To varying degrees throughout its history, Major League Baseball has recruited talent representing a diversity of ethnic groups. In some instances, acceptance into MLB has marked a greater acceptance of a given minority group in society more broadly. During the 1980s, MLB began to recruit heavily from pools of talent outside the United States. By the 1990s, there were significant numbers of talented Hispanic athletes moving to the United States to play professional baseball. The 1997 All-Star game featured fifteen players of Latin American ancestry, including Pedro Martinez, Edgar Martinez, Moises Alou, Andres Galarraga, Roberto and Sandy Alomar, Mariano Rivera, Ivan Rodriguez, and Alex Rodriguez. By 2010, Latinx athletes made up the majority roster on several major-league teams, and 46% of all minor-league athletes.

In this activity, students will work collaboratively in committees to produce museum exhibits featuring foreign-born baseball players who have traveled to the U.S. to play professional baseball., chronicling their lives, achievements and contributions to baseball and their communities.

Learning objectives (Students will…):

• Recognize the achievements and contributions of non-American players to professional baseball
• Demonstrate research skills related to collecting and analyzing information on past players from nations other than the United States
• Synthesize information and create multimedia museum exhibits featuring international major league baseball players

About the Author:

Michael Hutchison is Social Studies Department chairperson at Lincoln High School, Vincennes, Indiana, and has over 30 years of teaching experience. He has written several lessons for PBS films, including “The Civil War,” “The War,” “Horatio’s Drive,” and “Empire of the Air.” He is president of the board of directors of the Indiana Computer Educators, and is a moderator for the NCSS Network and list editor for H-HIGH-S, a secondary social studies teachers’ listserv.