List of countries with their first Major League Baseball player

The globalization of baseball has been occurring since its inception. The early years saw an influx of players from western Europe. Major League Baseball eventually saw fewer European players, but more players from Latin America. Today Major League Baseball has players from five continents. The following is a list of countries and the first person born there that played Major League Baseball.

These players are not necessarily the first citizen of each respective country to play in Major League Baseball as nationality is determined under a nation's nationality law and may differ. Also, these players are classified strictly by the countries of their birth; this does not reflect the following issues:

• Political change: A number of the countries listed here no longer exist, such as South Vietnam and West Germany (respectively absorbed into Vietnam and reunified Germany). By contrast, the convention of the Hockey Hall of Fame, which is generally followed for purposes of nationality classification in ice hockey, is to classify players by the currently existing countries in which their birthplaces are located.
• Where players were trained in baseball:
  • Some players on this list, despite their birth location, are or were Americans or Canadians who returned to their parents' home country as children and were raised there.
  • Most of the European-born players on this list moved to North America as children. For example, the first Netherlands-born player in MLB was John Houseman, who made his debut in 1894, but it was not until 1979 that Win Remmerswaal became the first player born and raised in the European portion of the Netherlands to make his MLB debut.^[1] The case with Italy is similar; the first player born and raised in the country to play in MLB was Alex Liddi in 2011—almost 80 years after the first Italian-born Major Leaguer made his debut.

See also

• List of current Major League Baseball players by nationality

References