# Percentage of foreign-born active players in MLB, the NFL, and the NBA. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 7, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963 "2012-10-07T03:41:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/1 "2012-10-07T03:41:31Z")
Just what the title says: what percentage of active players in Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball League come from a country other than the United States? Also, what league has players from the greatest number of countries? Let’s answer and discuss. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/2 "2012-10-07T03:59:44Z")
I don’t have hard numbers, but while we wait for them, my guess would be that MLB has the greatest of those three, followed by the NBA and then the NFL a very distant third. I’d guess well over 95% of NFL players are American, simply because it just isn’t played anywhere else. The major US league that has the most player countries isn’t mentioned by your first statement. I think the NHL wins that one in a walk, though I don’t have the hard data. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/3 "2012-10-07T04:12:36Z")
[I’m sure MLB is in first by a large margin.](http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120405&content_id=27954876&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb) > [@](#): > > This week’s set of Opening Day 25-man rosters and inactive lists features 243 players born outside the United States, the third-highest percentage of all-time and an increase from the past two seasons, Major League Baseball announced Thursday. > > The figure – 28.4 percent – is up from 27.7 percent in 2010 and '11. The best-represented non-U.S. country is easily the Dominican Republic. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/4 "2012-10-07T05:38:16Z")
**Marley** -Why are Puerto Ricans considered “foreign”? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/5 "2012-10-07T15:10:49Z")
> [@Jman](#): > > The major US league that has the most player countries isn’t mentioned by your first statement. I think the NHL wins that one in a walk, though I don’t have the hard data. American players make up about 25% of the NHL. [http://www.quanthockey.com/TS/TS\_PlayerNationalities.php](http://www.quanthockey.com/TS/TS_PlayerNationalities.php) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/6 "2012-10-07T19:37:08Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > **Marley** -Why are Puerto Ricans considered “foreign”? I guess they are trying to be thorough. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/7 "2012-10-07T19:52:49Z")
> [@Jman](#): > > I don’t have hard numbers, but while we wait for them, my guess would be that MLB has the greatest of those three, followed by the NBA and then the NFL a very distant third. I’d guess well over 95% of NFL players are American, simply because it just isn’t played anywhere else. > > The major US league that has the most player countries isn’t mentioned by your first statement. I think the NHL wins that one in a walk, though I don’t have the hard data. I think MLB is far, far above the NHL in this regard. The NHL has the USA and Canada and a handful of European countries, but MLB has the Caribbean and Central America, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia. I’d guess that there are twice as many countries represented in MLB than in the NHL. ---
**Author:** ![kurtisokc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kurtisokc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurtisokc)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/8 "2012-10-07T20:14:09Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > I think MLB is far, far above the NHL in this regard. The NHL has the USA and Canada and a handful of European countries, but MLB has the Caribbean and Central America, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia. I’d guess that there are twice as many countries represented in MLB than in the NHL. My guess is that MLB has more countris represented, but the NHL still has a higher percentage of foreign born-players, even if you don’t count Canadians as “foreign.” However, that is just my general impression, I have no stats to back that up. ---
**Author:** ![kurtisokc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kurtisokc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurtisokc)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/9 "2012-10-07T20:17:02Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > **Marley** -Why are Puerto Ricans considered “foreign”? Puerto Rico is a special case which could be argued either way. However, I think for our purposes it makes sense to consider Puerto Rico “foreign” because it is considered a separate country for purposes of the Olympics and other international sports competiions and, more to the point, its sports system isn’t well integrated into the rest of the US. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/10 "2012-10-07T20:18:09Z")
I don’t know how current “current” is. Some sorting required. MLB: [MLB by nationality](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_Major_League_Baseball_players_by_nationality) US and Puerto Rico are together alphabetically, so it’s easy to move the nice, uniform number of PR players down if needed. NHL: No luck, although they have pages for Finnish, Slovak, etc. players. NBA: [Foreign NBA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_NBA_players) NFL: No luck. While it’s most popular in the US, Canadian football is pretty much the same thing for all intents and purposes, and NFL players have played in the CFL and vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/11 "2012-10-07T20:38:12Z")
It looks like[the NFL](http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-international-origins-of-nfl-players-2011-11)is 96.5% American born, with some of the non-American born players born to US service members stationed out of country. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/12 "2012-10-07T22:49:42Z")
Are people born in American Samoa considered foreign-born or American citizens? A lot of them in the NFL. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-foreign-born-active-players-in-mlb-the-nfl-and-the-nba/636963/13 "2012-10-07T23:14:10Z")
American Samoans are **NOT** US citizens but are US nationals unless the inherit it. Puerto Ricans are both.