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FuzzyRussianHat · 07-30-2023, 05:48 PM

Defending Japan League champ Hiroshima had the league’s best record in 1969 with their third straight South Division title. The Hammerheads at 102-60 held firm against a solid challenge from 99-63 Fukuoka. In the North Division, Sendai ended an 11-year playoff drought to take the North Division. The Samurai finished 91-71, seven games ahead of both defending division champ Kawasaki and Saitama.

Leading Hiroshima was 24-year old slugger Hyeon-Jun Win, the league MVP. The left-handed Seoul native in his sixth season already was the league leader in RBI (131), slugging (.648), and OPS (1.021), adding 8.3 WAR, 44 home runs, a .325 average and his fifth straight Gold Glove. Pitcher of the Year went to Nagoya’s Chun-Ho Kim, his third time winning the award and first since 1964. The 31-year old lefty was the ERA leader (2.20) and WARlord (7.2) with 25 quality starts, an 18-8 record, and 340 strikeouts in 245.1 innings.

Pyongyang’s dominance continued in Korea with a franchise-best 119-43 mark, giving the four-time defending EAB champs their record ninth straight North Division title. It is tied for the second-most wins in a season for a Korean team with Hamhung winning 119 in 1928 and the record 122 in 1926. The South Division had Yongin on top for the fourth straight season.

Pythons Ki-Tae Yun won his first MVP with an impressive age 31 season. Nicknamed “Duck,” he led the league for home runs and RBI for the third straight season, setting career bests in both with 54 dingers and 156 RBI. Yun was the seventh EAB hitter to reach 150+ RBI in a year and would be the last one until 1989. He also led the league in runs (116), total bases (375), slugging (.642), OPS (1.011), wRC+ (173), and WAR (10.0). Yongin’s Tae-Hong Kim won back-to-back Pitcher of the Year awards. He led in wins at 22-7 and was second in ERA at 2.376, while also leading in WAR (8.6), quality starts (25), and FIP- (65). Kim had 293 strikeouts over 262.2 innings. Also of note, Pyongyang’s Geun-U Phan won his fourth straight Reliever of the Year, posting 49 saves with a 1.17 ERA, 128 strikeouts, and 4.5 WAR in 84.1 innings.

The Japan League Championship Series was a seven game classic with Hiroshima topping Sendai to earn back-to-back titles. The Hammerheads are now four-time champs. Meanwhile, the Pyongyang dynasty continued in the Korea League Championship Series for an unprecedented fifth straight title. They topped Yongin for the fourth straight year, this time 4-2. The Pythons now have seven titles in the decade and eleven in total.

The Pythons were unable to make it a five-peat in the East Asian Championship rematch with Hiroshima. The Hammerheads got revenge in six games, giving them their third overall title along with the 1939 and 1959 campaigns. League MVP Hyeog-Jun Wi had a historic postseason tear for Hiroshima, winning both finals and JLCS MVP. In 13 games, he smacked 10 home runs with 17 RBI, 20 hits, and 13 runs. 10 homers remains the EAB single postseason record as of 2037 even with the later expanded postseason and increased offensive numbers. In one of the finals games against the Pythons, he smacked three homers.

Other notes: Lei Meng, EAB’s home run king, became the first to cross 800 career home runs. To this point, no other professional league has seen a player cross 800 for a career, although Prometheo Garcia had 928 split between CABA and MLB. Su-Yeon Park and Kenzan Manabe both crossed 2500 hits, making it 22 EAB batters to have done so.

Shortstop Han-Gyeol Bu won his 12^th Gold Glove and catcher Wan-Seon Kwan got his tenth. Teiichi Ishigaki won his ninth and final Gold Glove in center field, Min-Hyeok Shin became a ten time Silver Slugger winner with the awards split between DH and 2B. Seung-Hyeon Min won his ninth Silver Slugger in CF.

For the 1960s in East Asia Baseball, statistics were largely considered to be average. The Japan League’s ERA was 3.52 with the Korea League higher with the DH at 3.77. The batting average for Japan was .250 and .258 for Korea. Japan’s offensive numbers were the highest of any decade with 3.52 in the 1950s and lower prior, while Korea was actually down from a 3.90 ERA in the 1950s. Both leagues would generally hover around average statistics moving forward, not making some of the same big shifts that would be seen in other organizations.

