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The European Baseball Federation had a mammoth five-player Hall of Fame class in 2012. It tied the largest-ever class for EBF, as 2000 also saw five inductees. The top four in the 2012 group were first ballot picks with limited opposition. CF Remy Morel got 95.6%, 3B Giordano Dupuis had 94.9%, OF Gabriel Cadete received 88.5%, and P/C Tommaso Notti snagged 77.6%.

The fifth member was pitcher Vincent Cassar, who finally breached the 66% requirement with 66.4% on his ninth try. He was a surprise, especially considering the loaded group. Cassar had only been above 50% once and had fallen to a mere 24.9% in his eight ballot. SP Spyridon Sidiropoulou very nearly made it a six-player, but he barely missed with 64.4% in his debut.



Two other returners were above 50%, but short of 60%. RF Mitchel Dekker had 59.7% on his second ballot and SP Reggie Hobart was at 54.9% on his penultimate try. Only one other player cracked 1/3 with closer Rafael Dorflinger at a distant 34.6% second ballot.

Dropped after ten failed ballots was SS Aldo Krcelic, who had a 17-year run between Lisbon and Seville. He won one Silver Slugger and hlped the Clippers win the 1995 EBF title. Krcelic finished with 2143 hits, 1419 runs, 350 doubles, 169 triples, 238 home runs, 857 RBI, 926 walks, 904 stolen bases, a .259/.334/.428 slash, 115 wRC+, and 59.4 WAR. He was merely an okay defender and didn’t have impressive enough batting tallies to stand out. Krcelic peaked at 29.1% in his debut and ended at 15.6%.



Remy Morel – Center Field – Paris Poodles – 95.6% First Ballot

Remy Morel was a 6’3’’, 200 pound right-handed center fielder from Clamart, France; a Paris suburb with around 55,000 people. Morel was an excellent contact hitter and was terrific at avoiding strikeouts, although he was merely okay at drawing walks. He was outstanding at finding the gap with 40 doubles and 17 triples per his 162 game average. Morel wasn’t a super slugger, but was still good for 15-20 home runs per season.

Morel had pretty good speed and was an above average baserunner. He was a career center fielder and a reliably good-to-great defender. Morel held up physically well much of his career despite the demands of the position, playing 150+ games each of his first 11 seasons. He was a team captain and a leader of men, becoming one of the most beloved French baseball superstars.

Growing up in the Paris metro, Morel was a Poodles fan growing up. He quickly rose through the amateur ranks and was considered the best French prospect by many entering the 1993 EBF Draft. His childhood dream came true as Paris picked him fourth overall. Morel signed a five-year, $8,650,000 deal as a rookie and ultimately played his entire career in the French capital.

Morel was a full-time starter immediately and a successful one with 5.0 WAR in 1994, taking second in Rookie of the Year voting. 1995 started a streak of ten consecutive 6+ WAR seasons. Morel led in hits and won his first Silver Slugger in 1995. This also helped Paris end a decade-long playoff drought, notching their first Northwest Division title since 1970. The Poodles ultimately lost in the first round of the playoffs, then missed the postseason in 1996. Morel’s highlight of 1996 was a 30 game-hit streak in the spring.

1997 was Morel’s finest, leading the Northern Conference and posting career highs in hits (251), doubles (57), batting average (.384), and OPB (.420). The 251 hits were the second-most ever in an EBF season only behind Franco Gilbert’s 254 in 1988 and the 57 doubles fell one short of Franco Pulvirenti’s 58 from 1963. Both marks are still second-best all-time as of 2037.

Morel also had career bests in slugging (.592), OPS (1.012), wRC+ (191), and WAR (9.7), winning his second Silver Slugger and taking second in MVP voting. Paris won the division and won the European Championship over Lisbon with Morel leading the way. In 17 playoff starts, he had 29 hits, 16 runs, 8 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, 13 RBI, 1.5 WAR, and a .392/.416/.662 slash.

That run forever made Morel a Parisian hero, although he actually had negative WAR over the rest of his playoff career. He finished with 62 starts, 79 hits, 38 runs, 17 doubles, 5 triples, 3 home runs, 22 RBI, 21 stolen bases, a .303/.324/.441 slash, 117 wRC+, and 1.3 WAR. When your first big playoff run is a great one, people will overlook later failures.

Morel did also have respectable stats in the World Baseball Championship, but nothing groundbreaking. He made 110 starts for France from 1995-2005 and had 130 hits, 49 runs, 19 doubles, 11 home runs, 45 RBI, 30 stolen bases, a .288/.325/.417 slash, 118 wRC+, and 2.0 WAR. Morel helped France to division titles in 2000 and 2005.

1998 saw another Silver Slugger for Morel, although Paris lost in the first round of the playoffs. 1999 would be his fourth Slugger and his lone MVP win, leading in hits (241) and posting 9.3 WAR. He was good with 20 hits and 8 runs in the postseason, but the Poodles lost the conference championship in an upset to Hamburg. In March 2000, Paris would extend Morel for seven years at $29,000,000, locking him up for the long haul.

Morel won his second batting title in 2000 and was third in MVP voting. Paris won a fourth straight division title, but suffered a first round defeat. The Poodles were stuck outside the playoffs in the mid-tier for the next three seasons. Morel still performed great, leading in hits, doubles, and batting average in both 2001 and 2002. He won Sluggers both seasons and was third in 2001’s MVP voting.

2003 and 2004 were still strong regular seasons for Morel. Paris got back to the conference final in 2004, but lost to eventual EBF champ Copenhagen. That was the last great year for Morel, who started 2005 with a sprained ankle. He struggled significantly and was quickly benched, batting .249 over 78 games and only 38 starts. Morel was moved to a part-time starting role in 2006, although he fared much better. In 118 games and 93 starts, he hit .333 with 3.5 WAR.

Paris made the conference finals again in 2006, but Morel struggled with a .167 batting average as they were ousted by Kyiv. The Poodles bought out the remainder of Morel’s contract, making him a free agent for the first time. He hoped to still play, but no one signed him and he retired in the winter of 2007 at age 37. Paris quickly brought him home to retire his #20 uniform in front of a packed house.

Morel finished with 2614 hits, 1180 runs, 469 doubles, 205 triples, 183 home runs, 1036 RBI, 586 stolen bases, a .351/.383/.543 slash, 162 wRC+, and 89.3 WAR. As of 2037, he has the sixth-best batting average among any player with 3000+ plate appearances. Morel also ranks 58^th in WAR among position players and third in WAR accrued in center field.

Plus, he played for his hometown team for 13 years, winning an MVP and a European Championship. It’s no surprise that Morel was a lock even with a loaded 2012 EBF Hall of Fame group. He received 95.6% as the headliner and as one of the top pure hitters in European baseball history.