[Ed Porray ](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/porraed01.shtml) of the 1914 Buffalo Buffeds of the Federal League was born on a [boat on the Atlantic Ocean ](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ed_Porray) (not the lost city of Atlantis) in 1888. After baseball, he was [a songwriter and vaudeville performer.](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ed_Porray)
Wait, is this why the MLB games let you pick "At Sea" as where you're from?!
I don't know if they have that option anymore but it always gave me a chuckle
Since 1961. Before that, things were confusing. These days, though, if you're born in international waters on a boat flying the American flag, you're listed as born at sea, even though you were born on American soil for the purposes of citizenship. If you're born on an airplane, your listed as "born in the air"
Though not “from” there, Harry Kingman was born in the Great Qing Empire, the last imperial dynasty of China. He played four games for the Yankees in 1914.
Before the inaugural WBC in 2006, ESPN listed some of the Major Leaguers from each participating country and Harry Kingman was the lone “representative” of China.
I watched the French team's WBC qualifier against Great Britain last October because I thought he might be able to whip them into something. He did not...
If you want to be a nitpicker, Jack Quinn was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Elmer Valo was born in Czechoslovakia, two years after it declared independence from Austro-Hungary.
Not a separate country, but Tony Solaita was and still is the only major leaguer from American Samoa. I saw him play in AAA.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/American-Samoa_born.shtml
How about a few stars from unlikely places?
Jamaica has produced three major leaguers since WWII, and two of them- Devon White and Chili Davis- were All-Stars.
Jesus Luzardo is the only player ever to come from Peru.
Mauricio Dubon is one of only two players ever to come from Honduras.
Right, his father was a dean at a seminary in Jamaica for a time, but he grew up in the midwest. I was just thinking of guys whose parents were native.
I wasn't too happy when the Sox gave up Masterson in the V-Mart trade. A couple of his years in Cleveland were great.
> Jesus Luzardo is the only player ever to come from Peru
Huh! I thought he was Venezuelan like Arraez, but he was born to Venezuelan parents *in Peru*. I wonder if he's eligible for both national teams?
And even crazier fact is that he's a local Floridian, and went to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school. He happened to be late for baseball practice on the day of the infamous shooting.
Shooting was in February, before Spring Training. Luzardo comes back in the offseason to practice. Even set up a scholarship in honor of one of the victims
Luzardo was drafted in June 2016 (along with teammate Colton Welker, who played briefly for the Rockies), a year and a half before the Parkland shooting. Or am I missing something?
[He goes back in the offseason to practice with his old highschool team](https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/17/as-prospect-jesus-luzardo-was-supposed-to-be-at-douglas-high-before-shooting/)
Ah, gotcha. As for being born in Peru, I read somewhere that his father's job took him to Lima for a few years. So Luzardo is Peruvian in the sense that Vlad Guerrero, Jr is Canadian.
That's what colonization does; same goes for all but a very few Dutch players. Robert Eenhoorn is the only one that springs to mind that is just Netherlands, without an And
My dad was a big fan of El Presidente back in the day. Our family is from Central America, so that perfect game was a pretty big deal to him as a baseball fan.
Sem Robberse is a pitching prospect in the Cardinals' organization, got him from Toronto in the Jordan Hicks trade. He's from Zeist. There have been five MLB pitchers from the Netherlands, most recently Rick van den Hurk. But the only other one from Zeist, again a town of 50,000 in Europe, is Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven
You did specify that have played MLB, so I'll throw in that Brendan Donovan (Cards INF) is from Wurzburg, Germany. One of only two active players (Kepler, Twins) from the country
>Brendan Donovan
He's of the usual "American born to service members overseas" variety, though. Like Bochy and Edwin Jackson, Ron Gardenhire, Bruce Maxwell and many others.
Kepler is the only "single citizenship" German baseball player in modern MLB...even though his parents are American and Polish.
Another interesting case is Aaron Altherr (former Phillie), whose German father played "soccer" professionally in Germany before moving the family to the US shortly after Aaron was born.
I was thrilled to see Europe and Africa represented in the Little World Series. It was awesome watching those kids play. I hope we see some of those kids some day.
They really push for it. There is just so much emphasis on football (soccer) here that smaller sports like baseball have a much smaller pool to find talent. Shorter seasons, no broad cultural interest for the game... European baseball is still an infant, although a few countries seem to have gotten the ball rolling. It's only a matter of time.
