Country rankings
First MLB Player by Country
United States has the highest Total Major League Players (16,751), followed by Dominican Republic (717) and Venezuela (382). American Samoa has the lowest (1).
54 of 235 countries
Total Major League Players
Darker means higher. Click a place to highlight it.
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All 54 ranked
Highest first.
Distribution Median and middle halfThe median is the middle value: half of places are above it, half below. The middle half is the range holding the central 50% of places.More in the glossary →
Each dot is one country; the lines mark the median and the middle half.
Median
4.5
Middle half 1 – 18.75
Average
354
54 countries
Highest
16,751
United States
Lowest
1
American Samoa
Data
Click a column to sort, a row to highlight that place on the charts.
54 countries · # = rank by Total Major League Players
| # | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States | 16,751 | Bobby Mathews | Fort Wayne Kekiongas (National Association) | 1,871 | Played in several semi-professional leagues before pitching a shutout in the inaugural game of the NAPBBP, the first professional league. |
| 2 |  Dominican Republic | 717 | Pedro San | Cuban Stars East (Eastern Colored League) | 1,926 | Outside of Negro League: Ozzie Virgil, New York Giants (now San Francisco Giants), 1956. |
| 3 |  Venezuela | 382 | Alex Carrasquel | Washington Senators (now Minnesota Twins) | 1,939 | — |
| 4 |  Puerto Rico | 264 | José "Gacho" Torres | Newark Stars (Eastern Colored League) | 1,926 | Outside of Negro League: Hiram "Hi" Bithorn, Chicago Cubs, 1942. |
| 5 |  Canada | 250 | Bob Addy | Rockford Forest Citys (National Association) | 1,871 | — |
| 6 |  Cuba | 201 | Steve Bellan | Troy Haymakers (National Association) | 1,871 | — |
| 7 |  Mexico | 125 | Mel Almada | Boston Red Sox | 1,933 | — |
| 8 |  Japan | 66 | Masanori Murakami | San Francisco Giants | 1,964 | — |
| 9 |  Panama | 60 | Victor Greenidge | New York Cubans (Negro National League II) | 1,941 | Outside of Negro League: Humberto Robinson, Milwaukee Braves, 1955. |
| 10 |  Ireland | 47 | Andy Leonard | Washington Olympics (National Association)/Boston Red Stockings (National Association, now Atlanta Braves) | 1,871 | — |
| 11 |  Australia | 30 | Joe Quinn | St. Louis Maroons (Union Association) | 1,884 | — |
| 12 |  Germany | 29 | David Lenz/Marty Swandell | Brooklyn Eckfords (National Association) | 1,872 | — |
| 13 |  South Korea | 23 | Chan Ho Park | Los Angeles Dodgers | 1,994 | — |
| 14 |  Colombia | 20 | Lou Castro | Philadelphia Athletics (now Oakland As) | 1,902 | — |
| 15 |  Curacao | 15 | Hensley Meulens | New York Yankees | 1,989 | — |
| 16 |  Taiwan | 14 | Chin-Feng Chen | Los Angeles Dodgers | 2,002 | — |
| 16 |  Nicaragua | 14 | Dennis Martinez | Baltimore Orioles | 1,976 | — |
| 16 |  United States Virgin Islands | 14 | Alfonso Gerard | New York Black Yankees (National Negro League II) | 1,945 | Outside of Negro League: Joe Christopher, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1959 |
| 19 |  Netherlands | 12 | Rynie Wolters | New York Mutuals (National Association) | 1,871 | — |
| 20 |  Russia | 8 | Jake Gettman | Washington Senators (no longer active) | 1,897 | This Senators team is different from the teams that later became the Minnesota Twins and the Texas Rangers |
| 21 |  France | 7 | Larry Ressler | Washington Nationals (National Association) | 1,875 | — |
| 21 |  Italy | 7 | Lou Polli | St. Louis Browns (now Baltimore Orioles) | 1,932 | — |
| 23 |  Bahamas | 6 | Ormond Sampson | Atlanta Black Crackers (Negro Southern League) | 1,932 | Outside of Negro League: Andre Rodgers, New York Giants (now San Francisco Giants), 1957. |
| 24 |  Brazil | 5 | Yan Gomes | Toronto Blue Jays | 2,012 | — |
| 24 |  Poland | 5 | Henry Peploski | Boston Braves (now Atlanta Braves) | 1,929 | — |
