[FuzzyRussianHat]

The Asian Baseball Federation didn’t add any players into the Hall of Fame in 2005. There were no strong debuts with the best newcomer being SP Qazi Khwaja at only 27.1%. RF Hakim Baig and 1B Hazan Sheikh were the only two close to the 66% requirement, both only their fourth ballot. Baig had 60.6% and Sheikh had 56.6%. Baig was slightly down from a high of 62.5% the prior year, while it was a new peak for Sheikh.



Relief pitcher Touraj Haghighat fell off the ballot after ten ballots. His ABF run was only five years, but he won four Reliever of the Year awards with Multan and had a 1.28 ERA over 379 innings, 152 saves, 705 strikeouts, 252 ERA+, and 23.3 WAR. He’d go onto pitch in MLB, EPB, and WAB. They were five outstanding years with the Mighty Cocks, but that’s nowhere near enough time to get the resume needed. Still, Haghighat got as high as 21.3% in 1997 before ending at 13.5%.

SP Avid Balakh had a similar fate, pitching only five years in ABF with Izmir. He then had six seasons in Bishkek while they were still in EPB. Balakh didn’t win awards, but in five years had an 81-49 record, 2.34 ERA, 1271 innings, 1756 strikeouts, 136 ERA+, and 39.0 WAR. His official career also started at age 27, keeping him from the accumulations needed. Still, he led in strikeouts twice and was second in 1989 Pitcher of the Year voting. Balakh peaked at 17.6% on his second ballot and ended at 6.8%.