When he was a boy growing up in the Philippines, the new general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers had a problem with his cricket swing.
It had been corrupted from playing baseball, his favourite sport, despite his Pakistani-Canadian heritage.
“I held the bat with a baseball grip; my cousins weren’t impressed,” Farhan Zaidi conceded with a laugh in a phone interview, while noting that he dabbled in cricket when visiting relatives in Pakistan as a child.
“A foul ball was a good result. I couldn’t get used to that.”
More in MLB: Pair of Washington Nationals minor leaguers train talent in Dubai
Born in Canada to Pakistani parents, raised in Manila, and educated in economics at such prestigious schools as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California-Berkeley, Zaidi’s eclectic cultural and academic backgrounds are also unique to baseball. He is the first Muslim general manager of any major professional team in North America.
“I’m a big proponent of diversity in our game,” Zaidi, 38, told reporters at his first Dodgers press conference, alluding to his religion. “So from that standpoint, I’m proud of it.”
His connections to his parents’ birthplace remain solid. Earlier this year, he and wife Lucy visited his grandmother in Pakistan. They stopped in Dubai on the way back to spend time with an uncle who is a pilot with Emirates. An aunt is a political journalist in Pakistan who regularly sends her opinion pieces to him.
“I try to stay up to date,” said Zaidi, who brightened at the mention of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani school girl who survived an assassination attempt and a Taliban bullet in her head for supporting women’s educational rights.
“She is an inspiration, for sure, for everything she went through,” he said. He said her journey to the US “to raise awareness on an international level about the challenges Pakistani people face every day – it’s a terrific story.”
And a singular one. There are relatively few people of Pakistani heritage in North America’s public eye, which also makes Zaidi something of an anomaly.
But his entry into the upper levels of Major League Baseball (MLB) management also says something about the changing landscape of the game itself.
Hunches are out. Intellect is in. Playing baseball is one way to understand the sport. Studying baseball is another. A player’s history may not be as important as what statistical analysis and probability predict that player’s future will be.
Today every team has an analytics department, staffed with computer-savvy, numbers-oriented people, who use complex data gleaned from the results of every pitch in every major-league game.
Welcome to Zaidi’s world.
Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics general manager who gave Zaidi his first baseball job, calls him “absolutely brilliant”.
Beane told the San Francisco Chronicle last spring: “The ability to look at things both micro and macro is unique, and Farhan could do whatever he wants to do, not just in this game, but in any business or sport.
“I’m more worried about losing him to Apple or Google than I am to another team.”
As it turned out, he did lose Zaidi to another team, and one of baseball’s most successful, in the Dodgers. Either way, it was an improbable path for the son of Pakistani parents.
Zaidi’s father, Sadiq, was a Britain-educated engineer who got a job in 1968 with a mining company, in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada – where Farhan was born.
By the time Farhan was three, his father had moved the family (Farhan has an older brother, a younger brother and a younger sister) again, to the Philippines where he worked for the Asian Development Bank.
His father loved cricket, taught the children to play and took them on visits to Pakistan in summer. But the family also took vacations to Canada, where Farhan had gravitated to baseball. He supported the Toronto Blue Jays, collected baseball cards and played first base in youth leagues and for his international school in the Philippines through his teen years.
He also was an avid fan of early analytics pioneer Bill James, who published an annual book, Baseball Abstract.
During the 1980s, Zaidi told the Toronto Star, “I was able to buy that book and absolutely devour it cover to cover before that bookstore either went out of business or stopped carrying that book because I was the only person buying it.”
But he did not envision himself working at the MLB level until he read Moneyball, the Michael Lewis book about Beane and the Athletics, and their often successful advanced-metrics approach to evaluating players.
“It always seemed to me that to work in a baseball front office, you had to have played the game at a high level, or been a scout or a coach,” he said. “It didn’t seem like a career you could access from a business background.
“When I read Moneyball, I thought, ‘I do have this skill set.’”
Zaidi had graduated from MIT with a degree in economics, and first channelled his love of baseball into a job as development associate for Small World Media, the fantasy sports division of The Sporting News. He also had worked as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group.
He was doing graduate work at Berkeley in behavioural economics in 2005 when he applied for a job the Athletics had posted in Baseball Prospectus.
He impressed them by bringing a binder filled with projections for every player on the team. He also ingratiated himself with Beane over shared passions for the British rock band Oasis and football. Zaidi is a devotee of the Italian national team.
The next step was telling his parents he got the job.
