# How many MLB players in all? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 11, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654 "2013-11-11T16:42:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/1 "2013-11-11T16:42:44Z")
This may be a Game Room question, I don’t know. Roughly how many people have played major league baseball over the years? Thousands? Tens of thousands? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/2 "2013-11-11T16:51:40Z")
[17,744 through the start of 2013](http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/ballplayer.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/3 "2013-11-11T16:56:25Z")
That is awesome. Thank you! Ignorance fought. Close the thread. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/4 "2013-11-11T16:58:18Z")
Major league teams have 25 players on their active roster at any time though back in the early 1900s they may not have been full. There were 16 teams up until 1961 (though there was a third league for two years in 1914-15). If the average career was 5 years (probably too long as there were many very short ones), there would be 12_16_25 = 4800 right there. Since 1961 the leagues have grown to 30 teams and in nay given year probably almost every man on the 40 man roster gets up to the bigs at least in September. So if we take an average number of teams = 24 (conservative since we got to 12 by 1969) and lengthen the average career to 7 to account for the rookie callups, we have another (53/7)_40_24=7269. So the answer must be in the tens of thousands I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/5 "2013-11-11T16:58:41Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [17,744 through the start of 2013](http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/ballplayer.shtml). Including, of course, Archibald ‘Moonlight’ Graham and Larry Yount? There are dozens of “phantom players” who suited up in the majors and never took the field. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/6 "2013-11-11T17:01:55Z")
[Yep. He’s there, alright!](http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=grahamo01) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/7 "2013-11-11T17:03:28Z")
Moved to the Game Room. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/8 "2013-11-11T17:05:27Z")
Not quite. Moonlight Graham did indeed hit the field in the movie AND in the majors. One game, no at bats. He was in the on-deck circle as a pinch hitter when the man ahead of him made the third out in the 8th inning. Then he played an inning in right and that was it. But it counts as appearing in a game. Can’t take that away from him. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/9 "2013-11-11T17:10:16Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Including, of course, Archibald ‘Moonlight’ Graham and Larry Yount? > > There are dozens of “phantom players” who suited up in the majors and never took the field. [Cups of coffee.](http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/Cups_of_Coffee.php) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/10 "2013-11-11T17:58:34Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Moonlight Graham did indeed hit the field… That’s right, he fielded but never batted. There are others who suited up and never left the bench, though, and Yount is the crown prince of phantoms. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/11 "2013-11-11T17:59:43Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Cups of coffee.](http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/Cups_of_Coffee.php) Wow. I had no idea - never even heard the term. Good link. Jeez, I came closer to The Book than some of those guys. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/12 "2013-11-11T22:30:34Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > There are others who suited up and never left the bench, though, and Yount is the crown prince of phantoms. I’m not sure what you mean by this. If you don’t “leave the bench” you don’t get credited with a game played, and wouldn’t appear on any of the lists in this thread. If you do “leave the bench” and get credited with a game played, 99.9% of the time you will participate in the game for at least one pitch. Yount didn’t because of the _highly_ unusual circumstance of getting injured while warming up. If there are any other phantoms like Yount, who got credited with a game played but never actually participated in game action, I’d be interested in hearing about them. I’ve never heard of any. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/13 "2013-11-12T20:50:00Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [17,744 through the start of 2013](http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/ballplayer.shtml). [18,174 as of October, 2013.](http://www.baseball-reference.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-mlb-players-in-all/673654/14 "2013-11-14T03:45:58Z")
There were 230 debuts in 2013. The totals on the two links giving 17744 through start of 2013 and 18174 as of October 2013 are two different sites. The two sites will never match. The first one is for [baseball.almanac.com](http://baseball.almanac.com). The second one is [baseball-reference.com](http://baseball-reference.com). Baseball Almanac does not include the 1871-75 National Association players in their major league player count.