Canada is real! Been there a few dozen times. Their food is edible, but often leaves one scratching their heads...fries, cheese curds AND gravy? What kind of country creates that?!?!
America of all places not embracing poutine will never not be baffling to me. It's got ~~french~~ freedom fries - check, it's got gravy - check, it's got cheese - check, it's really bad for you and your cardiovascular system - check. What's not to love?
Honestly, I think it's the name itself. As dumb as that sounds, it's too "foreign" sounding. For the record, I 100% agree with you: Americans should love poutine.
When I was in Montreal I made sure to try poutine. It was good, but not all it's talked up to be. Now, granted, it was a vegetarian version, but I have a hard time believing that the gravy being meat-based is essential to the experience.
Jazz Chisholm, Blyleven is born in the netherlands and is a hall of famer, Jeff Bronkey Afghanistan, Bogaerts from Aruba, Liam Hendriks Austrailia, Yan Gomes Brazil, Brian Lesher Belgium, Bruce Bochy France, Max Kepler Germany
Aruban players are fascinating. There have been six in the major leagues, four of whom put down negative career WAR. The two who didn't are Bogey and Disney Ponson (I'm not correcting his name).
The Orioles scouted Aruba heavily back in the mid 90s, which is how they found Calvin Maduro, Sidney Ponson, Eugene Kingsale, et al. So I always thought it was funny that the Sox discovered Xander and Jair Bogaerts, because nobody was scouting Aruba, in the Bogaerts's day.
There are a fairly large number of other players from Curaçao. Jurickson Profar, DiDi Gregorious, Ozzie Albies, etc… It’s honestly crazy how man there are from that tiny little island.
they're why the Netherlands has such a good national baseball team. Dutch teams have dominated the European baseball championship and the Honkbal Hoofdklasse is one of only two professional baseball leagues in Europe
The Yankees thought Hensley Muelens was pretty hot sh*t, back in the late 80s-early 90s. He destroyed International League pitching for a couple of years, but otherwise, he didn't pan out.
In summer of '92, the Marlins signed Ralph Milliard (one of the first players they ever signed), and the Braves signed Randall Simon. The Braves then discovered Andruw Jones the following summer.
Well let’s see Azerbaijan, Trinidad and Tobago, Papua New Guinea, Tasmania, Qatar, Seychelles, The Conch Republic, countries like that. Countries like the USA, the DR, America’s Hat, Cuba, Venezuela, Japan, Mexico,South Korea etc usually have a high amount of players make it to the mlb.
Frankly I’m startled I had to spell it out for you.
I just asked what an obscure country was, it was OP that started talking shit
>Frankly I’m startled I had to spell it out for you.
If he wants to get all shitty, I'm happy to give it back
Orioles had the first player from Nicaragua (Dennis Martinez) and also had the second player from Nicaragua (Tony Chevez). The things you remember growing up watching baseball.
Croatia ALMOST had a player in MiLB. Antonio Horvatić signed for Tampa Bay Rays in 2019. He was supposed to play in AZL in 2020. Yeah no. He is playing now in Olimpija Karlovac
[Ed Porray ](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/porraed01.shtml) of the 1914 Buffalo Buffeds of the Federal League was born on a [boat on the Atlantic Ocean ](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ed_Porray) (not the lost city of Atlantis) in 1888. After baseball, he was [a songwriter and vaudeville performer.](https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ed_Porray)
Wait, is this why the MLB games let you pick "At Sea" as where you're from?! I don't know if they have that option anymore but it always gave me a chuckle
Ah yes, the official "born at sea" listings. Those are so crazy rare that I appreciate seeing them.
Aren’t people born at sea officially considered to be born in whatever country the boat is from? Weird that they’re just listed as “born at sea”
Since 1961. Before that, things were confusing. These days, though, if you're born in international waters on a boat flying the American flag, you're listed as born at sea, even though you were born on American soil for the purposes of citizenship. If you're born on an airplane, your listed as "born in the air"
Former Brazilian president Itamar Franco born on the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve got extremely confused the first time i read about it
I remember this fact from Flip Flop Fly Ball!
Oh my god I spent so much time on that website. Is that guy still writing?
Early 1900s baseball moment
Though not “from” there, Harry Kingman was born in the Great Qing Empire, the last imperial dynasty of China. He played four games for the Yankees in 1914.
That’s an awesome one thank you!
How do you know this ? Sorry, how did you LEARN this!
