bears had a surprise playoff run as a wild card, winning the 1971 EPB Championship.

Tasos would be a full-time starter the next year and held a starting job for the next 19 years. Much to his chagrin, teammates and fans began calling him “horseface.” He eventually learned to take that moniker in stride. During his career in St. Petersburg, Tasos led the European League in runs scored thrice, hits once, home runs once, RBI thrice, total bases twice, OBP thrice, slugging thrice, OPS five times, and WAR three times. His biggest numbers would come in his 30s, but Tasos did start to win accolades in his 20s as well. 1973 was his first of six Silver Sluggers with the others in 1975, 76, 77, 82, and 84.

The Polar Bears missed the playoffs in 1972 and 1973, but finished out the 1970s with six consecutive playoff berths from 1974-79. St. Petersburg won the European League pennant in 1976 and 1977, taking the EPB title as well in 1977. Tasos was a big time player in the two pennant runs, posting 35 hits, 19 runs, 11 home runs, and 25 RBI between those 30 starts. In 54 playoff games for his career, Tasos had 56 hits, 26 runs, 5 doubles 16 home runs, 34 RBI, a .276/.310/.557 slash and 2.3 WAR.

In the fall of 1975, St. Petersburg locked up Tasos to an eight-year, $1,876,000 extension. He took second in MVP voting in 1975 and 1976. In 1977, Tasos won MVP for the first time, leading the EL in WAR at 8.9 and OPS at .998. 1978 would be his first setback in his career, suffering a torn ACL late in spring training. This knocked Tasos out 9-10 months, missing the entire 1978 season.

Tasos returned in 1979 and still looked good, taking third in 1979 MVP voting. But he wasn’t quite as dominant in the following two years. The Polar Bears retreated towards the middle of the standings in the 1980s. They were a wild card in 1983 and 1984, but were ousted in the first round both years. Tasos would see a resurgence though with the 1982 season, posting then-career bests in runs, home runs, RBI, OPS, and WAR. This earned him his second MVP and a payday. Early in the 1983 season, St. Petersburg signed Tasos to a five-year, $2,210,000 extension.

Tasos won his third MVP in 1984 with his best season and an all-timer. He posted 13.4 WAR, which set an EPB record by a position player that would only get topped once in the following 50 years. Tasos had career and European League bests in runs (107), hits (200), homers (58), RBI (125), total bases (419), OPS (1.098), and wRC+ (262). He also had a career best .340 average, falling 13 points short of a Triple Crown season.

The final three years of his run with the Polar Bears didn’t reach that obscene level, but were still very solid. With St. Petersburg, Tasos had 2278 hits, 1242 runs, 300 doubles, 127 triples, 570 home runs, 1409 RBI, a 281/.343/.560 slash, and 109.3 WAR. His #8 uniform would later get retired and he’d remain a beloved franchise icon for decades to come. But all good things do come to an end.

Tasos was 37 years old entering the final year of his contract in 1988. Hoping they could reload after being middling for a few years, St. Petersburg traded Tasos to Tashkent for three prospects. He picked up his 600^th home run in his first year with the Tomcats and posted similar production to what he had been doing. Tashkent decided to give Tasos a two-year contract extension worth $1,260,000.

He had a respectable 1989, but his tallies dropped a bit in 1990 while also missing a month to a strained oblique. The Tomcats extended Tasos again, but he would struggle in 1991 and eventually be used in a platoon role. Tasos opted to retire that winter at age 41. With Tashkent, he had 440 hits, 248 runs, 113 home runs, 251 RBI, a .240/.308/.467 slash, and 13.4 WAR.

Tasos’ final stats were 2718 hits, 1490 runs, 350 doubles, 141 triples, 683 home runs, 1660 RBI, a .273/.337/.543 slash, 174 wRC+, and 122.7 WAR. At induction, he was the EPB WARlord among position players and fourth all-time in home runs, third in RBI, fifth in hits, second in runs scored. Tasos still has the top WAR spot and remains in the top ten as of 2037 in all of the above mentioned stats minus hits. Few batters in EPB history can claim to be Tasos’ equal or superior, thus the obvious 99.7% first ballot induction into the 1997 Hall of Fame class.



