Johan Hasselström

Johan Hasselström

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 198 lb.

• School Belhaven College

• Born March 17, 1967 in Stockholm Sweden

Biographical Information

Johan Hasselström was a Swedish star of the early 1990s.

He was All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference at Belhaven College in 1990; he was one of several Europeans to star for the school in that era, as Swiss-born Dutch citizen Ron Agterberg and fellow Swede Rickard Reimer followed him. He was MVP of the Elitserien in 1992, starring for the Skellefteå Basebollklubb, then the top power of the circuit.

Hasselström excelled for the Swedish national team in the 1993 European Championship, hitting .485/.571/.697 with 11 runs, 11 RBI and 8 walks in 9 games. He mostly played DH but played error-free ball in 16 chances at catcher, backing up Magnus Jansson there. For the tournament, he led in average (.061 ahead of Antonio Salazar), OBP (.028 ahead of Eric de Bruin), RBI (tied with Félix Cano and David Meurant) and doubles (tied for 1st with four others). He was also second in slugging (.116 behind tournament MVP Marcel Joost), tied for 4th in runs (with Marco Ubani, Jamel Boutagra and Olof Lindfors), 3rd in total bases (behind Jeffrey Cranston and Joost), tied for 5th in walks (with 4 others) and was second in hits (16, two behind Cranston). He helped Sweden win the Bronze Medal for the second time ever (they had never won Gold or Silver). He was named the event's best hitter. Despite his success, he was not back in a Swedish uniform for the 1994 Baseball World Cup.

He played in Germany's Bundesliga in 1994-1995. In 1994, he was 2 for 3 with two homers, five walks, four runs and three RBI in an impressive short stint with the Trier Cardinals. For the same club in '95, he batted .409/.462/.591 with 11 RBI in 8 games. One presumes his brief stints there were because he was spending most of the summers in Sweden, whose season starts later; this would be the case with Peter Johannessen in later years.