Since the 19th Century, Major League Baseball has enjoyed a rich, diverse, world-wide set of talent not seen in
any other major league sport. Every state in the United States of America, and more than forty-five
countries, have had at least one player make it to the show.
The research below is a comprehensive historical analysis of every major league baseball player’s birthplace.
Selecting a state or country will bring up a sortable chart with every player in history who was born
in that particular area.
“For starting pitchers we have two Dominicans, one Italian, one Mexican and one Japanese.
In the bullpen we have a Venezuelan, a Mexican, a guy from the United States and a guy from St. Louis.”
– Los Angeles Dodger / Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda (AP Wire, 08/18/1999)
Did you know that Jose Canseco
was the first foreign-born (Cuba) player to reach the
four-hundred home runs plateau? Did you know that Sammy Sosa
was the first foreign-born (Dominican Republic)
player to reach the five-hundred home runs plateau?
Baseball Almanac is aware that researching baseball players by their place of birth is common data found easily on the Internet today. We, as you are well aware, enjoy taking that extra step here and have taken that common data and added this amazing chart which will enable you to see a historical breakdown of players from any given year in history by their place of birth:
If you would like to see a comprehensive list broken down by country of the first player born
in a country or territory other than the United States of America, we have one in our Famous First section called Foreign Born
Baseball Players.
