"For starting pitchers we have two Dominicans, one Italian, one Mexican and one Japanese. In the bullpen we have a Venezuelan, a Mexican, a guy from the United States and a guy from St. Louis." - Los Angeles Dodger / Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda (AP Wire, 08/18/1999)
Major League Baseball Players Born in KoreaA Historical Analysis / Return To Players by Birthplace |
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Player | Born In | Date of Birth | Debut Year | Final Year |
Jin Ho Cho | Jun Ju City, North Jeolla, South Korea | 1975-08-16 | 1998 | 1999 |
Sang-Hoon Lee | Seoul, Seoul, South Korea | 1971-03-11 | 2000 | 2000 |
Jung Bong | Seoul, Seoul, South Korea | 1980-07-15 | 2002 | 2004 |
Dae-Sung Koo | Daejeon, Daejeon, South Korea | 1969-08-02 | 2005 | 2005 |
Hee-Seop Choi | Hwasun, South Jeolla, South Korea | 1979-03-16 | 2002 | 2005 |
Tommy Phelps | Seoul, Seoul, South Korea | 1974-03-04 | 2003 | 2005 |
Sun Woo Kim | Incheon, Incheon, South Korea | 1977-09-04 | 2001 | 2006 |
Jae Weong Seo | Gwangju, Gwangju, South Korea | 1977-05-24 | 2002 | 2007 |
Byung-Hyun Kim | Gwangju, Gwangju, South Korea | 1979-01-19 | 1999 | 2007 |
Cha Seung Baek | Busan, Busan, South Korea | 1980-05-29 | 2004 | 2008 |
Jae Kuk Ryu | Choon Chung Do, Seoul, South Korea | 1983-05-30 | 2006 | 2008 |
Chan Ho Park | Kong Ju City, Chungcheong, South Korea | 1973-06-30 | 1994 | 2010 |
Chang-Yong Lim | Gwangju, Gwangju, South Korea | 1976-06-04 | 2013 | 2013 |
Byung Ho Park | Seoul, Seoul, South Korea | 1986-07-10 | 2016 | 2016 |
Dae-Ho Lee | Busan, Busan, South Korea | 1982-06-21 | 2016 | 2016 |
Hyun Soo Kim | Seoul, Seoul, South Korea | 1988-01-12 | 2016 | 2017 |
Shin-Soo Choo | Busan, Busan, South Korea | 1982-07-13 | 2005 | 2020 |
Ji-Man Choi | Incheon, Incheon, South Korea | 1991-05-19 | 2016 | Active |
Ji Hwan Bae | Daegu, Daegu, South Korea | 1999-07-26 | 2022 | Active |
Hoy Park | Seoul, Seoul, South Korea | 1996-04-07 | 2021 | Active |
Ha-Seong Kim | Bucheon, Gyeonggi, South Korea | 1995-10-17 | 2021 | Active |
Kwang Hyun Kim | Seoul, Seoul, South Korea | 1988-07-22 | 2020 | Active |
Hyun Jin Ryu | Incheon, Incheon, South Korea | 1987-03-25 | 2013 | Active |
Jae-Gyun Hwang | Seoul, Seoul, South Korea | 1987-07-28 | 2017 | Active |
Jung Ho Kang | Gwangju, Gwangju, South Korea | 1987-04-05 | 2015 | Active |
Rob Refsnyder | Seoul, Seoul, South Korea | 1991-03-26 | 2015 | Active |
Seunghwan Oh | Jeong-Eub Si, North Jeolla, South Korea | 1982-07-15 | 2016 | Active |
Hyeon-Jong Yang | Gwangju, Gwangju, South Korea | 1988-03-01 | 2021 | Active |
Player | Born In | Date of Birth | Debut Year | Final Year |
Major League Baseball Players Born in Korea |
Did you know that Jose Canseco was the first foreign-born (Cuba) player to reach the four-hundred home runs plateau? Did you know that Sammy Sosa was the first foreign-born (Dominican Republic) player to reach the five-hundred home runs plateau?
Baseball Almanac is aware that researching baseball players by their place of birth is common data found easily on the Internet today. We, as you are well aware, enjoy taking that extra step here and have taken that common data and added this amazing chart which will enable you to see a historical breakdown of players from any given year in history by their place of birth:
If you would like to see a comprehensive list broken down by country of the first player born in a country or territory other than the United States of America, we have one in our Famous First section called Foreign Born Baseball Players.