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FuzzyRussianHat · 09-30-2024, 02:29 PM

Two players were inducted in 2015 for the European Baseball Federation’s Hall of Fame on their debuts. LF/1B Villum Kleist was nearly unanimous at 99.0%, while RF Chris Klause made it with 73.0%. The next closest to the 66% requirement was SP Jarand Dahl, taking 57.8% for his fifth ballot. Also crossing 50% were RP Steven Macario at 53.4% on his third go and C Ulrich Thomsen’s 52.0% second ballot effort. No players were removed in 2015 after ten failed tries.

Villum Kleist – Left Field/First Base – Copenhagen Corsairs – 99.0% First Ballot

Villum Kleist was a 6’0’’, 200 pound right-handed hitting slugger from Lemvig, Denmark; a town of 6,800 near the northwestern coast. Kleist was one of Europe’s most prolific home run hitters, leading the Northern Conference in seven different seasons. He crushed 50+ dongs in nine seasons and topped 60+ four times. At his peak, some scouts called him a 10/10 player for power. Kleist’s power helped him draw a lot of walks, although his strikeout rate was quite poor.

Kleist was an average-at-best contact hitter, but more than half of his career hits went for extra bases. He also was good for 21 doubles and 9 triples per his 162 game average. Kleist wasn’t a big galoot like many sluggers with average to above average speed and baserunning chops. This enabled him to score runs at an impressive rate.

Kleist’s excellent durability also gave him tremendous value, playing 150+ games in all but one season from 1992-2006. A left-handed thrower, Kleist made about 3/4s of his starts in left field with the rest at first base. Unfortunately, he was firmly lousy in both spots. But Kleist socked dingers better than all but a very select few in baseball history, making him a popular figure.

It helped that his prime years came for his home country team Copenhagen, who picked him 4^th overall in the 1990 EBF Draft. Kleist was also a fixture of Denmark’s World Baseball Championship teams from 1993-2008 with 149 games and 148 starts. In the WBC, he had 110 hits, 78 runs, 17 doubles, 47 home runs, 101 RBI, a .208/.322/.529 slash, 141 wRC+, and 4.8 WAR.

Copenhagen’s stadium was friendly for home runs, a perfect fit for Kleist. It was one of the best one-two power punches in baseball history as he played alongside Hall of Fame Class of 2014 inductee Mattias Stole for much of his Corsairs run. Stole came onto the scene with a record-breaking 75 home runs in 1994. However, Kleist would be more often atop the home run leaderboards in the conference.

Kleist only played 79 games with 2 starts in 1991, but earned the full-time job in 1992. He had initial whiffing issues, leading in strikeouts thrice from 1992-1995. However, 1993 started a streak of four straight 50+ home run seasons and a run of ten seasons with 47 or more. During that run, Kleist was worth 5+ WAR nine times. After the 1995 season, Copenhagen locked him up for eight years at $20 million. 1995 was his first of four Silver Sluggers in left field, also getting it in 1998, 1999, and 2001.

1996 was Kleist’s first time leading in both homers (57) and RBI (139). He’d then lead in homers five straight years from 1998-2002. He also led in runs in 1998 and led thrice in slugging. Kleist snagged his first MVP in 1998 with 7.8 WAR, 60 homers, a 1.037 OPS, and 196 wRC+. His second MVP came in 2001, which was his best season by many metrics.

At age 32, Kleist had conference and career bests in homers (71), RBI (143), total bases (422), slugging (.733), OPS (1.096), and wRC+ (201). Kleist became only the sixth in EBF history with a 70+ homer campaign. His 8.0 WAR was also a career best. Kleist’s second-best homer total came the next year with 64.

Copenhagen was merely above average in his early years. They won division titles in 1995, 1998, and 2000 with first round exits. The Corsairs lost in the Northern Conference Championship in 2001 to Glasgow. Then despite going 106-56 in 2002, they were upset in the second round. Kleist’s playoff numbers were subpar and rightly deserved criticism.

