In a recent press release that was picked up by some news outlets, Major League Baseball called attention to its swelling ranks of international players. As in past years, in the major leagues Dominicans (79) represent by far the greatest number of non-US born players, followed by Venezuela (45) and the US-born-but-not-on-the-mainland case of Puerto Rico (36). These numbers only consider the 25-man roster, not the 40-man roster, so I suspect that they under-represent the numbers of non-US born players on overall major league rosters. These numbers also clearly do not reflect ethnicity, merely place of birth. MLB today is a much more international, and especially latino, environment than these official numbers indicate.
As follows are the non-US born players on Opening Day 2004, listed by place of origin with team affiliation as of April 2004 (courtesy of Major League Baseball):
|
Aruba (1) Sidney Ponson, Baltimore Australia (4) Grant Balfour, Minnesota Trent Durrington, Milwaukee Damian Moss, Tampa Bay Brad Thomas, Minnesota Canada (11) Jason Bay, Pittsburgh Rheal Cormier, Philadelphia Ryan Dempster, Chicago (NL) Eric Gagne, Los Angeles Aaron Guiel, Kansas City Corey Koskie, Minnesota Simon Pond, Toronto Paul Quantrill, New York (AL) Matt Stairs, Kansas City Larry Walker, Colorado Jeff Zimmerman, Texas Colombia (3) Jolbert Cabrera, Seattle Orlando Cabrera, Montreal Edgar Renteria, St. Louis Cuba (9) Danys Baez, Tampa Bay Jose Contreras, New York (AL) Adrian Hernandez, Milwaukee Livan Hernandez, Montreal Orlando Hernandez, New York (AL) Eli Marrero, Atlanta Vladimir Nunez, Colorado Rafael Palmeiro, Baltimore Alex Sanchez, Detroit Curacao (2) Andruw Jones, Atlanta Randall Simon, Pittsburgh Dominican Republic (79) Jose Acevedo, Cincinnati Antonio Alfonseca, Atlanta Carlos Almanzar, Texas Miguel Asencio, Kansas City Miguel Batista, Toronto Tony Batista, Montreal Danny Bautista, Arizona Jose Bautista, Baltimore Adrian Beltre, Los Angeles Armando Benitez, Florida Joaquin Benoit, Texas Angel Berroa, Kansas City Luis Castillo, Florida Bartolo Colon, Anaheim Francisco Cordero, Texas Juan Cruz, Atlanta Valerio De Los Santos, Toronto Jorge De Paula, New York (AL) Octavio Dotel, Houston Juan Encarnacion, Los Angeles Leo Estrella, San Francisco Pedro Feliz, San Francisco Julio Franco, Atlanta Rafael Furcal, Atlanta Reynaldo Garcia, Boston Esteban German, Oakland Vladimir Guerrero, Anaheim Jose Guillen, Anaheim Cristian Guzman, Minnesota Felix Heredia, New York (AL) Runelvys Hernandez, Kansas City D’Angelo Jimenez, Cincinnati Jose Jimenez, Cleveland Jose Lima, Los Angeles Aquilino Lopez, Toronto Mendy Lopez, Kansas City Julio Lugo, Tampa Bay Hector Luna, St. Louis Damaso Marte, Chicago (AL) Pedro Martinez, Boston Julio Mateo, Seattle Jose Mesa, Pittsburgh Raul Mondesi, Pittsburgh Guillermo Mota, Los Angeles Ramon Nivar, Texas Abraham Nunez, Florida Abraham Nunez, Pittsburgh Jose Offerman, Minnesota Miguel Olivo, Chicago (AL) David Ortiz, Boston Ramon Ortiz, Anaheim Carlos Pena, Detroit Wily Mo Pena, Cincinnati Neifi Perez, San Francisco Odalis Perez, Los Angeles Timo Perez, Chicago (AL) Placido Polanco, Philadelphia Albert Pujols, St. Louis Aramis Ramirez, Chicago (NL) Manny Ramirez, Boston Jose Reyes, New York (NL) Fernando Rodney, Detroit Felix Rodriguez, San Francisco Duaner Sanchez, Los Angeles Alfonso Soriano, Texas Rafael Soriano, Seattle Jorge Sosa, Tampa Bay Sammy Sosa, Chicago (NL) Julian Tavarez, St. Louis Miguel Tejada, Baltimore Amaury Telemaco, Philadelphia Salomon Torres, Pittsburgh Juan Uribe, Chicago (AL) Jose Valverde, Arizona Claudio Vargas, Montreal Jose Vizcaino, Houston Luis Vizcaino, Milwaukee Enrique Wilson, New York (AL) Esteban Yan, Detroit Japan (10) Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Seattle Kazuhisa Ishii, Los Angeles Hideki Matsui, New York (AL) Kazuo Matsui, New York (NL) Hideo Nomo, Los Angeles Tomo Ohka, Montreal Akinori Otsuka, San Diego Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle So Taguchi, St. Louis Shingo Takatsu, Chicago (AL) |
