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It was a three-player Hall of Fame class for Arab League Baseball in 2019, although the three additions weren’t locks as they each failed to get ¾ of the vote. 1B/DH Fadi Adwan led the way with a debut at 73.6%. 1B Sultan Riaz got to 70.9% on his third try and SP Ali Al-Shakal had 70.5% on his seventh ballot. SP Mohamed Abdou missed the cut on his second by only one point at 65.0%. CL Ramy Kayat was also above 50%, debuting at 57.5%. No one else was above 50% and no players were removed after ten failed ballots.



Fadi Adwan – First Base/Designated Hitter – Dubai Diamonds – 73.6% First Ballot

Fadi Adwan was a 6’2’’, 200 pound left-handed first baseman from Irbid, Jordan’s second largest city with around two million in the metropolitan area. Adwan was a very good contact hitter with an average eye for drawing walks and avoiding strikeouts. He had reliably good home run power, topping 30 dingers in seven different seasons. Adwan also regularly got you 30-40 doubles per year, but he wouldn’t leg out many extra bases due to mediocre speed and baserunning ability.

Adwan’s starts were split fairly evenly between first base and designated hitter. He was a DH at the front and back ends of his career, playing the field mostly in the middle. Adwan was a consistently poor defender, but he wasn’t a complete liability. He had respectable durability and good adaptability, which kept him around for an 18-year career.

In ALB’s 1992 Draft, only the third-ever rookie draft for the league, Adwan was picked 13^th overall by Beirut. He was 18-years old when he was picked, but the Bluebirds had plans to develop him. Adwan never played ultimately for Beirut, getting traded after the 1993 season to Dubai. He and prospect SS Tareq Madi were moved for veteran pitcher Ehab Gamal. The Diamonds kept Adwan as a reserve in 1994, then debuted him in 1995 at age 21 with 24 games and 7 starts. He did also had two plate appearances in the playoffs as Dubai lost in the first round.

Adwan was a part-time starter in 1996, then had the full-time gig for the next 13 years in Dubai. He won a Silver Slugger in 1997 as a DH despite missing six weeks to plantar fasciitis. 1998 would be his strongest season, leading the Eastern Conference in hits (232), RBI (140), and total bases (424). Those were career highs for Adwan, as was his 117 runs, 46 doubles, 48 home runs, .364/.414/.666 slash, 1.079 OPS, 194 wRC+, and 8.8 WAR. Adwan won his second Slugger as a DH and was third in MVP voting.

He never again was an MVP candidate after that, but Adwan would post eight more seasons worth 4+ WAR for Dubai. The closest he came to that 1998 campaign was 2004, posting 7.1 WAR, 41 homers, 133 RBI, and a 1.054 OPS. In August 1999, Dubai gave Adwan a five-year, $3,538,000 extension. In March 2004, he inked another five-year, $6,880,000 extension.

Dubai was a regular atop the Gulf Division in this era, but they had playoff woes early on in Adwan’s run. The Diamonds saw first round exits in 1995, 1996, 1999, and 2001. Dubai finally broke through in 2002, winning their first-ever Arab League title over Alexandria. Adwan had 18 hits, 6 runs, 2 doubles, 2 homers, and 9 RBI in 14 playoff starts. The Diamonds improved to 109-53 and won the conference again in 2003, but lost the finale to Casablanca. Adwan had 11 hits, 4 runs, 4 doubles, and a .685 OPS that year.

Dubai won four more division titles from 2004-07, but lost in the first round each year. They began a rebuild after that with back-to-back losing seasons. Adwan kept chugging along, although he notably had a major injury with a torn labrum in July 2007. The Diamonds extended him for another three years at $6,140,000 in October 2009.

Adwan’s third Silver Slugger came in 2010 at age 36 with a 5.8 WAR, 36 home run, 112 RBI season. Dubai got back above .500, but missed the division title by a game to Abu Dhabi. The Diamonds made it back to the conference final as the top seed in 2011, but fell to defending champ Basra. For his playoff career, Adwan was solid with 46 games, 42 starts, 52 hits, 21 runs, 11 doubles, 9 home runs, 29 RBI, a .323/.357/.559 slash, 155 wRC+, and 1.5 WAR.

2011 also marked the end of Adwan’s run in Dubai, failing to meet the vesting criteria for the remainder of the deal. In total, he had 2558 hits, 1211 runs, 534 doubles, 473 home runs, 1490 RBI, a .312/.359/.556 slash, 150 wRC+, and 67.3 WAR. His #46 uniform would be the first retired by the Diamonds and he kept a good relationship with the franchise once his playing career was done. However, Adwan was now a free agent for the first time heading towards age 38.

Adwan signed a two-year, $9,600,000 deal with Kuwait. He was merely a decent starter for the Whales, but did reach the 500 career home run and 1500 RBI milestones there. In 287 games, Adwan had 271 hits, 121 runs, 63 doubles, 40 home runs, 143 RBI, a .276/.321/.475 slash, 116 wRC+, and 3.3 WAR. He retired after the 2013 season at age 39.

In total, Adwan had 2829 hits, 1332 runs, 597 doubles, 513 home runs, 1633 RBI, 530 walks, a .308/.355/.547 slash, 146 wRC+, and 70.6 WAR. As of 2037, Adwan ranks 17^th in hits, 46^th in runs, 23^rd in doubles, 42^nd in home runs, 22^nd in RBI, and 37^th in WAR among position players. Supporters noted his reliable production and longevity, along with good playoff stats and a championship win with Dubai.

Detractors thought he didn’t have enough awards or black ink to belong. Others held spending half of his career as a DH against him, plus there were more powerful contemporary sluggers. The supporters outweighed the detractors for 73.6%, which was enough to cross the 66% requirement in his debut. Adwan earned a first ballot nod and was the headliner of ALB’s 2019 Hall of Fame class.