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Three players made the cut for the South Asia Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. Two were long-term returners on the ballot and two only barely crossed the 66% requirement. Leading the way was LF Indirjeet Dayada at 76.6% in his seventh try. LF Deepak Rahim was a first ballot pick, but narrowly at 68.7%. Joining them on his eighth ballot was Hoai Truong at 66.7%.



2B Abdul Deepkaran barely missed out in making it a four-player class. On his second try, Deepkaran got 64.3%. Also notable was reliever Saddam Rahman with 52.0% on his debut. No one else was above 50% and no players were dropped from the ballot after ten tries.



Indirjeet Dayada – Left Field – Hanoi Hounds – 76.6% Seventh Ballot

Indirjeet Dayada was a 6’3’’, 205 pound left-handed hitting left fielder from Chandannagar, India; a city of around 165,000 people in West Bengal. Dayada had extreme splits at the plate in his career. Against righties, he had a career .964 OPS and 165 wRC+. He was a great contact hitter that was strong at avoiding strikeouts and decent at drawing walks. Against lefties though, he had a 111 wRC+ and .740 OPS. Dayada’s eye for hitting lefties was lousy, leading to much weaker contact and fewer walks.

Especially against righties, Dayada had a good pop in his bat. Over a 162 game average, he’d get you 32 home runs, 34 doubles, and 9 triples per year. Dayada had very good speed and baserunning instincts, making him quite dangerous when he got on base. He had pretty good durability, playing 130+ games in each of his 11 full seasons.

Dayada played almost all of his time defensively in left field. He graded out as a consistently good to great defender all around, winning three Gold Gloves. Dayada was a fan favorite known for a strong work ethic and loyalty, becoming a beloved figure in his adopted hometown of Hanoi.

In August 1981, a teenaged Dayada was spotted in India by a visiting scout from Hanoi. He signed to an amateur deal, making the big move to Vietnam. Dayada’s entire pro career was in Hanoi, but he did return home to India from 1986-92 in the World Baseball Championship. He only played 34 games with 20 starts, but had a .313/.383/.699 slash, 210 wRC+, and 1.6 WAR.

Dayada was a rare player to officially debut at age 19, although he only saw eight plate appearances in 1984. He took over a full-time starter job in 1985 and held it for 11 years with Hanoi. Dayada wasn’t one to lead the league, but he was reliably very good. All of his full seasons were worth 4.5+ WAR with five seasons topping 7 WAR. He led in slugging in 1987 and hits in 1990.

Dayada won Gold Gloves in 1989, 1990, and 1991 with Silver Sluggers in 1987 and 1988. 1987 was his only year as an MVP finalist, taking second in voting. Dayada did that at age 22 and Hanoi locked their superstar up that winter for eight years and $4,782,000. He was extremely popular in his time, although surprisingly the Hounds never retired his jersey number.

Hanoi won the Southeast Asia League in 1985 with a 20-year old Dayada posting 18 hits, 8 runs, 5 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, and 14 RBI over 16 playoff starts. The Hounds lost the SAB Championship to Bengaluru. Hanoi would win three straight division titles from 1987-89, but fall in the first round each time.

Hanoi was a conference finalist in 1993 and one-and-done in 1995. As the 1990s dawned, competing against Ho Chi Minh City in SEAL became a lost cause. In his playoff efforts, Dayada had 44 starts, 48 hits, 27 runs, 7 doubles, 5 triples, 8 home runs, 27 RBI, 20 stolen bases, a .276/.315/.511 slash, 136 wRC+, and 1.9 WAR.

After the 1995 season, Dayada became a free agent at age 31. He was coming off his weakest season statistically, but still had posted 4.6 WAR. Dayada hoped to stay loyal to Hanoi, but they couldn’t come to a mutually beneficial agreement. In this era, almost all major SAB free agents ended up with one of the two dynasties; HCMC or Ahmedabad. Most other teams had financial issues that prevented them from spending big.

Dayada wasn’t particularly interested in going to either spot though and had interests away from the game. He was a well-liked guy that could succeed in pretty much any endeavor he wanted. Dayada’s last season was 1995, but he didn’t officially file retirement papers until 1998, officially ending his career at age 33.

The final stats for Dayada saw 1944 hits, 957 runs, 355 doubles, 333 home runs, 1034 RBI, 548 stolen bases, a .310/.347/.555 slash, 150 wRC+, and 70.2 WAR. Leaving the game early did lower his final accumulations and some voters felt he wasn’t long enough to deserve the spot. His 11 year run was certainly great, but many thought Dayada didn’t have the big league-leading stats or awards to justify getting in without the longevity.

Others pointed out that his pace was more than deserving. Dayada debuted at 51.9% in 2001. He fluctuated to 49.3%, 61.5%, and 55.9% in the next three ballots. Dayada missed by less than a percent in 2005 at 65.5%, then went to 59.8% in 2006. 2007 finally saw Dayada across the line with 76.6% for a seventh ballot nod. This was enough to be the headliner for SAB’s 2007 Hall of Fame class.