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List of Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico
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Puerto Rico currently has the fourth-most active players in Major League Baseball (MLB) among Latin American jurisdictions, behind the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Cuba.[1] More than four hundred players from the archipelago have played in the major leagues since 1926. This includes players who were born in either one of the archipelago's islands and those of Puerto Rican heritage. Only those players who have worked in the major leagues are listed, not those active in the minor leagues, nor negro independent leagues.
For years, it was considered that the first player from Puerto Rico to play in the major leagues was Hiram Bithorn in 1942. But this changed in December 2020, when seven Negro baseball leagues between 1920 and 1948 were recognized as "major leagues." Thus, the first Puerto Rican to play baseball on the major leagues was Jose "Gacho" Torres, who debuted in 1926.
After the baseball color line was abandoned following Jackie Robinson's debut in the National League of MLB, more players from the island signed contracts. This led to an improvement in their performance, and some of them were selected to participate in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Including their names in the Major League Baseball draft is a requisite for first-year players born in Puerto Rico, because the league recognizes the island as a jurisdiction within the United States.[2] Following the implementation of this measure, Puerto Rico's government requested exclusion from the draft and help to develop players, in order to reduce the impact of the change in the format of talent development.[2]
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Historical performance and regulations
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Baseball was introduced to Puerto Rico by immigrants during the nineteenth century. The first sanctioned baseball game in the island was played on January 9, 1898, in Santurce, Puerto Rico, where two teams composed of Puerto Rican, American and Cuban players participated.[3] After this game, baseball became a widespread sport and professional and amateur leagues were organized. During this time period, the Puerto Rico national teams experienced success on international competition and Afro-Puerto Rican players began to participate in the Negro leagues.[4]
Hiram Bithorn debuted as a pitcher with the Chicago Cubs on April 15, 1942, but before him, there were about 10 other players who worked on the negro leagues, now considered as major leagues. About 17 other Puerto Rican players in the negro leagues were active right before the introduction of African American players in Major League Baseball, and thus, there were more chances to players born in the island. Subsequently, Afro-Puerto Rican players such as Orlando Cepeda and Victor Pellot Power began having solid performances in the league, and were selected to participate in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.[5] In 1973, Roberto Clemente became the first player from Puerto Rico and first Latin American to be elected as a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.[6] Since then Puerto Rico has kept a stable number of players in the league. During this timeframe, several players have been selected to participate in the All-Star Game or won awards for their performance, while others imposed records within the league. These include Javy López, who holds the record for most home runs hit by a catcher in a single season.[7] Both Iván Rodríguez and Roberto Alomar hold the record for most Gold Glove Awards in their positions.[8][9] Recipients of the Most Valuable Player Award include Orlando Cepeda, Juan González and Iván Rodríguez. Roberto Clemente and Mike Lowell also won the World Series MVP Award in their respective divisions.[10] Carlos Delgado is the only Latin to hit 4 homers in a game.
Originally, players who were either born or naturalized in Puerto Rico were able to sign with MLB teams as free agents, usually receiving minor-league contracts prior to their debut in the league. In 1989, Major League Baseball decided to include the island in the list of jurisdictions within the United States, which made mandatory that first-year players include their name in the Major League Baseball Draft in order to receive a contract.[2] This was based on an initiative that was supposed to create a national and international drafting system. The change reduced the number of players that were able to participate in the league, by limiting the number of them selected by the teams;[2] this led to the island's Secretary of Recreation and Sports, to formally ask to Major League's involvement in developing specialized schools to produce more players and other measures to reduce the impact of the draft's implementation.[2] The original proposal included Puerto Rico's exclusion of the draft for a period of ten years, but this was not approved by the league.
Puerto Rico was one of sixteen teams to participate in the inaugural edition of the World Baseball Classic.[11] The tournament was created by Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association, and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations around the world, including the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League. The first event was organized in 2006, and was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation. Puerto Rico won the silver medal on both 2013 and 2017 classics. The Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico hosted 22 Montreal Expos home games in 2003, after the league decided to relocate the team to San Juan as part of an experiment to "globalize" baseball.[12] During the series there was an average attendance of 14,222.[13]
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List of players
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This list includes players born in Puerto Rico and players born outside of Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican parent.
A–E
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F–L
M–Q
R–W
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See also
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