Korea (4) Hee Seop Choi, Florida Byung-Hyun Kim, Boston Sun Woo Kim, Montreal Chan Ho Park, Texas Mexico (16) Luis Ayala, Montreal Vinny Castilla, Colorado Juan Castro, Cincinnati Humberto Cota, Pittsburgh Elmer Dessens, Arizona Erubiel Durazo, Oakland Karim Garcia, New York (NL) Esteban Loaiza, Chicago (AL) Rodrigo Lopez, Baltimore Miguel Ojeda, San Diego Antonio Osuna, San Diego Oliver Perez, Pittsburgh Dennys Reyes, Kansas City Ricardo Rincon, Oakland Ismael Valdes, San Diego Oscar Villarreal, Arizona Nicaragua (1) Vicente Padilla, Philadelphia Panama (6) Einar Diaz, Montreal Carlos Lee, Chicago (AL) Jose Macias, Chicago (NL) Ramiro Mendoza, Boston Mariano Rivera, New York (AL) Olmedo Saenz, Los Angeles Puerto Rico (36) Roberto Alomar, Arizona Sandy Alomar, Jr., Chicago (AL) Carlos Baerga, Arizona Carlos Beltran, Kansas City Enrique Calero, St. Louis Ramon Castro, Florida Alex Cintron, Arizona Alex Cora, Los Angeles Wil Cordero, Florida Cesar Crespo, Boston Jose Cruz, Jr., Tampa Bay Carlos Delgado, Toronto Juan Gonzalez, Kansas City Jose Hernandez, Los Angeles Roberto Hernandez, Philadelphia Ricky Ledee, Philadelphia Javier Lopez, Colorado Javy Lopez, Baltimore Luis Lopez, Baltimore Mike Lowell, Florida Luis Matos, Baltimore Bengie Molina, Anaheim Jose Molina, Anaheim Joel Pineiro, Seattle Jorge Posada, New York (AL) Ivan Rodriguez, Detroit J.C. Romero, Minnesota Rey Sanchez, Tampa Bay Benito Santiago, Kansas City Ruben Sierra, New York (AL) Javier Valentin, Cincinnati Jose Valentin, Chicago (AL) Javier Vazquez, New York (AL) Ramon Vazquez, San Diego Jose Vidro, Montreal Bernie Williams, New York (AL) Venezuela (45) Bobby Abreu, Philadelphia Edgardo Alfonzo, San Francisco Wilson Alvarez, Los Angeles Tony Armas, Jr., Montreal Rafael Betancourt, Cleveland Henry Blanco, Minnesota Miguel Cairo, New York (AL) Miguel Cabrera, Florida Jose Castillo, Pittsburgh Roger Cedeno, St. Louis Raul Chavez, Houston Omar Daal, Baltimore Alexander Escobar, Cleveland Kelvim Escobar, Anaheim Freddy Garcia, Seattle Alex Gonzalez, Florida Jeremi Gonzalez, Tampa Bay Luis Gonzalez, Colorado Carlos Guillen, Detroit Ramon Hernandez, San Diego Richard Hidalgo, Houston Omar Infante, Detroit Cesar Izturis, Los Angeles Jorge Julio, Baltimore Anderson Machado, Philadelphia Victor Martinez, Cleveland Melvin Mora, Baltimore Ober Moreno, New York (NL) Ray Olmedo, Cincinnati Magglio Ordonez, Chicago (AL) Eddie Perez, Atlanta Tomas Perez, Philadelphia Rene Reyes, Colorado Juan Rincon, Minnesota Luis Rivas, Minnesota Juan Rivera, Montreal Francisco Rodriguez, Anaheim Johan Santana, Minnesota Marco Scutaro, Oakland Carlos Silva, Minnesota Yorvit Torrealba, San Francisco Lino Urdaneta, Detroit Omar Vizquel, Cleveland Carlos Zambrano, Chicago (NL) Victor Zambrano, Tampa Bay |
Personally am from Venezuela and i didn’t know that so many of the baseball stars that i knew were from Venezuela.
i am from Japan and so many of my favorite players are from there
dude! Indians should really join the mlb there is like none of them. By the way go dominican republic!