[FuzzyRussianHat]

1998 was a blank Hall of Fame ballot for East Asia Baseball with no major debuts. Remarkably, this was first time since 1962 that EAB didn’t add at least one player into the Hall. The best newcomer, LF Yeo-Min Kwan, only got 34.0%. LF Jay-Hoon Cho led all players with 59.4% in his third ballot. Fellow third ballot 2B Seong-Jae Kang was right behind at 59.1%. RF Seo-Yun Lee was the only other guy above 50% with 53.7% for his second go.



Dropped after ten ballots was pitcher Kunizo Tsuda, who had a 12 year career with Yokohama. He had a 185-161 record, 3.18 ERA, 3138.2 innings, 2912 strikeouts, 110 ERA+, and 56.6 WAR. Tsuda led in strikeouts three times, but had a quick regression, lacked awards, and never pitched in the postseason. Still, his moments of dominance got him as close as 59.3% on his sixth ballot. He ended at a low of 25.4% after usually being above 40%.

Another pitcher falling after ten tries was Chor-Min Jung, who had a 13-year run with five teams. He had a 196-142 record, 3.51 ERA, 3095.2 innings, 2534 strikeouts, 107 ERA+, and 50.0 WAR. Jung was another guy without major awards, although he did have good playoff starts and won a ring with Seoul. His candidacy never got much traction, peaking at 37.5% in 1990. He closed out at 18.3%, banished to the Hall of Very Good.