List of countries with their first Major League Baseball player

In 1956, Ozzie Virgil Sr. became the first player born in the Dominican Republic to appear in a major league game.

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.

Background

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:

  • The players listed are not necessarily the first citizen of a country to play in a major league game, as nationality is determined under a country's nationality law and may differ.
  • The list does not reflect where players grew up and learned to play baseball.
    • Some players on the list, despite their birth location, are or were Americans or Canadians who returned to their parents' home country as children and were raised there. One example is Harry Kingman, who was born in China but grew up in California.
    • Many European-born players on the list moved to North America as children. For example, the first person born in Italy to play in the major leagues, Lou Polli in 1932, moved with his family to Vermont at seven months of age.

List

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:

Note that the status of the National Association as a major league is in dispute. National Association players are included in the major league records of sites such as Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet, thus are also included here.

The European countries highlighted in blue have had a least one player born there play in a major league game, through the 2019 season.
Country Player Debut Ref.
Year League
Afghanistan Jeff Bronkey 1993 American League
American Samoa Tony Solaita 1968 American League
Aruba Gene Kingsale 1996 American League
at sea Ed Porray 1914 Federal League
Australia Joe Quinn 1884 Union Association
Austria Kurt Krieger 1949 National League
Austria-Hungary Joe Koukalik 1904 National League
Bahamas Andre Rodgers 1957 National League
Belgium Brian Lesher 1996 American League
Belize Chito Martinez 1991 American League
Brazil Yan Gomes 2012 American League
Canada Bob Addy 1871 National Association
China Harry Kingman 1914 American League
Colombia Lou Castro 1902 American League
Cuba Steve Bellán 1871 National Association
Curaçao Hensley Meulens 1989 American League
Czech Republic John Stedronsky 1879 National League
Denmark Olaf Henriksen 1911 American League
Dominican Republic Ozzie Virgil Sr. 1956 National League
Finland John Michaelson 1921 American League
France Larry Ressler 1875 National Association
Germany George Heubel 1871 National Association
Greece Al Campanis 1943 National League
Guam John Hattig 2006 American League
Honduras Gerald Young 1987 National League
Hong Kong Austin Brice 2016 National League
Indonesia Tom Mastny 2006 American League
Ireland Andy Leonard 1871 National Association
Italy Lou Polli 1932 American League
Jamaica Chili Davis 1981 National League
Japan Masanori Murakami 1964 National League
Latvia Joe Zapustas 1933 American League
Lithuania Dovydas Neverauskas 2017 National League
Mexico Mel Almada 1933 American League
Netherlands Rynie Wolters 1871 National Association
Nicaragua Dennis Martínez 1976 American League
Norway John Anderson 1894 National League
Panama Humberto Robinson 1955 National League
Peru Jesús Luzardo 2019 American League
Philippines Bobby Chouinard 1996 American League
Poland Skel Roach 1899 National League
Portugal Frank Thompson 1875 National Association
Puerto Rico Hiram Bithorn 1942 National League
Russia Jake Gettman 1897 National League
Saudi Arabia Craig Stansberry 2007 National League
Singapore Robin Jennings 1996 National League
Slovakia Jack Quinn 1909 American League
South Africa Gift Ngoepe 2017 National League
South Korea Chan Ho Park 1994 National League
Spain Al Cabrera 1913 National League
Sweden Charlie Hallstrom 1885 National League
Switzerland Otto Hess 1902 American League
Taiwan Chin-Feng Chen 2002 National League
United Kingdom George Hall 1871 National Association
Harry Wright
United States multiple players 1871 National Association
U.S. Virgin Islands Joe Christopher 1959 National League
Venezuela Alex Carrasquel 1939 American League
Vietnam Danny Graves 1996 American League

† 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.


This page was last updated at 2023-10-31 12:37 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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