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For the ninth season of the European Baseball Federation, the mound was lowered as stats had fallen from year one to year eight. The Northern Conference went from a .227 league average and 3.12 ERA to .245 and 3.341 in 1958, while the Southern Conference went from .237 and 3.29 to .249 and 3.69.

The Northern Conference didn’t have any 100+ win teams in 1958. The best overall record went to Hamburg at 95-67, earning their first-ever playoff berth as North Central Division champ. Berlin was second at 93-69 and earned the wild card, while defending European Champion Stockholm was 91-71 and missed the playoffs. The Barons earned their third playoff berth in franchise history. The Northwest Division was a tight battle with Luxenbourg winning for the first time. The Lancers finished 92-70, finishing three better than both Amsterdam and Rotterdam and four better than Brussels. In the British Isles Division, Birmingham won a third straight title with a 88-74 mark, beating Belfast by six games and Glasgow by seven.

NC MVP went to Paris LF Gabriel Staudt. The 30-year old Swiss righty was the conference leader in home runs (54), RBI (136), runs (115), slugging (.674), OPS (1.046), wRC+ (201), and WAR (9.3). Stoudt also won his seventh Silver Slugger, the first EBF player to earn seven. Rotterdam’s Trent Addams was Pitcher of the Year, earning the EBF’s third Triple Crown pitching season. The 26-year old Scot had a 24-3 record, 1.56 ERA, and 367 strikeouts over 248.2 innings with a 30 FIP- and league-record 13.1 WAR.



The best overall record in the EBF came in the Southern Conference from Lisbon, who won the Southwest Division at 105-57 for their fourth playoff berth in five years. Milan claimed the South Central Division at 93-69 for their first playoff berth since 1953, finishing four games ahead of Zurich. Defending conference champ Naples fell to 75-87. The Southeast Division champ was Athens at 92-70, earning their first-ever playoff appearance. Zurich at 89-73 narrowly grabbed the wild card for their fourth appearance in five years. The Mountaineers were one game ahead of Seville, four better than Madrid, and five over Marseille.

Southern Conference MVP went to Munich 2B Jonathan Fossdal. The 25-year old from Norway was the conference leader in WAR (10.9) and wRC+ (191), adding a .340 average, 38 home runs, and 114 RBI. Seville’s Armando Rojas won his third straight Pitcher of the Year. The 26-year old led in ERA for the fourth time in career with 2.01 and WAR for the third straight season with a career-best 12.2. He also led in strikeouts (36), WHIP (0.83), quality starts (29), and FIP- (44).

In the first round in the Northern Conference playoffs, both series went all five games. Hamburg edged Birmingham and Berlin edged Luxembourg for an all-Germany conference final. In the Southern Conference, Zurich upset Lisbon in a sweep and Milan dropped Athens 3-1. The NCC saw the Barons beat the Hammers in five games to send Berlin to the European final for the first time. The SCC was a seven-game classic with the Mountaineers outlasting the Maulers, sending Zurich to their first European Championship. It would be a rout as Berlin swept the Mountaineers for their first title and the second title by a German team. It was the first time the European Championship series was a sweep.





Other notes; The seventh EBF perfect game was thrown on September 13 by Belfast’s Arran MacNair, who stuck out eight against Dublin. This was the only no-hitter for the entire season. Pietro Ribsi became the first pitcher to 2500 career strikeouts. CF Mercury Hand won his eighth consecutive Gold Glove.