The wide world of baseball: foreign-born players are filling major league rosters, showing the true measures of global talent in the American pastime

Baseball Digest, Feb, 2003 by George Vass

PERHAPS NOBODY'S NOTICED, BUT what has been hailed since time immemorial as America's "national pastime" is far more than that, and to a certain extent has been so from its very beginnings.

It might not be stretching the point to assert that baseball has developed into an "international pastime," a sport whose appeal has spread around the globe and bids to become almost universal. At last count, major and minor league players in the United States came from 31 countries, forming a virtual United Nations of baseball.

Not that such widespread recruiting is entirely new. Foreign-born players have been prominent in the game from its earliest days. Brothers George and Harry Wright emigrated from England to the United States and spurred the pioneering Cincinnati Red Stockings to glory even before the founding of the National League in 1876, which marked the inception of major league baseball.

That may be ancient history, but what's not is that an ever-growing proportion of major league players--as well as minor leaguers--is now coming from elsewhere than the 50 United States.

According to the Office of the Commissioner, 26.1 percent of file 849 players (750 active and 99 disabled) on the 2002 Opening Day rosters of the 30 major league teams were born elsewhere than in the 50 states. What's more, almost 50 percent of 5,781 minor leaguers were in the same category.

While the hike to 26.1 in 2002 from 25.3 percent of major leaguers in 2001 seems modest, the minor league figures strongly suggest that fairly soon probably half of all major league players will come from elsewhere than the 50 states. After all, the minors are the training ground for future big leaguers.

Such barebones statistics may seem deadly dull, but there's also dramatic evidence for baseball's growing trend or scooping up talent from all over the world.

During the more than hall a century after the founding of the rookie of the year awards in the major leagues in 1947 the prize occasionally went to foreign-born players beginning with Luis Aparicio of the Chicago White Sox in 1956. The Hall of Fame shortstop is a native of Venezuela,

Among other rookies of the year through 1999 born outside the 50 states were Orlando Cepeda of the Giants (1958), Tony Oliva of the Twins (1964), Rod Carew of the Twins (1967), Alfredo Griffin of the Blue Jays (1979), Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers (1981), Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox (1985), Jose Canseco of the A's (1986), Benito Santiago of the Padres (1987), Sandy Alomar, Jr. of the Indians (1990) and Raul Mondesi (1994) and Hideo Nomo (1995) of the Dodgers.

Nomo, born in Japan, was the first non-Hispanic in this group, significantly signaling baseball's ever-expanding reach for talent into the Far East, which is gathering momentum. Last season, 11 major league players came from Japan and three from South Korea, both new highs.

Almost unnoticed, the foreign-born trend achieved a notable high point in the year 2000. For the first time, the rookies of the year in both major leagues came from outside the 50 states. Seattle Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki became the first American League top rookie from Japan. The National League choice was Dominican Republic-born shortstop Rafael Furcal of the Atlanta Braves.

The pattern was repeated in 2001. Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki arrived from Japan to capture the A.L. award. The N.L. winner was St. Louis Cardinals outfielder/infielder Albert Pujols, born in the Dominican Republic.

And although neither of the 2002 rookies of the year, third baseman Eric Hinske of the Blue Jays and pitcher Jason Jennings of the Colorado Rockies, came from outside the 50 states, there's a good chance that in 2003 and future years one or both of the award winners will have crossed a border or an ocean.

As noted earlier, half of aU minor leaguers are imports, making it probable that a like proportion of future rookies of the year will come from their ranks. In addition, veterans of the Japanese major leagues such as Nomo, Sasaki, Suzuki and others have paved the way for teammates to similarly offer their services to U. S. teams.

Among the likely candidates for the 2003 rookie awards, two of the most highly regarded are expected to be Japanese outfielder Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui, a free agent during the off-season, and Chicago Cubs first baseman Hee Seop Choi, a South Korea native. The New York Yankees reportedly were pursuing Matsui while the Cubs were counting on Choi to take over full-time at first base.

Matsui, 28, who is 6-1 and 210 pounds, hit 50 home runs for the Yomiuri Giants in 2002 while batting .334, then revealed he wanted to play in the U.S. in 2003. He has led Japan's Central League three times in both home runs and RBI.

"I've made my decision, now I'm staking my life on it, so I'll do my best," Matsui said. "My greatest appeal has been as a home run hitter. Anywhere I go, I want to be a batter who hits home runs."

It seemed possible that Matsui would get a chance to do it for the Yankees in 2003, though other teams also were in the running for his services.