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There were three first ballot additions in 1982 to the Eurasian Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, each getting in the 80% range. At the top was SP Sebastian Weiss at 87.6%, followed by fellow SP Vladimir Hora at 85.1% and 1B Zina Gigolashvili at 82.6%. SP Eryk Wozniak almost joined them on his fourth ballot, but his 62.4% just missed the 66% cut. Closer Joachim Kohut had 58.7% on his second try and SP Artyom Rudasev received 52.5% for his fourth attempt.



Dropped after ten failed attempts was SP Inal Brezhnev, who had a 15 year career between Minsk and Budapest. He was as high at 60.1% on his second ballot and as low as 15.8% on his ninth, ending in the middle at 32.9%. Brezhnev had a 182-111 record, 2.61 ERA, 2693 strikeouts in 2760.1 innings, and 83.1 WAR. Impressive totals and he won two rings with the Miners, but the lack of major awards ultimately kept him looking from the outside.



Sebastian Weiss – Pitcher – Bratislava Blue Falcons – 87.6% First Ballot

Sebastian Weiss was a 5’8’’, 180 pound right handed pitcher from Waldsassen, a town of around 6,000 people in the southeastern German state Bavaria. Weiss was known for having stellar movement, great control, and respectable stuff. His most deadly pitch was a cut fastball with 98-100 mph peak velocity, mixed with a great changeup and an okay curveball, leading to an extreme groundball tendency. Weiss was viewed as very durable and reliable in the front end of his career.

Weiss was drafted 99^th overall in the first Eurasian Professional Baseball rookie draft in 1955. This was the first pick in the fourth round, belonging to Bratislava. Weiss debuted and split time between the rotation and bullpen as a rookie, struggling with a terrible 5.61 ERA. He’d find his rhythm the next year and be a full time starter for the rest of his time as a Blue Falcon.

Weiss had seven straight seasons with 5+ WAR, although he wasn’t a statistical leader and didn’t get much attention as Bratislava was a bottom tier team. He did have an impressive 1963 that saw a no-hitter on April 7 against Prague, followed by a perfect game on June 24 versus Kazan. Weiss joins a very small group of players in any pro league with multiple no-hitters in a season. His perfecto was the eighth in EPB history. Weiss also pitched for Germany in the World Baseball Championship from 1958-76. Primarily as a reliever, he had a 2.02 ERA over 84.2 innings with 115 strikeouts and 3.1 WAR.

For his Bratislava tenure, Weiss had a 132-118 record, 2.97 ERA, 2199.1 innings, 1988 strikeouts, and 53.8 WAR. As one of the only redeeming things from that era of Blue Falcons baseball, his #41 uniform would later get retired. Still struggling and not expecting to get a long-term deal from Weiss, Bratislava traded him before the 1965 season to Minsk. The Miners had won the European League the prior year and had been a consistent contender since EPB had started.

Weiss’ debut season with Minsk would see career bests in wins (23-5) and ERA (2.12), earning him his lone Pitcher of the Year. He also had a 2.16 ERA over 13 playoff starts in his Miners tenure with 81 strikeouts in 100 innings, helping Minsk to the Soviet Series title in 1966 and 1969. The third no-hitter of his career came on August 10, 1969 against Warsaw. Weiss had a career best 9.1 WAR as well in 1968 at age 34. In total with Minsk, Weiss had a 92-49 record, 2.36 ERA, 1278 innings, 1291 strikeouts, and 39.1 WAR.

After being quite durable for much of his career, Weiss suffered a torn labrum in April 1970, putting him out 10 months. Minsk let him go, but the now 37-year old found a home for 1971 in Yekaterinburg. Weiss made 17 starts, but was used more as a reliever with iffy results. He’d be a reliever for the rest of his career with limited action and success. Minsk re-signed him for 1972, followed by Asgabat for 1973-74. Weiss tore his UCL in May 1974, but was determined to come back. In 1975, he briefly pitched with Ufa before getting traded to finish the year back with Minsk. Weiss returned to the Alphas in 1976, but was traded and ended the season and his career with Tbilisi, retiring at age 42.

