[FuzzyRussianHat]

1994’s Hall of Fame ballot for South Asia Baseball nearly came up blank with the limit options for the still fairly new league. However, 1B Yamin Thaw earned induction on his third ballot, just barely crossing the 66% requirement at 66.4%. SP Vannak Thai was the next closest with 57.2% for his third ballot. The best debut was SP Ramesh Kohinoor at 50.3%.



Yamin “Enforcer” Thaw – First Base – Yangon Green Dragons – 66.4% Third Ballot

Yamin Thaw was a 6’3’’, 215 pound left-handed first baseman from Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar. The nickname “Enforcer” came from his prolific home run power. Thaw was also terrific at drawing walks and respectable at avoiding strikeouts. He was an above average contract hitter with nice gap power. Thaw was a slower baserunner and a career first baseman that was considered above average with his glove.

Thaw was already very well established in the limited pro baseball scene that existed in Myanmar in the 1970s. When South Asia Baseball was officially christened for the 1980 season, Thaw was already 31 years old. He stayed in his hometown of Yangon and signed a four-year, $1,464,000 deal to begin his SAB career. Thaw took second in MVP voting in 1980 and led the Southeast Asia League in walks and OBP. The Green Dragons were the first SEAL champ, falling in the SAB Championship to Hyderabad.

In 1981, Thaw exploded with the league lead in runs, homers, RBI, walks, total bases, OBP, slugging, OPS, wRC+, and WAR. His 66 home runs held as the single season record for a few years, although it would get passed numerous times as the offensive environment blossomed in later years. Yangon fell in the SEALCS with Thaw missing the postseason to a fractured finger. Thaw would earn MVP and Silver Slugger honors for the first time. Here, he decided to opt out of the remaining two seasons of his Yangon deal and shoot for a big payday. With the Green Dragons, Thaw had 309 hits, 217 runs, 107 home runs, 229 RBI, a 292/.410/.660 slash, and 18.5 WAR.

He played for his country in the World Baseball Championship from 1981-88. With Myanmar, Thaw had 72 starts, 53 hits, 40 runs, 20 home runs, 37 RBI, a .223/.375/.500 slash, and 2.9 WAR. He was a wanted free agent, but the still young SAB franchises didn’t have the funds to match his asking price. Thaw would barnstorm for all of 1982 unsigned. He would return to SAB for the 1983 season on a two-year, $812,000 deal with Dhaka.

In his Dobermans debut, Thaw again led in home runs, RBI, total bases, OBP, slugging, OPS, and WAR. He picked up his second SEAL MVP and Silver Slugger. Dhaka would fall against his former squad Yangon in the SEALCS. Thaw wasn’t as dominant in 1984, but was still excellent en route to a third MVP and Silver Slugger. He had a terrific postseason, leading the Dobermans to their first SEAL pennant as LCS MVP. They dropped the SAB final to Pune, but Thaw had a postseason line of 17 starts, 21 hits, 14 runs, 10 doubles, 5 home runs, and 14 RBI. The 10 doubles is still a SAB playoff record as of 2037.

In his two seasons in Bangladesh, Thaw had 331 hits, 213 runs, 91 home runs, 248 RBI, a .306/.403/.630 slash and 17.1 WAR. Now 36 years old and a free agent yet again, Thaw went to India and signed a two-year, $1,320,000 deal with Bengaluru. He had a strong 1985, winning his fourth Silver Slugger and taking second in MVP voting. Although his postseason stats were unremarkable, Thaw helped the Blazers take the SAB Championship. For his playoff career, Thaw had 57 games, 53 hits, 32 runs, 20 doubles, 11 home runs, 36 RBI, 31 walks, a .251/.343/.502 slash, and 2.5 WAR.

In April 1986, Thaw suffered a ruptured disc in his back that knocked him out for nine months. That ended his Bengaluru run, but in 190 games he still posted 179 hits, 111 runs, 57 home runs, 131 RBI, a .276/.391/.596, slash, and 10.1 WAR. He still wanted to play, but teams were not willing to commit MVP level money to a guy in his late 30s off a major injury. Thaw did more barnstorming and played in the WBC in 1987 and 1988, but he was still unsigned. He finally retired from the game at age 39.

Thaw’s final stats: 819 hits, 541 runs, 172 doubles, 255 home runs, 608 RBI, 498 walks, a .294/.403/.634 slash, 196 wRC+, and 45.7 WAR. Guys like him are very tough to judge as early days guys lack accumulations due to their late “official” start for their stats. The grand tallies are obviously way low in a vacuum. But his five full seasons were MVP level and he was extremely popular. As of 2037, he’s one of a very select group in the SAB HOF with an OPS above one and OBP above .400. Voters kept Thaw out on his first two ballots at 57.7% and 56.1%, but gave him the bump in 1994 at 66.4% to become South Asia Baseball’s third Hall of Famer.