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The Oceania Baseball Association’s Hall of Fame had grown to four players after the 1985 ballot. The 1986 would more than double that with an impressive five-player class. Each player would earn the spot on their debut ballot, led by a nearly unanimous 99.3% berth for DH Sione Hala. LF Alpati Tatupu was close behind with 90.3%. The other three were in the 70s, but still got in with SP Zachary Nelson at 74.0%, 1B Seymour Lennox at 72.2%, and SP Luke King at 71.1%. No one else was above 50%.



One player was dropped after ten ballots with closer Damon Pydida ending at a mere 2.2%. He debuted at 27.7% and had a 11 year career mostly with Perth, winning three Reliever of the Years and posting 184 saves, a 1.73 RA, 576.2 innings, 769 strikeouts, and 24.5 WAR. A nice run, but lacking the longevity or raw dominance needed to get more of a look in.



Sione “Electric” Hala – Designated Hitter/Right Field/First Base – Guam Golden Eagles – 99.3% First Ballot

Sione Hala was a 5’10’’, 200 pound right-handed hitter from Mu’a, a small town of the island of Tongatapu; Tonga’s main island. Hala is one of the best pure hitters in baseball history with tremendous contact and power. He managed in a very low offense environment in OBA to hit 40+ home runs ten times and bat above .300 eight times. Hala also was good for around 30 doubles per year, although he didn’t leg out many triples with slow baserunning speed. Hala was okay at drawing walks and avoiding strikeouts, but not amazing at either. He made about half of his career starts as a DH with the rest split between right field and first baseball; he was a lousy fielder in both spots. But Hala was an elite bat and an ironman who played 148+ games in 17 consecutive seasons, making him one of the first superstars of the Pacific League.

Hala’s bat drew plenty of attention even in a small place like Tonga and he was picked second overall in the 1962 OBA Draft by Guam. He remained on the reserve roster in 1963, then made a few starts and pinch hit appearances in 1964. Hala’s first full-time season was 1965 and he immediately delivered a batting title with a league-best .931 OPS and 7.7 WAR. This earned his first of nine MVPs and his first of 12 Silver Sluggers. For much of this era in OBA, you could reliably count on Hala winning the Pacific League MVP and Jimmy Caliw taking the Australasia League’s MVP.

Hala’s additional MVPs came in 1967, 68, 69, 72, 73, 75, 77, and 80, while also taking third in 1966, second in 1970, and third in 1974, He won eight straight Silver Sluggers from 1965-73 with the first six as a right fielder. His remaining Sluggers would be at DH in 1971, 72, 75, 77, 78, and 79. Hala was constantly atop the leaderboards during this run, leading in runs scored five times, hits seven times, doubles twice, home runs nine times, RBI seven times, total bases ten times, average five times, OBP four times, slugging, OPS, and wRC+ each ten times, and WAR seven times. His 59 home runs in 1968 was the single-season record for almost two decades in OBA, as was his 130 RBI and 1.0567 OPS in 1967. He had the first ever Triple Crown hitting season in OBA in 1966, then did it again in 1967 and 1977. As of 2037, OBA has had ten Triple Crown hitting seasons, Hala has three.

Guam was consistently competitive during Hala’s reign. The Golden Eagles won the Pacific League title in 1967 and 1969, but then had a decade-long drought. Hala remained a constant and as a wily veteran, helped them to a record-setting 112-50 1979 season. They won the Oceania Championship and set the records for most wins in a season. They dropped to 95 wins in 1980, but earned back-to-back titles. In his playoff career with Guam, Hala had 39 starts, 44 hits, 20 runs, 6 doubles, 9 home runs, 21 RBI, and 1.9 WAR.

He didn’t seem to slow down into his 30s and continued to make history. He was the first to 500 career home runs, then the first to 600. Hala was the second to reach 2000 hits (behind only fellow Class of 86 Hall of Famer Alapti Tatupu by a month), was the first to 1000 runs scored, 1000 RBI, and 1500 RBI. When his OBA tenure ended, he was the all-time leader in home runs, RBI, hits, and runs scored; and second in doubles (by one to Tatupu) and second in WAR (behind Caliw).

After winning back-to-back titles with Guam, there wasn’t too much more for the now 38-year old Hala to accomplish there. MLB’s St. Louis came knocking with $960,000 per year, more than his last four years with the Golden Eagles combined. Guam fans were disappointed, but understood his decision to head stateside. Hala’s #13 uniform naturally would be retired soon after.

He joined the Cardinals in 1981 and had a respectable season, although his power fell off significantly with only 20 home runs. In 1982, he suffered a torn calf muscle in April that put him out four months. Hala was merely okay returning later in the regular season, but he found some of that old electric bat in the postseason. In 16 playoff starts, Hala had 20 hits, 9 runs, 3 doubles, 4 home runs, and 10 RBI, helping St. Louis to win the 1982 World Series. His contract expired and he joined Miami for two years and $2,320,000. Hala had some nice power and could be used as a DH again in 1983. Only 20 games into 1984 though, the Mallards opted to release Hala and that ended his career at age 41. For his MLB tenure, he had 419 hits, 213 runs, 64 home runs, 239 RBI, and 5.7 WAR.