In 29 playoff starts, Kleist had 22 hits, 20 runs, 4 doubles, 11 home runs, 24 RBI, a .190/.226/.509 slash, 104 wRC+, and 0.6 WAR. Although he remained very popular in Denmark, many Corsairs fans had Stole as their favorite over Kleist. Stole played a huge role in the dynasty run Copenhagen would have in the mid 2000s. Kleist wouldn’t be there for that though, which he would later express regrets over.

Kleist’s contract came up after the 2002 season and the 34-year old opted for free agency. With Copenhagen, he had 1764 hits, 1179 runs, 222 doubles, 102 triples, 601 home runs, 1365 RBI, a .275/.331/.623 slash, 168 wRC+, and 63.8 WAR. Kleist would later see his #29 uniform retired alongside Stole’s #23 in a joint ceremony in 2009.

He signed with Amsterdam for 2003 at four years and $23,200,000. Kleist did notably hit for the cycle that March against Riga, but he ultimately underperformed in three years for the Anacondas. Kleist still was a positive value starter, but he peaked at only 39 home runs in 2003. He was reduced to a platoon starter by 2005 and didn’t meet the criteria for the fourth year of the deal. Amsterdam was above .500 each of his seasons, but short of the playoffs each time.

Kleist had 393 hits, 269 runs, 73 doubles, 98 home runs, 268 RBI, a .269/.344/.547 slash, 139 wRC+, and 9.3 WAR in the Netherlands. Many teams were worried he was cooked at age 37, but Munich gave him a shot in spring training 2006. Kleist had an impressive resurgence for the Mavericks, winning his lone Silver Slugger at first base and fifth of his career. He hit above .300 for the only time in his career (.303) and led in homers for the seventh time with 57.

That was Kleist’s ninth 50+ homer season, which was the EBF record until matched and topped by Harvey Coyle in the early 2020s. The 6.7 WAR effort caught the attention of Paris in free agency for 2007, who gave Kleist two years at $9,440,000. He couldn’t re-capture the magic in one year with the Poodles, playing 127 games with 75 starts, 21 homers, a 138 wRC+, and 2.4 WAR.

Kleist joined Lisbon for 2008 and joined the 800 home run and 2500 hit clubs that year. Only Jack Kennedy at 875 had topped 800 dingers previously and some thought Kleist might chase him, hitting 36 in 2008. The Clippers brought him back in 2009, but he only added 10 more dingers with only 54 games and 25 starts. Kleist opted for retirement that winter at age 41.

The final stats: 2570 hits, 1719 runs, 357 doubles, 147 triples, 823 home runs, 1934 RBI, 837 walks, 259 stolen bases, a .273/.332/.606 slash, 160 wRC+, and 84.8 WAR. As of 2037, Kleist is still third all-time in EBF for homers, ninth for RBI, 14^th in runs, and 45^th in hits.

His porous defense and weaker contact skills pushed him down to only 70^th in WAR among position players. Kleist doesn’t crack the top 100 in OPS with his .937 missing the cut by three points among those with 3000+ plate appearances. He also had 2734 strikeouts, the second most in EBF history behind Augusto Reis’s 3079.

Those advanced stats and his poor playoff numbers rightfully keep Kleist out of the inner-circle level Hall of Fame conversations overall. But for raw power, few were more impressive and 800+ dingers with close to 2000 RBI makes you a lock. Kleist was nearly unanimous at 99.0%, headlining EBF’s 2015 Hall of Fame class.

Chris Klause – Right Field – Stockholm Swordsmen – 73.0% First Ballot

Chris Klause was a 6’1’’, 200 pound left-handed right fielder from Dortmund, Germany’s ninth largest city with around 612,000 in the Ruhr. Against right-handed pitching, Klause was an excellent contact hitter with strong power, posting a career .983 OPS and 170 wRC+. He was merely decent against lefties with a 117 wRC+ and .768 OPS. On the whole, this made Klause a reliably good to occasionally great bat. For his 162 game average, Klause would get you 36 home runs and 29 doubles.