He told ESPN.com: “I was like, ‘How am I going to tell them I’m taking this, like, entry-level, US$30,000-a-year (Dh110,000) job in baseball?’ But they were so thrilled and happy for me. I probably didn’t give them enough credit for knowing it was a dream of mine.”
Zaidi eventually advanced to assistant GM, in Oakland. He has been credited, most recently, with pushing for the signing of Yoenis Cespedes, who was something of a mystery coming out of Cuba, and switching outfielder Brandon Moss to first base, where he thrived.
When the Dodgers revamped their front office in October, their new president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman – another new-wave analytics proponent – brought Zaidi on board.
It prompted a Los Angeles baseball writer to question the Dodgers’ new penchant for filling their front office with stat “geeks”.
Zaidi, known for his sense of humour, sought out the sceptical reporter at the first press event and told him he had brought his screwdriver, in case the writer needed help fixing his laptop.
Asked about leaving Oakland, and his sterling reputation as the Athletics’ top analyst, Zaidi joked: “They actually cut out part of my brain on that and kept it there.”
But Zaidi also assured old-school Dodgers fans he is not one-dimensional in his approach, and had great respect for on-field scouts.
“I view any new stat or metric with an inherent scepticism,” he said. “There’s always something that is missing.”
What is clear in his one-of-a-kind story is, he hasn’t missed much – after those early whiffs with a cricket bat, anyway.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
8 UAE companies helping families reduce their carbon footprint
Greenheart Organic Farms
This Dubai company was one of the country’s first organic farms, set up in 2012, and it now delivers a wide array of fruits and vegetables grown regionally or in the UAE, as well as other grocery items, to both Dubai and Abu Dhabi doorsteps.
www.greenheartuae.com
Modibodi
Founded in Australia, Modibodi is now in the UAE with waste-free, reusable underwear that eliminates the litter created by a woman’s monthly cycle, which adds up to approximately 136kgs of sanitary waste over a lifetime.
www.modibodi.ae
The Good Karma Co
From brushes made of plant fibres to eco-friendly storage solutions, this company has planet-friendly alternatives to almost everything we need, including tin foil and toothbrushes.
www.instagram.com/thegoodkarmaco
Re:told
One Dubai boutique, Re:told, is taking second-hand garments and selling them on at a fraction of the price, helping to cut back on the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothes thrown into landfills each year.
www.shopretold.com
Lush
Lush provides products such as shampoo and conditioner as package-free bars with reusable tins to store.
www.mena.lush.com
Bubble Bro
Offering filtered, still and sparkling water on tap, Bubble Bro is attempting to ensure we don’t produce plastic or glass waste. Founded in 2017 by Adel Abu-Aysha, the company is on track to exceeding its target of saving one million bottles by the end of the year.
www.bubble-bro.com
Coethical
This company offers refillable, eco-friendly home cleaning and hygiene products that are all biodegradable, free of chemicals and certifiably not tested on animals.
www.instagram.com/coethical
Eggs & Soldiers
This bricks-and-mortar shop and e-store, founded by a Dubai mum-of-four, is the place to go for all manner of family products – from reusable cloth diapers to organic skincare and sustainable toys.
www.eggsnsoldiers.com
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
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Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
Profile of MoneyFellows
Founder: Ahmed Wadi
Launched: 2016
Employees: 76
Financing stage: Series A ($4 million)
Investors: Partech, Sawari Ventures, 500 Startups, Dubai Angel Investors, Phoenician Fund
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Biography
Favourite Meal: Chicken Caesar salad
Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
Inspiration: Father, who was a captain in the UAE army
Favourite read: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Favourite film: The Founder, about the establishment of McDonald's
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
WE%20NO%20LONGER%20PREFER%20MOUNTAINS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Inas%20Halabi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENijmeh%20Hamdan%2C%20Kamal%20Kayouf%2C%20Sheikh%20Najib%20Alou%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The line up
Friday: Giggs, Sho Madjozi and Masego
Saturday: Nas, Lion Bbae, Roxanne Shante and DaniLeigh
Sole DXB runs from December 6 to 8 at Dubai Design District. Weekend pass is Dh295 while a one day pass is Dh195. Tickets are available from www.soledxb.com
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor
Power: 843hp at N/A rpm
Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km
On sale: October to December
Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Russia v Scotland, Thursday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sam Smith
Where: du Arena, Abu Dhabi
When: Saturday November 24
Rating: 4/5
Race card
1.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
2pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 84,000 (D) 1,400m
2.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,200m
3pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 100,000 (D) 1.950m
3.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 76,000 (D) 1,800m
4pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,600m
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 68,000 (D) 1,000m
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The biog
Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents
Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University
As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families
Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too