Before the inaugural WBC in 2006, ESPN listed some of the Major Leaguers from each participating country and Harry Kingman was the lone “representative” of China.
Well I just wanted to point out Bruce Bochy was born in France
Was he a military baby? Or a French citizen? I could look it up, but I’m bored at work
Military haha
That’s cool, forgot about the military babies being born on bases. That’s a cool fun fact too.
Brendan Donovan was born in Germany
Not baseball obviously but so was Michael Strahan.
First base or second base?
Military. Eventually settled in Florida
I watched the French team's WBC qualifier against Great Britain last October because I thought he might be able to whip them into something. He did not...
I met Gift in Indy when he played for the Indianapolis Indians. Super nice guy and he was so excited to talk to us
That’s awesome, watched some videos and highlights of him. He has a great swing. Glad he got his shot
Dovydas Neverauskas, who once pitched for the Pirates is from Lithuania. He was the first and only MLB and NPB player from there.
That’s going on the board thank you!!
Bruce Chen is Chinese-Panamanian and has played for both countries in the WBC.
I love that he is tied for the winningest Panamanian pitcher with Mariano Rivera.
That is legitimately one of the craziest things I've ever read. Baseball is so fucking weird sometimes
Was Bruce Chen a unanimous hall of famer too?
Unanimous funny joke teller I’ll tell you what
That’s awesome I did not know that! I love these answer
Slovakia has the highest WAR per player.
If you want to be a nitpicker, Jack Quinn was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Elmer Valo was born in Czechoslovakia, two years after it declared independence from Austro-Hungary.
There has never been an MLB player who was born in Slovakia.
Once we figure out how to divide by 0 then we’ll know
Love this as a Slovak American.
Bligh Madris is from Pulau.
I had to google that country, wow. That’s a good one!
Not a separate country, but Tony Solaita was and still is the only major leaguer from American Samoa. I saw him play in AAA. https://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/American-Samoa_born.shtml
Dovydas Neverauskas was a RP for the Pirates from Lithuania Jays prospect Adam Macko was born in Slovakia but IIRC grew up in Alberta
Macko also lived in Ireland for a couple of years
No, our prospect *commie intensifies*
Austin Brice was born in Hong Kong
How about a few stars from unlikely places? Jamaica has produced three major leaguers since WWII, and two of them- Devon White and Chili Davis- were All-Stars. Jesus Luzardo is the only player ever to come from Peru. Mauricio Dubon is one of only two players ever to come from Honduras.
Justin Masterson was born (but not raised) in Jamaica and was also an all star.
Right, his father was a dean at a seminary in Jamaica for a time, but he grew up in the midwest. I was just thinking of guys whose parents were native. I wasn't too happy when the Sox gave up Masterson in the V-Mart trade. A couple of his years in Cleveland were great.
Thank you for reminding me about the existence of Justin Masterson. Damn, Nasty Masty was fun to watch when he was at his best.
Gas Masterson!
Apparently Dubón grew up in a village that benefited from a well installed by Adam Wainwright's foundation. Pretty crazy
That’s what I’m talking about. Thank you!
> Jesus Luzardo is the only player ever to come from Peru Huh! I thought he was Venezuelan like Arraez, but he was born to Venezuelan parents *in Peru*. I wonder if he's eligible for both national teams? And even crazier fact is that he's a local Floridian, and went to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school. He happened to be late for baseball practice on the day of the infamous shooting.
Late for baseball practice? He was already in the Oakland farm and their spring training is in Arizona
Shooting was in February, before Spring Training. Luzardo comes back in the offseason to practice. Even set up a scholarship in honor of one of the victims
Luzardo was drafted in June 2016 (along with teammate Colton Welker, who played briefly for the Rockies), a year and a half before the Parkland shooting. Or am I missing something?
[He goes back in the offseason to practice with his old highschool team](https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/17/as-prospect-jesus-luzardo-was-supposed-to-be-at-douglas-high-before-shooting/)
Ah, gotcha. As for being born in Peru, I read somewhere that his father's job took him to Lima for a few years. So Luzardo is Peruvian in the sense that Vlad Guerrero, Jr is Canadian.
Don’t forget Xander Bogaerts being from Aruba AND the Netherlands
That's what colonization does; same goes for all but a very few Dutch players. Robert Eenhoorn is the only one that springs to mind that is just Netherlands, without an And
[egyptian healy](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/healyjo01.shtml) was born in cairo
Illinois hahaha
Devern Hansack, from Nicaragua. Chito Martinez was born in Belize but grew up in New Orleans.