He was respectable at drawing walks, but his strikeout rate was subpar. He was a smart baserunner, but he was quite slow. Klause played essentially his full career in right field, but his poor speed and range meant he graded out as a mediocre defender. However, he did have a very strong arm and runners would be hesitant to try for an extra base against Klause. His durability was decent, but his 30s were plagued with recurring back troubles.

A visiting Swedish scout noticed Klause as a teenager in Germany and brought him to Stockholm on a developmental deal in June 1986. He officially debuted in 1990 as a rare 19-year old pro with 43 games and three starts. Klause stayed in developmental in 1991, then saw nine games in 1992. Stockholm opted to make him a full-time starter from 1993 onward.

Klause had a remarkable debut season, leading the Northern Conference in slugging at .654. That was a career best, as was his 1.045 OPS and 190 wRC+, earning a third in MVP voting. Stockholm made it to the conference finals, but were defeated by Birmingham. Klause struggled in the playoffs with a .167/.184/.312 slash. That and their 1992 one-and-done would be his only playoff appearances with the Swordsmen.

Stockholm wasn’t terrible in his run, averaging 82.6 wins per season. They were stuck in the middle tier despite Klause’s efforts. He wasn’t a league leader, but he topped 40+ homers thrice, 100+ RBI five times, and 6+ WAR five times. 1997 was his finest season statistically with career bests in runs (113), hits (205), homers (47), RBI (136), and WAR (8.8). Klause won Silver Sluggers in both 1995 and 1997 and took third in 1997’s MVP voting.

Klause signed a five-year, $13,060,000 extension after the 1996 season, but was a free agent after the 2002 season at age 31. With Stockholm, he had 1667 hits, 893 runs, 283 doubles, 348 home runs, 971 RBI, a .316/.362/.583 slash, 163 wRC+, and 55.5 WAR. Although the Swordsmen had an uneventful run in Klause’s tenure, he remained popular years later and his #25 uniform was later retired.

Vienna signed Klause to a four-year, $6,640,000 deal. The Vultures decided to use him from 2002-04 in a platoon role. They just missed the playoffs in 2002, then started a five-year playoff streak in 2003, winning 100+ games each year. Vienna went 108-54 in 2003 and won the European Championship against Warsaw. The Vultures were ousted in the second round in 2004, 2006, and 2007. However, they won the Southern Conference title again in 2005, losing the European Championship to Copenhagen.

Klause was good in the 2005 playoff run, but mediocre otherwise. For his playoff career, he had 57 games, 34 starts, a .208/.244/.357 slash, and -0.2 WAR. Klause fared much better on the World Baseball Championship stage from 1993-2008 for Germany with 120 games, 94 starts, 91 hits, 66 runs, 20 doubles, 34 home runs, 75 RBI, a .243/.317/.575 slash, 158 wRC+, and 4.5 WAR.

Still, Vienna was happy and gave Klause a three-year, $20,700,000 extension after the 2005 season. He was a full-time starter again in 2005 and for 2006 when healthy. Klause was switched back to the platoon role in 2007, then missed most of 2008 between a strained oblique and sprained ankle Vienna fell below .500 in 2008, but made it back for a second round exit in 2009.

Klause agreed to a qualifying offer in 2009, but missed two months to a torn thumb ligament. Even when healthy, he saw only 14 starts and 58 games all season. Klause decided to retire after the season at age 39. For his Vultures run, he had 743 hits, 437 runs, 133 doubles, 164 home runs, 471 RBI, a .295/.356/.551 slash, 148 wRC+, and 23.7 WAR.

For his career, Klause had 2410 hits, 1330 runs, 416 doubles, 512 home runs, 1442 RBI, a .309/.360/.573 slash, .933 OPS, 158 wRC+, and 79.2 WAR. As of 2037, he ranks 67^th in hits, 64^th in runs, 49^th in home runs, 45^th in RBI, and 89^th in WAR among position players.

Klause didn’t have black ink or big awards and critics noted his poor playoff stats. However, Klause quietly put up pretty good accumulations over an 18-year career. Enough voters were satisfied by his resume for 73.0% of the vote. Klause crossed the 66% requirement for the first round induction as the second member of the 2015 EBF Hall of Fame class.

