[FuzzyRussianHat]

Chinese League Baseball welcomed closer Yi Li into its Hall of Fame as the lone inductee in 1989. Li only narrowly crossed the 66% requirement, but got in nonetheless with 72.1% on his fifth ballot. SP Li Jin was close but just short at 62.1% on his third attempt. The only other player above 50% was CL Yuzeng Liang at 53.3% in his third try. The top debut was SP Guichao Li at 44.8%. No players were dropped after ten ballots.



Yi “Hoover” Li – Closer – Chengdu Clowns – 72.1% Fifth Ballot

Yi Li was a 5’11’’, 200 pound right-handed relief pitcher from Yangjiang, a city of around 2,600,000 near the South China Sea. Li had excellent stuff and terrific movement along with very good control. He had only two pitches with a 97-99 mph fastball and a quick slider, but his one-two punch was more than enough to thrive. Li was also considered a hard worker.

Li ended up having a peculiar career as a mercenary, although it wasn’t because he was disloyal or greedy. When CLB was formed for the 1970 season, Li was already 32 years old and established in China’s semi-pro circuits. His established service meant teams didn’t have long control over his tenure and franchises weren’t inclined to give relievers lengthy deals. Thus, Li ended up playing for nine teams in 10 years with his longest tenure being two years with Chengdu. He did also pitch in five editions of the World Baseball Championship for China, winning Best Pitcher in 1974 with 11 scoreless innings. He ended up with a 1.52 ERA over 53.1 innings, 77 strikeouts, and 2.1 WAR.

Li’s CLB career began with Foshan in 1970 and it was arguably his best season with a career-high 0.66 ERA and 6.4 WAR. He took third in Reliever of the Year voting in 1970, 1972, 1974, and 1979. Li was second in 1976 and won the award for the only time in 1973. Regardless of where he was, Li was considered elite. He went to Nanjing in 1971, then to Guangzhou in 1972 and Jinan in 1973. From August 1972 to June 1973, Li posted 46 consecutive scoreless innings.

Li’s lone Reliever of the Year was won with Jinan, who signed him to a two-year contract extension on October 5. Three days later, they traded him to Chengdu. After two seasons with the Clowns, he signed for 1976 with Chongqing. Between August 1975 and August 1976, Li had a streak of 51 successful save opportunities. 1976 was his only season leading the league in saves with a career best 47.

Li signed with Hong Kong in 1977 and struggled with injuries and poor production when healthy. He was now 40 years old when signing for a second time with Nanjing in 1978 and wasn’t used in the closer role. The Nuggets traded him in the summer to Changsha, where he finished out the year. Li went to Xiamen in 1979 and was back in the closer’s role with solid results, becoming the third reliever to reach 300 saves in CLB history. He wanted to still pitch in 1980, but retired that winter after going unsigned.

Li’s final stats: 333 saves and 390 shutdowns, a 1.35 ERA, 775 innings, 1015 strikeouts, 117 walks, 28 FIP-, and 43.1 WAR. His rate stats were impressive, but he still paled in comparison to recent inductee Encai Xing. Li was hurt too by bouncing around so many places, but still hovered in the upper 50%-lower 60% range in his first four ballots. His supporters pointed out that his entire run was beginning from age 32 and if he had his 20s to add to the tallies, Li likely would’ve posted remarkable accumulations. Enough voters came around on his fifth ballot to get him in at 72.1% as the lone 1989 Hall of Famer for CLB.