Alex Liddi and the Greatest European Players Ever
Yesterday, Alex Liddi hit a grand slam, which the AP noted was “the first major league grand slam by an Italian-born player in half-century.” That actually understates the true rarity of Liddi’s accomplishment: as a matter of fact, Liddi is only the second Italian-born player of all time to homer in the big leagues, since utility infielder Reno Bertoia retired in 1962 with 27 homers and one grand slam on May 7, 1958.
Liddi and Bertoia are among seven Italian-born major leaguers, and Liddi already has the third-most games played and the second-most Wins Above Replacement. (It won’t be long before he passes Bertoia, who amassed 1.1 WAR in 1,957 PA despite not really being able to hit or field.) Liddi is prominent as one of the only major leaguers born outside the Americas or East Asia.
Major leaguers have come from all six inhabited continents*, though in the past half-century, the vast majority have come from the Americas, East Asia, and a couple of dozen from Australia. Nearly 100 players were born in the UK and Ireland, though they got the majority of their emigration done in the late 19th and early 20th century. (As a sign of how much has changed since then, Irish ballplayers faced racist discrimination back in the late 19th century.) There has been one player from Africa, Al Cabrera, who hailed from the Spanish-controlled archipelago of the Canary Islands, which are off the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara.
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