09-30-2024, 02:29 PM	#1660
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,360	2015 EBF Hall of Fame Two players were inducted in 2015 for the European Baseball Federation’s Hall of Fame on their debuts. LF/1B Villum Kleist was nearly unanimous at 99.0%, while RF Chris Klause made it with 73.0%. The next closest to the 66% requirement was SP Jarand Dahl, taking 57.8% for his fifth ballot. Also crossing 50% were RP Steven Macario at 53.4% on his third go and C Ulrich Thomsen’s 52.0% second ballot effort. No players were removed in 2015 after ten failed tries. Villum Kleist – Left Field/First Base – Copenhagen Corsairs – 99.0% First Ballot Villum Kleist was a 6’0’’, 200 pound right-handed hitting slugger from Lemvig, Denmark; a town of 6,800 near the northwestern coast. Kleist was one of Europe’s most prolific home run hitters, leading the Northern Conference in seven different seasons. He crushed 50+ dongs in nine seasons and topped 60+ four times. At his peak, some scouts called him a 10/10 player for power. Kleist’s power helped him draw a lot of walks, although his strikeout rate was quite poor. Kleist was an average-at-best contact hitter, but more than half of his career hits went for extra bases. He also was good for 21 doubles and 9 triples per his 162 game average. Kleist wasn’t a big galoot like many sluggers with average to above average speed and baserunning chops. This enabled him to score runs at an impressive rate. Kleist’s excellent durability also gave him tremendous value, playing 150+ games in all but one season from 1992-2006. A left-handed thrower, Kleist made about 3/4s of his starts in left field with the rest at first base. Unfortunately, he was firmly lousy in both spots. But Kleist socked dingers better than all but a very select few in baseball history, making him a popular figure. It helped that his prime years came for his home country team Copenhagen, who picked him 4^th overall in the 1990 EBF Draft. Kleist was also a fixture of Denmark’s World Baseball Championship teams from 1993-2008 with 149 games and 148 starts. In the WBC, he had 110 hits, 78 runs, 17 doubles, 47 home runs, 101 RBI, a .208/.322/.529 slash, 141 wRC+, and 4.8 WAR. Copenhagen’s stadium was friendly for home runs, a perfect fit for Kleist. It was one of the best one-two power punches in baseball history as he played alongside Hall of Fame Class of 2014 inductee Mattias Stole for much of his Corsairs run. Stole came onto the scene with a record-breaking 75 home runs in 1994. However, Kleist would be more often atop the home run leaderboards in the conference. Kleist only played 79 games with 2 starts in 1991, but earned the full-time job in 1992. He had initial whiffing issues, leading in strikeouts thrice from 1992-1995. However, 1993 started a streak of four straight 50+ home run seasons and a run of ten seasons with 47 or more. During that run, Kleist was worth 5+ WAR nine times. After the 1995 season, Copenhagen locked him up for eight years at $20 million. 1995 was his first of four Silver Sluggers in left field, also getting it in 1998, 1999, and 2001. 1996 was Kleist’s first time leading in both homers (57) and RBI (139). He’d then lead in homers five straight years from 1998-2002. He also led in runs in 1998 and led thrice in slugging. Kleist snagged his first MVP in 1998 with 7.8 WAR, 60 homers, a 1.037 OPS, and 196 wRC+. His second MVP came in 2001, which was his best season by many metrics. At age 32, Kleist had conference and career bests in homers (71), RBI (143), total bases (422), slugging (.733), OPS (1.096), and wRC+ (201). Kleist became only the sixth in EBF history with a 70+ homer campaign. His 8.0 WAR was also a career best. Kleist’s second-best homer total came the next year with 64. Copenhagen was merely above average in his early years. They won division titles in 1995, 1998, and 2000 with first round exits. The Corsairs lost in the Northern Conference Championship in 2001 to Glasgow. Then despite going 106-56 in 2002, they were upset in the second round. Kleist’s playoff numbers were subpar and rightly deserved criticism. In 29 playoff starts, Kleist