Posted By:
Jaime LeidermanRyan
1333 foreign players have reached the majors in the history of the game.
That's 300 short of players from California (1664)and almost the same number from Pennsylvania born players (1293).
http://baseball-reference.com/bio/
I have two friends that play Major League ball, Wilson Alvarez and Geremi Gonzalez (Both Venezuelans).
They left their country, family and even their usual meals to play baseball and earn good money to raise their kids.
According to them, and many others I've read from, there's a "little secret" when Latin American players start playing in the minors.
They have to play better, harder and not get into trouble. (The usual misconception about all Latin Players being rude, drinkers, gamblers........)
In the minors, managers and coaches keep telling them that their places can be taken by any US born player cause it would be "cheaper" for the org.
How can a player that learned to play baseball using a broom stick as a bat and bottle caps as baseballs cause his country !@#$ government didn't have the time to open a small baseball school or little league park, or that he didn't finish school to start working for little money to help the family could know who the hell was Joe D.?
It's amazing that only 134 Venezuelans have played MLB in more than 60 years since the first one played (Alex Carrasquel - WAS).
Maybe someday I could bring one of my friends to the chatroom and discuss this subject.