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Third baseman Elann Isser became the third member of the Arab League Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008. He narrowly breached the 66% requirement with 70.8% in his debut. Only two others were above 50%, both on their fourth try. SP Ilwad Maxamed received 55.2% and CL Khemais Khalid grabbed 53.6%. No one was dropped after ten failed ballots.



Elann “Free Fall” Isser – Third Base – Abu Dhabi Destroyers – 70.8% First Ballot

Elann Isser was a 6’1’’, 195 pound right-handed third baseman from Ra’anana, Israel; a city of around 100,000 people. Isser was an excellent home run hitter who hit 40+ homers in six different seasons. He also had nice gap power, averaging around 20-30 doubles per year. Isser was merely a decent contact hitter with an average eye and strikeout rate. He had okay baserunning instincts with mediocre speed.

Isser was a career third baseman and had an absolute cannon of an arm. His glove work was okay and he graded out as an average defender for his career. Isser had good durability and became an extremely popular player as one of the first great sluggers in ALB. He was also a team captain and one of the more respected guys in his era.

Arab League Baseball officially began with the 1990 season and Isser had just started his pro career the year before, so he wasn’t eligible for the first rookie draft. That gave him the option at age 22 to sign with any team and Abu Dhabi snagged him for two years and $1,230,000. Isser was a full-time starter right away and had a strong debut with 4.6 WAR. He won Rookie of the Year and his lone Gold Glove in 1990.

Isser’s power developed in his second year with an Eastern Conference best 51 home runs, 117 RBI, 354 total bases, .633 slugging, .982 OPS, 189 wRC+, and 8.9 WAR. He earned MVP honors and his first of six Silver Sluggers. Isser led in both home runs and RBI again in 1994 and 1995, setting career bests in 1994 with 53 dingers and 121 RBI. He was third in 1993 MVP voting and second in 1994.

Those were his only years as a league leader, although he posted 5+ WAR each year from 1993-2000. Isser even had 5.2 WAR in 1996 despite missing about half the season to injury. He was Abu Dhabi’s first star player, although the Destroyers generally were a few games below .500. They won the Gulf Division in 1990 and 1993, but lost in the first round both years. They averaged 79.1 wins per season during Isser’s tenure.

Isser’s Silver Slugger wins were 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, and 1999. Abu Dhabi gave him a five-year, $9,500,000 extension in June 1998. In 2000, he became the second ALB batter to reach the 400 home run and 1000 RBI milestones behind Bilal Hamdan. He would miss half of 2001 to a broken hand.

2002 was still a respectable year with 4.0 WAR and a 119 wRC+. Isser declined his contract option and became a free agent for the first time. He couldn’t find a suitor though as most teams preferred to court younger players. Isser retired in the winter of 2003 at age 36. Abu Dhabi immediately brought him back in to retire his #29 uniform.

Isser ended with 1774 hits, 974 runs, 320 doubles, 469 home runs, 1161 RBI, a .264/.327/.528 slash, 144 wRC+, and 70.6 WAR. As of 2037, he’s fourth all-time at third base in WAR and he sits 38^th among all position players. Later stars would blow by his accumulations, but Isser was a consistently strong slugger for ALB’s first decade.

There were those who thought his accumulations were too low and dinged him for his lack of team success. Isser’s power and respect as a captain was enough though to earn 70.8% in his debut as the lone inductee into the Arab League Hall of Fame in 2008.