had 22 hits, 20 runs, 4 doubles, 11 home runs, 24 RBI, a .190/.226/.509 slash, 104 wRC+, and 0.6 WAR. Although he remained very popular in Denmark, many Corsairs fans had Stole as their favorite over Kleist. Stole played a huge role in the dynasty run Copenhagen would have in the mid 2000s. Kleist wouldn’t be there for that though, which he would later express regrets over. Kleist’s contract came up after the 2002 season and the 34-year old opted for free agency. With Copenhagen, he had 1764 hits, 1179 runs, 222 doubles, 102 triples, 601 home runs, 1365 RBI, a .275/.331/.623 slash, 168 wRC+, and 63.8 WAR. Kleist would later see his #29 uniform retired alongside Stole’s #23 in a joint ceremony in 2009. He signed with Amsterdam for 2003 at four years and $23,200,000. Kleist did notably hit for the cycle that March against Riga, but he ultimately underperformed in three years for the Anacondas. Kleist still was a positive value starter, but he peaked at only 39 home runs in 2003. He was reduced to a platoon starter by 2005 and didn’t meet the criteria for the fourth year of the deal. Amsterdam was above .500 each of his seasons, but short of the playoffs each time. Kleist had 393 hits, 269 runs, 73 doubles, 98 home runs, 268 RBI, a .269/.344/.547 slash, 139 wRC+, and 9.3 WAR in the Netherlands. Many teams were worried he was cooked at age 37, but Munich gave him a shot in spring training 2006. Kleist had an impressive resurgence for the Mavericks, winning his lone Silver Slugger at first base and fifth of his career. He hit above .300 for the only time in his career (.303) and led in homers for the seventh time with 57. That was Kleist’s ninth 50+ homer season, which was the EBF record until matched and topped by Harvey Coyle in the early 2020s. The 6.7 WAR effort caught the attention of Paris in free agency for 2007, who gave Kleist two years at $9,440,000. He couldn’t re-capture the magic in one year with the Poodles, playing 127 games with 75 starts, 21 homers, a 138 wRC+, and 2.4 WAR. Kleist joined Lisbon for 2008 and joined the 800 home run and 2500 hit clubs that year. Only Jack Kennedy at 875 had topped 800 dingers previously and some thought Kleist might chase him, hitting 36 in 2008. The Clippers brought him back in 2009, but he only added 10 more dingers with only 54 games and 25 starts. Kleist opted for retirement that winter at age 41. The final stats: 2570 hits, 1719 runs, 357 doubles, 147 triples, 823 home runs, 1934 RBI, 837 walks, 259 stolen bases, a .273/.332/.606 slash, 160 wRC+, and 84.8 WAR. As of 2037, Kleist is still third all-time in EBF for homers, ninth for RBI, 14^th in runs, and 45^th in hits. His porous defense and weaker contact skills pushed him down to only 70^th in WAR among position players. Kleist doesn’t crack the top 100 in OPS with his .937 missing the cut by three points among those with 3000+ plate appearances. He also had 2734 strikeouts, the second most in EBF history behind Augusto Reis’s 3079. Those advanced stats and his poor playoff numbers rightfully keep Kleist out of the inner-circle level Hall of Fame conversations overall. But for raw power, few were more impressive and 800+ dingers with close to 2000 RBI makes you a lock. Kleist was nearly unanimous at 99.0%, headlining EBF’s 2015 Hall of Fame class. Chris Klause – Right Field – Stockholm Swordsmen – 73.0% First Ballot Chris Klause was a 6’1’’, 200 pound left-handed right fielder from Dortmund, Germany’s ninth largest city with around 612,000 in the Ruhr. Against right-handed pitching, Klause was an excellent contact hitter with strong power, posting a career .983 OPS and 170 wRC+. He was merely decent against lefties with a 117 wRC+ and .768 OPS. On the whole, this made Klause a reliably good to occasionally great bat. For his 162 game average, Klause would get you 36 home runs and 29 doubles. He was respectable at drawing walks, but his strikeout rate was subpar. He was a smart baserunner, but he was quite slow. Klause played essentially his full career in right field, but his poor speed and range meant he graded out as a mediocre defender. However, he did have a very strong