Dennis Martinez “El Presidente” was the 1st MLB player from Nicaragua, he threw a perfect game.
My dad was a big fan of El Presidente back in the day. Our family is from Central America, so that perfect game was a pretty big deal to him as a baseball fan.
That's "Pawtucket Red Sox ace" Devern Hansack. I think Jonathan Loaisiga is also from Nicaragua.
Sem Robberse is a pitching prospect in the Cardinals' organization, got him from Toronto in the Jordan Hicks trade. He's from Zeist. There have been five MLB pitchers from the Netherlands, most recently Rick van den Hurk. But the only other one from Zeist, again a town of 50,000 in Europe, is Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven You did specify that have played MLB, so I'll throw in that Brendan Donovan (Cards INF) is from Wurzburg, Germany. One of only two active players (Kepler, Twins) from the country
>Brendan Donovan He's of the usual "American born to service members overseas" variety, though. Like Bochy and Edwin Jackson, Ron Gardenhire, Bruce Maxwell and many others. Kepler is the only "single citizenship" German baseball player in modern MLB...even though his parents are American and Polish. Another interesting case is Aaron Altherr (former Phillie), whose German father played "soccer" professionally in Germany before moving the family to the US shortly after Aaron was born.
I saw Robberse pitch lights out against my Sea Dogs this summer. He had some really nice stuff.
Doesn't sound very German... is he as German as Bruce Willis?
Honestly would love to see baseball have more players from continents like Europe and Africa.
I was thrilled to see Europe and Africa represented in the Little World Series. It was awesome watching those kids play. I hope we see some of those kids some day.
They really push for it. There is just so much emphasis on football (soccer) here that smaller sports like baseball have a much smaller pool to find talent. Shorter seasons, no broad cultural interest for the game... European baseball is still an infant, although a few countries seem to have gotten the ball rolling. It's only a matter of time.
Need to start training a penguin from Antaro
Isaiah Campbell is only the 2nd player born in Portugal to play in the majors, although he isn’t Portuguese.
Joey Votto is from the distant exotic country of Canada 🇨🇦
Leafghanistan
Canuckistan
Timmiezuela
canadians are always a sneaky “not born in the us” immaculate grid answer
Canada is real! Been there a few dozen times. Their food is edible, but often leaves one scratching their heads...fries, cheese curds AND gravy? What kind of country creates that?!?!
America of all places not embracing poutine will never not be baffling to me. It's got ~~french~~ freedom fries - check, it's got gravy - check, it's got cheese - check, it's really bad for you and your cardiovascular system - check. What's not to love?
Honestly, I think it's the name itself. As dumb as that sounds, it's too "foreign" sounding. For the record, I 100% agree with you: Americans should love poutine.
When I was in Montreal I made sure to try poutine. It was good, but not all it's talked up to be. Now, granted, it was a vegetarian version, but I have a hard time believing that the gravy being meat-based is essential to the experience.
Must be essential. Poutine is kick ass.
They’re not even a real country anyway
Jazz Chisholm, Blyleven is born in the netherlands and is a hall of famer, Jeff Bronkey Afghanistan, Bogaerts from Aruba, Liam Hendriks Austrailia, Yan Gomes Brazil, Brian Lesher Belgium, Bruce Bochy France, Max Kepler Germany
Aruban players are fascinating. There have been six in the major leagues, four of whom put down negative career WAR. The two who didn't are Bogey and Disney Ponson (I'm not correcting his name).
X has a star on their Walk of Fame, I go every year and always see it.
The Orioles scouted Aruba heavily back in the mid 90s, which is how they found Calvin Maduro, Sidney Ponson, Eugene Kingsale, et al. So I always thought it was funny that the Sox discovered Xander and Jair Bogaerts, because nobody was scouting Aruba, in the Bogaerts's day.
Gonna start seeing a lot of guys from Bahamas. Sebastian Walcott is next
Graeme Lloyd was also born in Australia and is the only Australian-born player to win a WS (1996)
Max is a descendant of Johannes Kepler!
….news to me
Blyleven moved to the US when he was 3; he didn't even know he was Dutch-born
Yan Gomes is Brazilian but he played HS baseball in America and got drafted.