The final stats for Weiss: 236-190 record, 85 saves, 2.80 ERA, 3727 innings, 3534 strikeouts to 633 walks, 328/463 quality starts, FIP- of 74, and 95.8 WAR. He quietly put together very strong totals despite rarely being in consideration as the top pitcher in the league. The Minsk run helped get him some attention and playing a solid role in their late 1960s title runs certainly helped with many voters. Weiss picked up the first ballot induction with 87.6%.



Vladimir Hora – Starting Pitcher – Yekaterinburg Yaks – 85.1% First Ballot

Vladimir Hora was a 6’0’’, 190 pound right-handed pitcher from Sedlcany, a town of around 7,000 people in the Central Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. Hora was known for having incredible movement on his pitches, mixed with solid control and above average stuff. His velocity peaked in the 95-97 mph range with a five-pitch arsenal of curveball, screwball, forkball, changeup, and cutter. Not only were screwballs and forkballs fairly rare on their own, but almost never did a pitch throw both and did so as effectively as Hora, who was a master at drawing groundballs. He also loved going deep into games with excellent stamina.

Hora was spotted as a teenage amateur by a scout for Yekaterinburg. He signed in 1955 with the Yaks and developed for many years in their academy, finally making his debut in 1962 at age 23. Hora was iffy as a starter in his rookie year, but improved and settled into the ace role for Yekaterinburg over the next decade. From 1965-71, he had seven straight seasons worth 8+ WAR and led the Asian League in WAR four different times.

In 1965, Hora won Pitcher of the Year for the first time, leading in wins (25-11) and innings (304.1) with 28 complete games. He’d finish second in voting in 1968, then win the award for the second time in 1971 with career bests in ERA (1.90), strikeouts (358), and WAR (12.7). Hora also was second in MVP voting in 1971. During this run, he also pitched for the Czech National Team in the World Baseball Championship. From 1962-76, he had 170 innings with a 3.76 ERA, 183 strikeouts, and 4.6 WAR.

Yekaterinburg was a contender during Hora’s best years, making the playoffs nine straight years from 1964-72. The Yaks won the Asian League title in 1968 and 1970 and took home the Soviet Series title in 1970. In the playoffs, Hora had a 6-7 record, 2.99 ERA, 141.2 innings, 157 strikeouts, and 4.0 WAR. He signed a big four-year, $852,000 contract extension before the 1971 season as the Yaks expected more great things into the 1970s. However, things would start to go south for Yekaterinburg with a playoff drought from 1973-84.

Hora had his first major setback in April 1972 as shoulder inflammation knocked him out almost the entire season. He bounced back in 1973 at age 34 with a full respectable season, although it was notably weaker than his previously high standard. In May 1974, a torn flexor tendon ended his season and ultimately his time with Yekaterinburg. In total with the Yaks, Hora had a 213-128 record, 2.67 ERA, 3129.2 innings, 3194 strikeouts, and 84.8 WAR. A few years later, the Yaks retired his #10 uniform.

Hora wasn’t ready to call it quits at age 36, but Yekaterinburg let him go. He signed for 1975 with Moscow on a three-year, $626,000 deal with the defending EPB champion Mules hoping he’d return to form. He missed two months and the playoff run to various injuries, but gave Moscow some decent innings in 1975 en route to a Soviet Series title. Hora could rarely crack the lineup and mostly saw relief in 1976 with poor results and he retired after the season at age 38.

Hora’s final stats: 223-142 record, 2.73 ERA, 3383.1 innings, 3427 strikeouts to 663 walks, 280/396 quality starts, 226 complete games, and 86.2 WAR. Like his Hall of Fame classmate Sebastian Weiss, Hora almost quietly put together an excellent resume, although he did get more attention thanks to his great run with Yekaterinburg. This earned the first ballot induction for Hora with 85.1% of the vote.



Zina Gigolashvili – First Baseman – Tbilisi Trains – 82.6% First Ballot

Zina Gigolashvili was a 6’0’’, 205 pound left-handed first baseman from Ozurgeti, a town of around 14,000 people in western Georgia. He was a prolific home run hitter who smacked 40+ in 12 different seasons and 50+ thrice. Gigolashvili was also very good at drawing walks, but he did strike out a lot and was often viewed as a subpar contact hitter. He was very slow and didn’t double very often with his power often being homer-or-bust. Gigolashvili exclusively played at first base in his career and was slightly below average defensively, but not atrocious. He was also considered an ironman, playing 140+ games in all 17 of his full seasons.