For his entire pro career, Hala had 3291 hits, 1615 runs, 508 doubles, 755 home runs, 1843 RBI, a .293/.343/.549 slash, 181 wRC+, and 125.5 WAR. In just OBA with Guam, he had 2872 hits, 1402 runs, 444 doubles, 691 home runs, 1604 RBI, a .296/.345/.564 slash, 191 wRC+, and 119.9 WAR. Later OBA stars passed him for first in the major stats, but as of 2037 he’s still fifth in homers, eighth in RBI, 13^th in runs, 13^th in hits, and third in WAR. The common debate still is who was better between him and Jimmy Caliw. Most would agree Hala was the better batter (and maybe the best pure bat in OBA history), but Hala had negative defensive value while Caliw earned the WARlord with a great bat and stellar defense. Either way, Hala is a legend of Pacific baseball for good reason and one of Tonga’s favorite sons. His 99.3% of the vote is frankly too low.



Alapati “Headgame” Tatupu – Left Field – Christchurch Chinooks – 90.3% First Ballot

Alapati Tatupu was a 6’3’’, 200 pound left-handed hitting left fielder from Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa. Tatupu was a terrific contact hitter who also had a respectable knack for drawing walks and avoiding strikeouts. He was lightning quick and very crafty, making him one of OBA’s most dangerous baserunners ever. Despite that, he still had a good pop in his bat and averaged around 25-30 doubles, 15-20 triples, and 15-20 home runs per year. Tatupu was a career left fielder and despite his speed, he was a terrible defender. Still, had had a great bat and was very reliable and durabe, playing in 140+ games in all but his first two seasons. He was one of the most popular players of the era with fans and teammates as a hardworking, intelligent, and overall likeable guy.

Tatupu was spotted at a camp in 1959 by a scout from Christchurch and signed as a teenage amateur. His debut came four years later with a few at-bats as a 19-year old. The Chinooks earned their first-ever Oceania Championship that year with the young Tatupu starting six games and getting eight hits and two runs. Tatupu started a good chunk of 1964 and earned second in Rookie of the Year voting. He took over a full-time job the next season and started 130+ games each year for the next 16 years. Tatupu’s early 20s were his most impressive as he won four batting titles and also led the Australasia League four times in hits, six times in OBP, and six times in stolen bases.

Tatupu’s finest season came in 1968 where he led the league in runs, hits, total bases, triple slash, OPS, wRC+, and WAR. This earned him his lone MVP of his career. His lack of home run numbers and sharing a league with Jimmy Caliw cost him other chances at the top award, but he did place second in 1967 and third in 1969. Tatupu was a ten time Silver Slugger winner (1965-69, 71-72, 74-75, 76). He also played five times in the World Baseball Championship, eligible for the United States team as a citizen of American Samoa. He had 30 hits, 21 runs, 10 home runs, 23 RBI, and 14 stolen bases in 31 games and won world titles in 1968 and 1971.

Christchurch won the league title in his rookie year, but they never got back in the rest of his run and had fallen to the bottom of the standings by the 1970s. In 15 seasons with the Chinooks, Tatupu had 2172 hits, 996 runs, 342 doubles, 195 triples, 228 home runs, 835 RBI, 1000 stolen bases, a .296/.344/.488 slash, and 75.3 WAR. His #76 uniform would later be retired by the team. Tatupu had remained solid in his later years, but had his worst season in 1976 at age 32. Christchurch decided to trade him before the 1977 season straight up to Perth for 3B Jarrod Stacy.

Tatupu was never elite with the Penguins, but he found his rhythm and was again a solid starter. He spent four seasons with the Penguins, who won the AL in 1978 and 1979. Tatupu earned his second OBA ring in 1978 as Perth won the title with a then-record setting 111-51 season. In 12 playoff games, Tatupu had 14 hits, 8 runs, 4 home runs, and 8 RBI. His productivity fell off a bit again in his last year of 1980 and he decided to retire at age 37. For his Perth run, Tatupu had 618 hits, 304 runs, 103 doubles, 49 triples, 46 home runs, 201 RBI, 250 stolen bases, a .279/.331/.431 slash, and 9.7 WAR.

For his full career, Tatupu had 2790 hits, 1300 runs, 445 doubles, 244 triples, 274 home runs, 1036 RBI, 1250 stolen bases, a .292/.341/.475 slash, 151 wRC+, and 85.1 WAR. At retirement, he was second all-time in hits and runs behind Sione Hala. Tatupu was the doubles leader by one over Hala, He was the stolen bases king and held that title until the late 2010s, still sitting third most in OBA as of 2037. At induction, Tatupu was also fourth all-time in OBA hitting WAR and sits 21^st as of 2037. Tatupu may not have gotten the publicity of a Hala or Caliw, but he was very popular and had an excellent career certainly deserving of the first ballot induction at 90.3%.