07-30-2023, 05:48 PM	#461
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 2,617	1969 in EAB Defending Japan League champ Hiroshima had the league’s best record in 1969 with their third straight South Division title. The Hammerheads at 102-60 held firm against a solid challenge from 99-63 Fukuoka. In the North Division, Sendai ended an 11-year playoff drought to take the North Division. The Samurai finished 91-71, seven games ahead of both defending division champ Kawasaki and Saitama. Leading Hiroshima was 24-year old slugger Hyeon-Jun Win, the league MVP. The left-handed Seoul native in his sixth season already was the league leader in RBI (131), slugging (.648), and OPS (1.021), adding 8.3 WAR, 44 home runs, a .325 average and his fifth straight Gold Glove. Pitcher of the Year went to Nagoya’s Chun-Ho Kim, his third time winning the award and first since 1964. The 31-year old lefty was the ERA leader (2.20) and WARlord (7.2) with 25 quality starts, an 18-8 record, and 340 strikeouts in 245.1 innings. Pyongyang’s dominance continued in Korea with a franchise-best 119-43 mark, giving the four-time defending EAB champs their record ninth straight North Division title. It is tied for the second-most wins in a season for a Korean team with Hamhung winning 119 in 1928 and the record 122 in 1926. The South Division had Yongin on top for the fourth straight season. Pythons Ki-Tae Yun won his first MVP with an impressive age 31 season. Nicknamed “Duck,” he led the league for home runs and RBI for the third straight season, setting career bests in both with 54 dingers and 156 RBI. Yun was the seventh EAB hitter to reach 150+ RBI in a year and would be the last one until 1989. He also led the league in runs (116), total bases (375), slugging (.642), OPS (1.011), wRC+ (173), and WAR (10.0). Yongin’s Tae-Hong Kim won back-to-back Pitcher of the Year awards. He led in wins at 22-7 and was second in ERA at 2.376, while also leading in WAR (8.6), quality starts (25), and FIP- (65). Kim had 293 strikeouts over 262.2 innings. Also of note, Pyongyang’s Geun-U Phan won his fourth straight Reliever of the Year, posting 49 saves with a 1.17 ERA, 128 strikeouts, and 4.5 WAR in 84.1 innings. The Japan League Championship Series was a seven game classic with Hiroshima topping Sendai to earn back-to-back titles. The Hammerheads are now four-time champs. Meanwhile, the Pyongyang dynasty continued in the Korea League Championship Series for an unprecedented fifth straight title. They topped Yongin for the fourth straight year, this time 4-2. The Pythons now have seven titles in the decade and eleven in total. The Pythons were unable to make it a five-peat in the East Asian Championship rematch with Hiroshima. The Hammerheads got revenge in six games, giving them their third overall title along with the 1939 and 1959 campaigns. League MVP Hyeog-Jun Wi had a historic postseason tear for Hiroshima, winning both finals and JLCS MVP. In 13 games, he smacked 10 home runs with 17 RBI, 20 hits, and 13 runs. 10 homers remains the EAB single postseason record as of 2037 even with the later expanded postseason and increased offensive numbers. In one of the finals games against the Pythons, he smacked three homers. Other notes: Lei Meng, EAB’s home run king, became the first to cross 800 career home runs. To this point, no other professional league has seen a player cross 800 for a career, although Prometheo Garcia had 928 split between CABA and MLB. Su-Yeon Park and Kenzan Manabe both crossed 2500 hits, making it 22 EAB batters to have done so. Shortstop Han-Gyeol Bu won his 12^th Gold Glove and catcher Wan-Seon Kwan got his tenth. Teiichi Ishigaki won his ninth and final Gold Glove in center field, Min-Hyeok Shin became a ten time Silver Slugger winner with the awards split between DH and 2B. Seung-Hyeon Min won his ninth Silver Slugger in CF. For the 1960s in East Asia Baseball, statistics were largely considered to be average. The Japan League’s ERA was 3.52 with the Korea League higher with the DH at 3.77. The batting average for Japan was .250 and .258 for Korea. Japan’s offensive numbers were the highest of any decade with 3.52 in the 1950s and lower prior, while Korea was actually down from a 3.90 ERA in the 1950s. Both leagues would generally hover around average statistics moving forward, not making some of the same big shifts that would be seen in other organizations. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)