To understand the role of other countries in a sport that started in the United States, you can read essays (which we have) and/or you can look at numbers. Now, the important part of the numbers' game to remember is that totals and percentages in Major League Baseball are not a reflection of the interest at the youth level in any country. But it's clear in any sport, when you have a pro publicity machine at work, when your country suddenly finds itself with legitimate MLB stars, when you can read about those home-grown stars in your newspapers, then suddenly the youth of a nation believes it might, just might, be an attainable dream for them, too.

An example from outside baseball: Steve Nash is the lone Canadian star in the National Basketball Association yet that has been enough to spark growth in that game in an otherwise hockey-mad country. Likewise on 04/03/2007, the official MLB count showed 1 Aussie on Major League rosters: Chris Snelling (Washington Nationals). Yet that one ballplayer, augmented by others as the season progressed, and also by the spark of recent amateur successes (Olympics, World Classic) has suddenly made Australia a baseball-mad country (see separate article).

COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN	MLB ALL-TIME	2007 OPENING
Dominican Republic	458	98
Puerto Rico	223	28
Canada	218	19
Venezuela	214	51
Cuba	152	6
Mexico	102	13
Japan	40	13

April 2007 Opening Day: Overall, 29.0 percent of the 849 players (that's 246 of the 750 active 25-man roster players plus 99 disabled or restricted players) on April 2 rosters were born outside the 50 United States, representing 15 different countries and territories. This MLB-provided info is from opening day, so numbers change. (Canada, for example started at 19 and was up to 21 at one point.)

In the minor leagues, of 3,098 of the 6,701 players under contract in 2007 (that's 46.2%) were born outside the United States, compared to 45.1% in 2006 - not a huge change but upward movement nonetheless.

Minor leaguers hailed from 35 different countries and territories. But it's more difficult to get an accurate break down on minor leaguers by country - usually it's a country-based website that will have that. For instance, 173 Canadians with minor league contracts according to baseball.ca (110+ on affiliated teams and 60+ on independent league rosters.)

But the real stunner for several years now is the Dominican Republic. The D.R. is a country of only 9 million with around 80 MLB players and another 1,400 or more in the minors. That's over 20% of the players from a country that's less than 2% of the theoretical talent pool.


Everyone needs to have a realistic perspective on all this and to not get ahead of the game, or the numbers. For example, for many years Canada could point to only one major league star at a time - from Ferguson Jenkins through to Larry Walker. Even if they make the Hall of Fame or like Justin Morneau receive an MVP, or like Jeff Francis pitched well in (some, not all) post-season games, the perception is that Japan has had a greater impact on the MLB than places like Canada, let alone Australia or Europe.

On that measure, this is still America's pastime - it's where the best training is, where the most funding is spent on player development, where the highest level instruction is to be found, and where the scouts stay busiest.

Let me throw another perspective into the mix - the home game.

Japan is different because not all good Japanese players need to come to the US - they have a strong pro league of their own, and develop ball players who are MLB ready, little or no minor league seasoning required - that's why the sudden impact at the highest level.

Cuba is different, also, for socio-political-economic reasons. In fact I think every single player in Cuba's top league would be welcomed in a US pro org. It's the level of home-brewed competition to develop players. Cubans would come if they could. Dominicans can and do.

This also explains why we're seeing more and more college players in the US who are short tracked through the minors - Jacoby Ellsbury, for instance.


Truthfully, does anyone think they're going to find many in US baseball who would look at Aussies or Canucks as they do Cubans or Dominicans? Not really. There's no shame in that. It's just the way it is. All countries except for a very few need U.S. pro ball and college ball, too. Heck, Canada has good college programs now - a few - but its attempt to start a pro league (with Ferguson Jenkins as the figurehead) failed. Can't imagine what would happen in Australia or Italy (but the MLB is determined to try).

Besides, look under the Scouting > Challenges section where we show more numbers - and see a hard truth. Even in the U.S.A., perhaps even more so in the States, it's very difficult to move from "love of game" to "paid by game" as a career path. It's why we so strongly recommend the college route - if the baseball career fails, you'll have a degree for the "real world".

Our advice, no matter where in the world or the U.S. you live, enjoy every opportunity to travel and play baseball that comes your way. Anything else is a bonus.