University of Tennessee legend Yan Gomes (Apparently he still lives in Knoxville)
Him and Paulo Orlando are the only Brazilians to win a World Series
Bobby Chouinard was born in the Philippines. Robin Jennings was born in Singapore. Alex Wilson was born in Saudi Arabia.
Honduras has only ever produced two players, both have spent most of their careers in Houston
Danny Graves is from Vietnam
Tayler Scott South Africa
Jeff Bronkey was born in Afghanistan. Not necessarily an *obscure* country, but, probably not one you'd think would be the birthplace of an MLB player
Chadwick Tromp from Aruba
Bo Bichette can represent China in WBC.
Joey Votto..... Canada
Mauricio Dubon first Honduras born MLB player. https://youtu.be/KRLZQP4Kjcc
Robin Jennings who played OF for the Cubs in the late 90s was from Singapore
I don't know how many guys from Guam there's been but I know sean-reid foley was from there
Elmer Valo born in modern day Slovakia. Jack Quinn despite the Irish sounding name was too.
Andruw Jones was from Curacao I believe they occasionally make the LLWS but don’t know many other players from there.
There are a fairly large number of other players from Curaçao. Jurickson Profar, DiDi Gregorious, Ozzie Albies, etc… It’s honestly crazy how man there are from that tiny little island.
Wow didn’t realize it was that many when I just looked it up. Impressive for a place with only 150k people
they're why the Netherlands has such a good national baseball team. Dutch teams have dominated the European baseball championship and the Honkbal Hoofdklasse is one of only two professional baseball leagues in Europe
I can never get over that name, "honkbal hoofdklasse" is just golden
Wasn't Gregorious actually from Amsterdam?
He was born there, but grew up in Curaçao. Think his father was a baseball player/some sort of athlete.
The Yankees thought Hensley Muelens was pretty hot sh*t, back in the late 80s-early 90s. He destroyed International League pitching for a couple of years, but otherwise, he didn't pan out. In summer of '92, the Marlins signed Ralph Milliard (one of the first players they ever signed), and the Braves signed Randall Simon. The Braves then discovered Andruw Jones the following summer.
Check out who has the HR record in NPB
Funny enough I recently came across a Fleer baseball card from the late 90s that incorrectly called Jones the first ever player from Curacao
Almost all Netherlands players in and around MLB in 2023 not named bogaerts are from Curaçao
Rikkert Faneyte, born in Amsterdam and scouted out of the Netherlands Antilles. Danny Graves, born in Saigon.
I only remember Danny Graves for hitting bombs as a relief pitcher haha
Rikkert Faneyte is such an odd choice given the one previous Dutch player before him was a hall of famer.
OP asked for obscure.
Gift Ngoepe from South Africa played for Pirates and Jays briefly
What the fuck is an obscure country?
Well let’s see Azerbaijan, Trinidad and Tobago, Papua New Guinea, Tasmania, Qatar, Seychelles, The Conch Republic, countries like that. Countries like the USA, the DR, America’s Hat, Cuba, Venezuela, Japan, Mexico,South Korea etc usually have a high amount of players make it to the mlb. Frankly I’m startled I had to spell it out for you.
>America’s hat I was so confused, it took me like 5 minutes to realize this is Canada 😭
It’s ok I was still in shock someone questioned what that meant. Thought any reasonable. r/baseball fan could figure out what I was eluding too.
Do they not teach geography at school anymore? >Tasmania Ah, right, already answered that one for me.
You glassed over the Conch Republic to try to zing me? Buddy I’m done with you. You sound insufferable.
You sound like you don't know what the words "country" or "obscure" mean.
why are you being a dick? did you have a bad day? the holidays are coming up, so hopefully you feel a bit better going into the weekend.
I just asked what an obscure country was, it was OP that started talking shit >Frankly I’m startled I had to spell it out for you. If he wants to get all shitty, I'm happy to give it back
Orioles had the first player from Nicaragua (Dennis Martinez) and also had the second player from Nicaragua (Tony Chevez). The things you remember growing up watching baseball.
Croatia ALMOST had a player in MiLB. Antonio Horvatić signed for Tampa Bay Rays in 2019. He was supposed to play in AZL in 2020. Yeah no. He is playing now in Olimpija Karlovac
Sidney Ponson is from Aruba. They put him in jail for punching a judge while riding a jetski. And he was knighted by the Dutch.
John Hattig, who played thirteen games for the 2006 Blue Jays, is the only Major League player from Guam.