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Outfielder Hakim Baig became the third member of the Asian Baseball Federation Hall of Fame in 2006. On his fifth time on the ballot, he finally crossed the 66% requirement at 70.4%. The next closest was 1B Hazan Sheikh at 54.4% in his fifth try. The best debut was CL Qayyum Allahrakha at a distant 29.3%. No one was dropped after ten ballots.



Hakim Baig – Outfielder – Faisalabad Fire – 70.4% Fifth Ballot

Hakim Baig was a 6’2’’, 200 pound left-handed outfielder from Hyderabad, Pakistan’s fifth largest city. Baig was a very good contact hitter with outstanding gap power, topping 35+ doubles in five of his six ABF seasons. He wasn’t a prolific home run hitter, but could certainly go yard, averaging just under 30 homers per his 162 game average. Although Baig’s strikeout rate was average, he very rarely drew walks. His speed was below average and he was incredibly clumsy on the basepaths.

Defensively, Baig made about 3/5s of his starts in left field with most of the rest in right. For his career, he graded out as above average in both spots. Baig was an ironman, starting 145+ games in all 13 years of his professional career. He emerged as one of the first baseball stars out of Pakistan.

The 1987 Asian Baseball Federation Draft was the third rookie draft of ABF’s short history. Baig emerged as a hot commodity and was picked fifth overall by Faisalabad. The Fire made him a full-time starter immediately, playing 150+ games in all six seasons in the Pakistan League. Baig took third in Rookie of the Year voting in 1988.

In his second season, Baig had the rare accomplishment of winning MVP, Silver Slugger, and Gold Glove all in the same season. He was the WARlord in 1989 at 9.8 and the leader in hits and batting average. He also hit a career best with 120 RBI. Baig had five straight seasons worth 6+ WAR and won additional Silver Sluggers in 1991 and 1993. Baig was also third in MVP voting.

Baig won two batting titles with Faisalabad. He also led in hits twice, doubles thrice, RBI once, total bases twice, slugging once, OPS once, and wRC+ once. The Fire were just outside the playoffs most of his run, although they did earn their first-ever playoff berth in 1992. They lost to Peshawar in that year’s Pakistan League Championship Series. Baig went 11-28 in the series.

From 1990-95, Baig also played for Pakistan in the World Baseball Championship. He played 33 games but only had 10 starts, getting 15 hits, 10 runs, 3 doubles, 3 home runs, 7 RBI, .254/.302/.458 slash, and 122 wRC+.

Faisalabad tried to get Baig to commit to a long-term deal, but he entered free agency after the 1993 season. This also ended his ABF tenure at only six seasons. At age 29, Baig drew international attention and found suitors in Major League Baseball. He left for the United States and signed a seven-year, $19,360,000 deal with Memphis.

Baig was never an all-star or elite with the Mountain Cats, who were consistently at the bottom of the standings during his run. Still, he was reliably serviceable starter over seven seasons. Baig posted 1159 hits, 491 runs, 166 doubles, 189 home runs, 567 RBI, a .271/.286/.452 slash, 105 wRC+, and 16.2 WAR.

In his final season with Memphis, he did post his worst season of his career with only 0.3 WAR and 89 wRC+ over 152 games. Baig was a free agent at age 36 and couldn’t find anyone interested in his kills. He had to retire at age 37 in the winter of 2001. For his entire pro career, he had 2345 hits, 1015 runs, 427 doubles, 365 home runs, 1169 RBI, a .294/.315/.496 slash, 143 wRC+, and 63.7 WAR.

You could argue Baig’s combined stats are even borderline for a Hall of Fame nod. In just ABF with Faisalabad, he had 1186 hits, 524 runs, 261 doubles, 176 home runs, 602 RBI, a .321/.347/.548 slash, 187 wRC+, and 47.5 WAR. That is an excellent six year run, but that’s not enough time for most voters. There were some who gave him some credit for his MLB run, arguing that he would’ve gotten the prerequisite numbers had he stayed.

The still new ABF Hall of Fame was trying to find its footing and trying to set criteria. When Baig debuted on the 2002 ballot, he got 47.9%. He was at 49.4% the next year, then up to 62.5% in 2004. He dropped slightly to 60.6% in 2005, but earned another look in 2006 with no newcomers of note. Plus, there were voters that wanted to start filling up the Hall and didn’t want to leave ballots blank. Baig was the best of the options and earned a fifth ballot nod at 70.4%. His excellent six year run was enough to make him the lone addition in 2006.