Azer Sattarli – Starting Pitcher – Ulaanbaatar Boars – 98.5% First Ballot

Azer Sattarli was a 5’11’’, 200 pound right-handed pitcher from Bratsk, Russia, city of 220,000 people in the Irkutsk Oblast. Sattarli was known for having very good stuff with above average control and okay movement. His fastball hit the 97-99 mph range, while he could fool you with four other potent pitches; slider, forkball, sinker, and knuckle curve. Sattarli’s forkball was the most effective of the five, but none of his pitches were poor. His stamina was quite solid and he was known as a very durable and reliable arm.

It wasn’t easy as a prospect in Siberia to earn a ton of attention as a teenager. However, a scout from nearby Mongolia caught wind of Sattarli and signed him to a developmental deal in Ulaanbaatar in 1070. He made his debut for the Boars with four relief appearances in 1975 at age 21. Sattarli was a full-time starter the next year and looked promising. Sattarli had five relief appearances in the 1976 postseason as Ulaanbaatar won the Soviet Series over St. Petersburg. He also took second in Rookie of the Year voting, although he’d be reduced to an emergency starter type role in the following two seasons.

1979 saw Sattarli back in the rotation full-time, a spot he’d hold for the rest of his Ulaanbaatar tenure. He became the ace at this point and became a master at mixing his pitches, leading the Asian League in strikeouts four times from 1980-84. He also led in ERA in 1983, WHIP thrice, and WAR in 1983 and 1984. Sattarli was second in Pitcher of the Year voting in 1981, then won the award three straight seasons from 1982-84. He was also third in MVP voting in both 1983 and 1984. One highlight was a no-hitter with 15 strikeouts and one walk against Krasnoyarsk on 5/18/83. Later that year, Sattarli had a 41 inning scoreless streak from late July to mid August.

Ulaanbaatar made it back to the playoffs in 1982 and 1984, falling in the ALCS in the latter. The Boars signed him to a five-year, $3,450,000 extension during spring training 1985, seemingly locking Sattarli down for the long haul. The Boars surprised many though when they traded him near the deadline to Kyiv for four prospects. It frustrated many fans in Mongolia, as the Boars remained middling after he left and bottomed out in the 1990s. The franchise would later patch things up and retire his #31 uniform at the end of his career. For his Ulaanbaatar run, Sattarli had a 139-97 record, 2.14 ERA, 2305.1 innings, 2937 strikeouts, and 62.7 WAR.

The Kings were in an arms race against their European League foes and hoped Sattarli could give them the edge. Although not an award winner or league leader with Kyiv, Sattarli was a solid veteran arm. He posted a 3.69 ERA and 6-3 record over 90.1 playoff innings with the Kings, striking out 103. Sattarli earned two championship rings as Kyiv won it all in 1986 and 1987.

Sattarli started to fade as his contract ran out and was only used as a part-time starter in 1990. For his Kyiv tenure, he had a 72-63 record, 2.60 ERA, 1315 innings, 1595 strikeouts, 29.3 WAR. A free agent for the first time at age 37, he signed a one-year deal with Dushanbe. He provided a lot of innings in his one year with the Dynamo, but his production was average at best. Sattarli decided to retire after the 1991 campaign at age 38.

For his career, Sattarli had a 228-172 record, 2.37 ERA, 3907.1 innings, 4817 strikeouts, 632 walks, 345/452 quality starts, 234 complete games, 123 ERA+, 76 FIP-, and 97.7 WAR. He was seventh all-time in strikeouts at induction and still sits tenth as of 2037. Sattarli doesn’t sit at the tip-top of the leaderboard for EPB Hall of Fame pitchers, but he’s definitely not at the bottom either. The voters didn’t hesitate to put him in at 98.5% as the second member of the 1997 class.