arm and runners would be hesitant to try for an extra base against Klause. His durability was decent, but his 30s were plagued with recurring back troubles. A visiting Swedish scout noticed Klause as a teenager in Germany and brought him to Stockholm on a developmental deal in June 1986. He officially debuted in 1990 as a rare 19-year old pro with 43 games and three starts. Klause stayed in developmental in 1991, then saw nine games in 1992. Stockholm opted to make him a full-time starter from 1993 onward. Klause had a remarkable debut season, leading the Northern Conference in slugging at .654. That was a career best, as was his 1.045 OPS and 190 wRC+, earning a third in MVP voting. Stockholm made it to the conference finals, but were defeated by Birmingham. Klause struggled in the playoffs with a .167/.184/.312 slash. That and their 1992 one-and-done would be his only playoff appearances with the Swordsmen. Stockholm wasn’t terrible in his run, averaging 82.6 wins per season. They were stuck in the middle tier despite Klause’s efforts. He wasn’t a league leader, but he topped 40+ homers thrice, 100+ RBI five times, and 6+ WAR five times. 1997 was his finest season statistically with career bests in runs (113), hits (205), homers (47), RBI (136), and WAR (8.8). Klause won Silver Sluggers in both 1995 and 1997 and took third in 1997’s MVP voting. Klause signed a five-year, $13,060,000 extension after the 1996 season, but was a free agent after the 2002 season at age 31. With Stockholm, he had 1667 hits, 893 runs, 283 doubles, 348 home runs, 971 RBI, a .316/.362/.583 slash, 163 wRC+, and 55.5 WAR. Although the Swordsmen had an uneventful run in Klause’s tenure, he remained popular years later and his #25 uniform was later retired. Vienna signed Klause to a four-year, $6,640,000 deal. The Vultures decided to use him from 2002-04 in a platoon role. They just missed the playoffs in 2002, then started a five-year playoff streak in 2003, winning 100+ games each year. Vienna went 108-54 in 2003 and won the European Championship against Warsaw. The Vultures were ousted in the second round in 2004, 2006, and 2007. However, they won the Southern Conference title again in 2005, losing the European Championship to Copenhagen. Klause was good in the 2005 playoff run, but mediocre otherwise. For his playoff career, he had 57 games, 34 starts, a .208/.244/.357 slash, and -0.2 WAR. Klause fared much better on the World Baseball Championship stage from 1993-2008 for Germany with 120 games, 94 starts, 91 hits, 66 runs, 20 doubles, 34 home runs, 75 RBI, a .243/.317/.575 slash, 158 wRC+, and 4.5 WAR. Still, Vienna was happy and gave Klause a three-year, $20,700,000 extension after the 2005 season. He was a full-time starter again in 2005 and for 2006 when healthy. Klause was switched back to the platoon role in 2007, then missed most of 2008 between a strained oblique and sprained ankle Vienna fell below .500 in 2008, but made it back for a second round exit in 2009. Klause agreed to a qualifying offer in 2009, but missed two months to a torn thumb ligament. Even when healthy, he saw only 14 starts and 58 games all season. Klause decided to retire after the season at age 39. For his Vultures run, he had 743 hits, 437 runs, 133 doubles, 164 home runs, 471 RBI, a .295/.356/.551 slash, 148 wRC+, and 23.7 WAR. For his career, Klause had 2410 hits, 1330 runs, 416 doubles, 512 home runs, 1442 RBI, a .309/.360/.573 slash, .933 OPS, 158 wRC+, and 79.2 WAR. As of 2037, he ranks 67^th in hits, 64^th in runs, 49^th in home runs, 45^th in RBI, and 89^th in WAR among position players. Klause didn’t have black ink or big awards and critics noted his poor playoff stats. However, Klause quietly put up pretty good accumulations over an 18-year career. Enough voters were satisfied by his resume for 73.0% of the vote. Klause crossed the 66% requirement for the first round induction as the second member of the 2015 EBF Hall of Fame class. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports The Level Playing Field: Alternate MLB History From 1884-Onward Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)