| 24 |  Austria | 5 | Frank/Dutch Ulrich | Philadelphia Phillies | 1,925 | — |
| 24 |  Aruba | 5 | Gene Kingsale | Baltimore Orioles | 1,996 | — |
| 28 |  Sweden | 4 | Charlie Hallstrom | Providence Grays (no longer active) | 1,885 | — |
| 28 |  Jamaica | 4 | Oscar Levis | Cuban Stars East (Eastern Colored League) | 1,923 | Outside of Negro League: Chili Davis, San Francisco Giants, 1981. |
| 30 |  Spain | 3 | Bryan Oelkers | Minnesota Twins | 1,983 | — |
| 30 |  Ukraine | 3 | Bill Cristall | Cleveland Blues (now Cleveland Guardians) | 1,901 | — |
| 30 |  Czechia | 3 | John Stedronsky | Chicago White Stockings (now Chicago Cubs) | 1,879 | The Cubs were the Chicago White Stockings from 1870 to 1889. The Chicago White Sox were the White Stockings (with no Chicago in the name) from 1900 to 1903. |
| 30 |  Norway | 3 | John Anderson | Brooklyn Grooms (now Los Angeles Dodgers) | 1,894 | — |
| 34 |  Saudi Arabia | 2 | Craig Stansberry | San Diego Padres | 2,007 | Born in Saudi Arabia to American parents. |
| 35 |  China | 1 | Harry Kingman | New York Yankees | 1,914 | Born in China to American missionaries. |
| 35 |  Indonesia | 1 | Tom Mastny | Cleveland Indians (now Cleveland Guardians) | 2,006 | — |
| 35 |  Philippines | 1 | Claudio Manela | Cincinnati Cuban Stars (Negro National League) | 1,921 | Outside of Negro League: Bobby Chouinard, Oakland As, 1996. |
| 35 |  Vietnam | 1 | Danny Graves | Cleveland Indians (now Cleveland Guardians) | 1,996 | Born in South Vietnam to Vietnamese/American parents |
| 35 |  South Africa | 1 | Gift Ngoepe | Pittsburgh Pirates | 2,017 | — |
| 35 |  Afghanistan | 1 | Jeff Bronkey | Texas Rangers | 1,993 | — |
| 35 |  Peru | 1 | Jesus Luzardo | Oakland Athletics/As | 2,019 | — |
| 35 |  Belgium | 1 | Brian Lesher | Oakland Athletics/As | 1,996 | — |
| 35 |  Honduras | 1 | Gerald Young | Houston Astros | 1,987 | — |
| 35 |  Portugal | 1 | Frank Thompson | Washington Nationals (National Association) | 1,875 | — |
| 35 |  Greece | 1 | Al Campanis | Brooklyn Dodgers (now Los Angeles Dodgers) | 1,943 | — |
| 35 |  Switzerland | 1 | Otto Hess | Cleveland Bronchos (now Cleveland Guardians) | 1,902 | — |
| 35 |  Hong Kong | 1 | Austin Brice | Miami Marlins | 2,016 | Born in Hong Kong to American parents. |
| 35 |  Denmark | 1 | Olaf Henriksen | Boston Red Sox | 1,911 | — |
| 35 |  Singapore | 1 | Robin Jennings | Chicago Cubs | 1,996 | Born in Singapore to American parents |
| 35 |  Finland | 1 | John Michaelson | Chicago White Sox | 1,921 | — |
| 35 |  Lithuania | 1 | Dovydas Neverauskas | Pittsburgh Pirates | 2,017 | — |
| 35 |  Latvia | 1 | Joe Zapustas | Philadelphia Athletics (now Oakland As) | 1,933 | — |
| 35 |  Guam | 1 | John Hattig | Toronto Blue Jays | 2,006 | — |
| 35 |  American Samoa | 1 | Tony Solaita | New York Yankees | 1,968 | — |
What correlates with Total Major League Players?
Pearson r against 1,751 other country metrics sharing at least 33 countries, 7 near-identical series hidden. Correlation is not causation.
Higher together
Places that have a higher Total Major League Players tend to score higher on these
Opposite directions
Places that have a higher Total Major League Players tend to score lower on these
Quick answers
- Which country has the highest Total Major League Players?
- United States has the highest Total Major League Players, at 16,751, followed by Dominican Republic (717) and Venezuela (382).
- Which country has the lowest Total Major League Players?
- American Samoa has the lowest Total Major League Players, at 1.
- What is the median Total Major League Players across countries?
- The median is 4.5 across the 54 countries with data.
- Where does this first mlb player by country data come from?
- Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: List of First Major League Baseball Players by Country - Baseball Reference; List of all the Major League Baseball Teams - Baseball Reference.