The following is a list of countries with their first Major League Baseball player. Listed are each country that at least one current or former major league player was born in, along with the name of the first person born in that country to play in a major league game, and the year and sports league of that player's major league debut.
The globalization of baseball has been occurring since its inception. After an influx of players from western Europe in early years, the major leagues came to see fewer European players and more players from Latin America. Players born in over 50 countries and on every continent except Antarctica have now appeared in major league games. Considerations:
Listed players appeared in at least one game of a professional baseball major league (commonly referred to as Major League Baseball, although that entity did not exist before 1903), which encompasses:
The seven major Negro leagues from 1920 to 1948 were officially recognized as "major leagues" in December 2020. [1] Note that the status of the National Association as a major league is in dispute. [2] National Association players are included in the major league records of sites such as Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet, thus are also included here.
† Hall and Wright both made their debut on 5 May 1871.
‡ Immigrated to, raised in, and/or developed in the United States.
In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where AB is the number of at-bats for a given player, and 1B, 2B, 3B, and HR are the number of singles, doubles, triples, and home runs, respectively:
Donald Newcombe, nicknamed "Newk", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played ten non-consecutive seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He began his career in the Negro National League and ended it in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP), often known simply as the National Association (NA), was the first fully-professional sports league in baseball. The NA was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season. It succeeded and incorporated several professional clubs from the previous National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) of 1857–1870, sometimes called "the amateur Association". In turn, several NA clubs created the succeeding National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, which joined with the American League of Professional Base Ball Clubs to form Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1903.
Benjamin Ambrosio Oglivie Palmer is a Panamanian former professional baseball left fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox (1971–1973), Detroit Tigers (1974–1977), and Milwaukee Brewers (1978–1986). He also played two seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Kintetsu Buffaloes (1987–1988). Oglivie batted and threw left-handed.
Robert Edward Addy, nicknamed "the Magnet", was a Canadian right fielder and second baseman in Major League Baseball, whose professional career spanned from 1871 in the National Association to 1877 in the National League. He is credited as the first player to introduce the slide in an organized game, and later attempted to create a game of baseball that would have been played on ice. He is also credited as the first person born in Canada to appear in a major league game.
John Martin "Marty" Swandell was a German–American baseball player and umpire. He spent parts of two seasons as a player in the National Association (NA), a professional league, and also had an eight-year career in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), a league with amateur status, between 1863 and 1870.
James Edward Pendleton was an American professional baseball player, an outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1953 and 1962. He played for the Milwaukee Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Houston Colt .45s. Before appearing in MLB, he was a Negro league player. He was a right-handed batter and thrower, measured 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg).
John Henry Frederick was a Major League Baseball outfielder. He played six seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers, compiling a .308 batting average (954-for-3102) with 85 home runs and 377 RBI for his career.
Thomas Brandon Sullivan was a professional baseball catcher. He played in one game for the 1925 Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). Listed at 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m) and 190 pounds (86 kg), he batted and threw right-handed. Sullivan was the first person born in Alaska to play in MLB.
The 1979 Major League Baseball season concluded with the Pittsburgh Pirates defeating the Baltimore Orioles in seven games in the 1979 World Series. None of the post-season teams of 1977 or 1978 returned to this year's postseason.
The 1971 Major League Baseball season was the final season for the Senators in Washington, D.C., before the team's relocation to the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb Arlington for the following season, as the Texas Rangers, leaving the nation's capital without a baseball team of its own until 2005.
Augustin Joseph "Gus" Dugas was a Canadian-born professional baseball outfielder. He played parts of four seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1930 and 1934, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, and Washington Senators. Listed at 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) and 165 pounds (75 kg), he batted and threw left-handed.
In baseball, batting average (BA) is determined by dividing a player's hits by their total at-bats. It is usually rounded to three decimal places and read without the decimal: A player with a batting average of .300 is "batting three hundred". If necessary to break ties, batting averages could be taken beyond the .001 measurement. In this context, .001 is considered a "point", such that a .235 batter is five points higher than a .230 batter.
James Harrison "Truck" Hannah was a Major League Baseball catcher who also had a lengthy minor league career.
Russell Lewis Miller, was a professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) during 1927 and 1928 for the Philadelphia Phillies. Listed at 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) and 165 pounds (75 kg), he threw and batted right-handed.
Thomas Francis Gunning was a professional baseball catcher and umpire. He played six seasons in the major leagues, from 1884 until 1889. Listed at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and 160 pounds (73 kg), he batted and threw right-handed. Gunning umpired 44 major league games during the 1890 season. After his baseball career, Gunning worked as a physician and medical examiner.
George A. Heubel was a German American professional baseball player. He was the first player born in Germany to play in the National Association and the National League.
Frank Thompson was a Portuguese professional baseball player in the United States. He played during 1875 for two major-league teams of the National Association, the Washington Nationals as a catcher and the Brooklyn Atlantics as an outfielder.