Farhan Zaidi (born November 11, 1976) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

executive who is currently the President of Baseball Operations for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

. Zaidi is one of two Muslim executives in Major League Baseball. He was the first Muslim and first Pakistani-American general manager in Major League Baseball.

Early life

Zaidi was born on November 11, 1976 in

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal el ...

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, Canada, to a family of Pakistani ancestry. His parents, Sadiq and Anjum, raised four children: Zeeshan, Farhan, Noor, and Jaffer. Zaidi grew up in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

after his family moved to

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

when he was four years old. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in economics from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

. He briefly worked for the

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by re ...

and the ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' website between MIT and Berkeley.

Baseball

Oakland Athletics

While at Berkeley, Zaidi read the book ''

Moneyball ''Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game'' is a book by Michael Lewis, published in 2003, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. Its focus is the team's analytical, evidence-based, sabermetric appro ...

'' and said that it changed his life. He saw a job posting for a baseball operations position with the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

and sent out his résumé, beating out 1,000 other applicants for the job. He was a data analysis

sabermetrics Sabermetrics, or originally SABRmetrics, is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific que ...

assistant when he started. His boss with the Athletics,

Billy Beane William Lamar Beane III (born March 29, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player and current front office executive. He is the executive vice president of baseball operations and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics of M ...

, called him "absolutely brilliant" and credited him with the acquisition of Yoenis Céspedes. For the 2013 season, Zaidi was promoted by the Athletics to the post of Director of Baseball Operations and added Assistant General Manager to his title in 2014.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On November 6, 2014, Zaidi was named by the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...

as their new general manager. Under his watch as the Dodgers GM, the team made its first

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

appearance in 29 years in

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, falling to the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after s ...

in seven games. The following year, they lost in five games to the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

in the 2018 World Series.

San Francisco Giants

On November 6, 2018, Zaidi accepted an offer to join the

to become President of Baseball Operations. In 2021, he was voted the ''Sporting News'' Executive of the Year and the MLB Executive of the Year Award becoming the first person of South Asian descent to win either awards. When Scott Harris left the Giants in 2022 to become the president of baseball operations for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, Zaidi hired

Pete Putila Peter Putila is an American baseball executive. He is the general manager of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. Career Putila is a native of Carmichaels, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Carmichaels High School in 2007, after p ...

to be the Giants new general manager.

Personal life

Zaidi is married to Lucy Fang, a fellow MIT graduate. Though he grew up in the Philippines, Zaidi still considers himself Canadian. His family returned to Canada every other summer to visit family and friends; as a result, Zaidi became a fan of the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

and many of its star players, such as Jesse Barfield,

Tony Fernandez Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

and George Bell. Zaidi was in Grade 11 when he watched

Joe Carter Joseph Chris Carter (born March 7, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue ...

hit his game-winning walk-off home run in 1993 to win back-to-back World Series championships for the Jays.

References

External links

Athletics bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaidi, Farhan 1976 births Living people American sportspeople of Pakistani descent Boston Consulting Group people Canadian expatriates in the Philippines Canadian Muslims Canadian people of Pakistani descent Canadian sports executives and administrators Los Angeles Dodgers executives Major League Baseball general managers MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni Oakland Athletics executives San Francisco Giants executives Sportspeople from Greater Sudbury Sportspeople from Manila UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni