List of countries with their first Major League Baseball player
The following is a list of countries with their first Major League Baseball player. Listed are each country that at least one current or former major league player was born in, along with the name of the first person born in that country to play in a major league game, and the year and sports league of that player's major league debut. Background. The globalization of baseball has been occurring since its inception. After an influx of players from western Europe in early years, the major leagues came to  see fewer European players and more players from Latin America. Players born in over 50 countries and on every continent except Antarctica have now appeared in major league games. Considerations: List. Listed players appeared in at least one game of a professional baseball major league (commonly referred to as Major League Baseball, although that entity did not exist before 1903), which encompasses: Note that the status of the National Association as a major league is in dispute. National Association players are included in the major league records of sites such as Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet, thus are also included here. There  were 18 players–all born in the United States–in the first game of the National Association, played on 4 May 1871.