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.
| Country | Player | Debut | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | League | |||
| Afghanistan | Jeff Bronkey | 1993 | American League | [3] |
| American Samoa | Tony Solaita | 1968 | American League | [4] |
| Aruba | Gene Kingsale | 1996 | American League | [5] |
| at sea | Ed Porray | 1914 | Federal League | [6] |
| Australia | Joe Quinn | 1884 | Union Association | [7] |
| Austria | Kurt Krieger | 1949 | National League | [8] |
| Austria-Hungary | Joe Koukalik | 1904 | National League | [9] |
| Bahamas | Ormond Sampson | 1932 | Negro Southern League | [10] |
| Belgium | Brian Lesher | 1996 | American League | [11] |
| Belize | Chito Martinez | 1991 | American League | [12] |
| Brazil | Yan Gomes | 2012 | American League | [13] |
| Canada | Bob Addy | 1871 | National Association | [14] |
| China | Harry Kingman | 1914 | American League | [15] |
| Colombia | Lou Castro | 1902 | American League | [16] |
| Cuba | Steve Bellán | 1871 | National Association | [17] |
| Curaçao | Hensley Meulens | 1989 | American League | [18] |
| Czech Republic | John Stedronsky | 1879 | National League | [19] |
| Denmark | Olaf Henriksen | 1911 | American League | [20] |
| Dominican Republic | Pedro San | 1926 | Eastern Colored League | [21] |
| Finland | John Michaelson | 1921 | American League | [22] |
| France | Larry Ressler | 1875 | National Association | [23] |
| Germany | George Heubel | 1871 | National Association | [24] |
| Greece | Al Campanis | 1943 | National League | [25] |
| Guam | John Hattig | 2006 | American League | [26] |
| Honduras | Gerald Young | 1987 | National League | [27] |
| Hong Kong | Austin Brice | 2016 | National League | [28] |
| Indonesia | Tom Mastny | 2006 | American League | [29] |
| Ireland | Andy Leonard | 1871 | National Association | [30] |
| Italy | Lou Polli | 1932 | American League | [31] |
| Jamaica | Chili Davis | 1981 | National League | [32] |
| Japan | Masanori Murakami | 1964 | National League | [33] |
| Latvia | Joe Zapustas | 1933 | American League | [34] |
| Lithuania | Dovydas Neverauskas | 2017 | National League | [35] |
| Mexico | Mel Almada | 1933 | American League | [36] |
| Netherlands | Rynie Wolters | 1871 | National Association | [37] |
| Nicaragua | Dennis Martínez | 1976 | American League | [38] |
| Norway | John Anderson | 1894 | National League | [39] |
| Panama | Victor Greenidge | 1941 | Negro National League (II) | [40] |
| Peru | Jesús Luzardo | 2019 | American League | [41] |
| Philippines | Claudio Manela | 1921 | Negro National League (I) | [42] |
| Poland | Skel Roach | 1899 | National League | [43] |
| Portugal | Frank Thompson | 1875 | National Association | [44] |
| Puerto Rico | Gacho Torres | 1926 | Eastern Colored League | [45] |
| Russia | Jake Gettman | 1897 | National League | [46] |
| Saudi Arabia | Craig Stansberry | 2007 | National League | [47] |
| Singapore | Robin Jennings | 1996 | National League | [48] |
| Slovakia | Jack Quinn | 1909 | American League | [49] |
| South Africa | Gift Ngoepe | 2017 | National League | [50] |
| South Korea | Chan Ho Park | 1994 | National League | [51] |
| Spain | Al Cabrera | 1913 | National League | [52] |
| Sweden | Charlie Hallstrom | 1885 | National League | [53] |
| Switzerland | Otto Hess | 1902 | American League | [54] |
| Taiwan | Chin-Feng Chen | 2002 | National League | [55] |
| United Kingdom | George Hall † | 1871 | National Association | [56] |
| Harry Wright † | ||||
| United States | multiple players‡ | 1871 | National Association | [57] |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | Alphonso Gerard | 1945 | Negro National League (II) | [58] |
| Venezuela | Alex Carrasquel | 1939 | American League | [59] |
| Vietnam | Danny Graves | 1996 | American League | [60] |
† Hall and Wright both made their debut on 5 May 1871.
‡ There were 18 players–all born in the United States–in the first game of the National Association, played on 4 May 1871. [57] [61]
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