Gigolashvili quickly drew tons of attention as an amateur in the Caucasus region and his home country team Tbilisi took notice especially. The Trains were terrible in their first few seasons and had the #1 overall pick in the 1958 Eurasian Professional Baseball Draft, which allowed them to select Gigolashvili. He served in a bench role in his rookie season as Tbilisi didn’t want to rush him. He took over the starting job in year two and was a starter for the rest of his career. With the Trains, this would be a nine season tenure. Gigolashvili also played for Georgia in the World Baseball Championship when they qualified, which was five times. He posted 20 hits, 14 runs, 12 home runs, and 19 RBI in 28 games.

Gigolashvili’s power became evident right away as he smacked 56 home runs in 1961, setting the EPB record through its first seven seasons. With the competition at first base and his other deficits, Gigolashvili would only win Silver Slugger twice; in 1962 and 1971. Being with Tbilisi also made him often overlooked in the MVP conservation. Although the Trains improved in his run, they only made the playoffs once with a first round exit in 1965. Still, Gigolashvili led the Asian League four times in home runs. In total with Tbilisi, he had 1107 hits, 697 runs, 365 home runs, 781 RBI, a .242/.311/.521 slash and 37.1 WAR. The Trains would later retire the #18 uniform for their home country favorite.

Entering 1968, the 32-year old Gigolashvili had only one year left on his contract and Tbilisi seemed unlikely and unable to match his forthcoming free agent demands. The Trains traded him to Tirana for three prospects, one of which was 1990 Hall of Fame inductee Sergiu Onisie, who would be an excellent closer for Tbilisi and others. His one year with the Trojans actually had the worst homer output of his career at 34, but Gigolashvili did help Tirana to a division title. They went one-and-done and he entered free agency, inking a four-year, $560,000 deal with perennial power Minsk.

Gigolashvili had four strong seasons with the Miners, but 1971 was something special. Despite being a career .236 hitter, he put it all together for a Triple Crown season with a .309/.383/.706 slash, 65 home runs, 139 RBI, and 11.1 WAR. This destroyed his home run record and stood as the EPB high mark until 1986. Gigolashvili’s 1.088 OPS was also a single season record and that stood until 1984. Unsurprisingly, this earned him his lone MVP. Minsk made the playoffs each of his four years and took the 1969 Soviet Series title. In total with the Miners, Gigolashvili had 548 hits, 345 runs, 189 home runs, 410 RBI, a .250/.329/.545 slash and 24.1 WAR.

He fell back to his more typical stats the year after the Triple Crown in 1972 and became a free agent at age 37. Moscow signed him to a three-year, $664,000 deal and although he wasn’t quite as dominant, he still delivered solid power. Gigolashvili got two more rings as the Mules won it all in 1974 and 1975. He had a solid 1974 postseason with 5 home runs and 11 RBI in 15 starts. For his career, Gigolashvili’s playoff numbers were 82 games, 54 hits, 27 runs, 18 home runs, 37 RBI, and 1.3 WAR. In total in Moscow, he had 352 hits, 223 runs, 117 home runs, 255 RBI, and 10.2 WAR.

Gigolashvili also became the first EPB hitter to 700 career home runs and the first to 1500 RBI in his last year with the Mules. He became a free agent again at age 40 and signed with Yekaterinburg, but age finally caught up and he struggled to a 15 home run season with the Yaks. He opted to retire after this season at age 40.

Gigolashvili’s final stats: 2230 hits, 1398 runs, 279 doubles, 720 home runs, 1559 RBI, 967 walks, 2901 strikeouts, a .236/.312/.501 slash, 143 wRC+, and 76.1 WAR. Despite the prolific power, the advanced stats aren’t remarkable due to his high strikeout rate and low contact ability. Still, he retired as EPB’s home run king and still sits third all-time as of 2037. Gigolashvili was also the RBI leader at retirement and fourth in runs scored; still sitting in the top ten for both decades later. He also retired with the most strikeouts of any EPB batter and would be third among Hall of Famers as of 2037. Some voters still poo-poo’d him for his flaws, but you couldn’t leave this guy out and he earned the first ballot induction at 82.6%.