GLOBALIZATION OF BASEBALL:  1876-1933 THE FIRST WAVE OF INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS

*Hageman, S.A.

Department of Natural and Physical Sciences, Park University

Major league baseball has received a lot of attention for its recent globalization of the game.  The large number of players from Central America and Asia has become obvious but an analysis of international players reveals that this is actually the second time in baseball history that large numbers of international players have impacted the game.  Data was used from baseball almanac to determine the country of origin for over 2,000 players from 1876 to 2008 which is a small sample compared to over 15,000 players born in the USA.  During baseball’s early years 1876-1889 the players averaged 8.6% in international origin.  The 1890-1919’s produced an average of 4.28% of the league being of international origin.  Most of the players were of western European decent with Ireland, Germany, Norway, Australia, England, and Russia representing many of the early international players.  The next several decades resulted in a sharp decline in international players as they became nearly non-existent in 1933 with only three players representing three countries or 0.62% of the players.  The United States depression pushed out non-American players and the international player’s impact on baseball would not reach its 19th century levels until 1960 when it hit 10.8%.  While 1970-1985 saw consistent numbers of international players around 12.2% it was actually a time of increased diversity as 12-18 countries were represented in the league versus 3-8 countries in the 19th century.  The current globalization of baseball is from 1986-2008 and during this span has increased 1.14% per year from 12% to 38.3% with 22 countries represented in 2008.