Percentage of Foreign Ballplayers on Rise Along with Xenophobia Nationwide

MLB reports that the percentage of foreign-born major-league players continued to rise this year and now stands at nearly 28%. It should continue to increase as 46% of minor-leaguers are imports as well. In both cases the Dominican Republic, though only half an island, leads all coutries.

Here's a little table of the number of foreign-born players by year and expressed as a percentage of the entire major-league population. Note that the percentages are very high at first with the English-born cricket players and the German-born immigrants finding homes in the majors. It tapers off in the Twenties and has been on a pretty steady rise since the late Forties. Even though the Twenties are considered a Golden Age for the sport, there are no African-Americans and very few foreign-born players represented. Hmm...

Year	#Foreign	# Players	% Foreign
1871	13	115	11.30%
1872	12	156	7.69%
1873	11	125	8.80%
1874	8	123	6.50%
1875	16	218	7.34%
1876	9	124	7.26%
1877	6	97	6.19%
1878	6	80	7.50%
1879	6	127	4.72%
1880	10	135	7.41%
1881	11	132	8.33%
1882	21	251	8.37%
1883	22	282	7.80%
1884	60	782	7.67%
1885	36	353	10.20%
1886	19	351	5.41%
1887	21	333	6.31%
1888	19	351	5.41%
1889	19	342	5.56%
1890	37	574	6.45%
1891	28	409	6.85%
1892	19	310	6.13%
1893	8	286	2.80%
1894	14	294	4.76%
1895	11	305	3.61%
1896	12	295	4.07%
1897	14	280	5.00%
1898	16	323	4.95%
1899	15	348	4.31%
1900	6	195	3.08%
1901	17	412	4.13%
1902	26	455	5.71%
1903	17	400	4.25%
1904	17	406	4.19%
1905	21	407	5.16%
1906	17	437	3.89%
1907	17	446	3.81%
1908	18	470	3.83%
1909	17	543	3.13%
1910	16	538	2.97%
1911	16	567	2.82%
1912	21	630	3.33%
1913	20	616	3.25%
1914	32	795	4.03%
1915	25	796	3.14%
1916	22	565	3.89%
1917	17	516	3.29%
1918	22	505	4.36%
1919	14	534	2.62%
1920	13	514	2.53%
1921	13	520	2.50%
1922	9	513	1.75%
1923	6	530	1.13%
1924	5	547	0.91%
1925	8	557	1.44%
1926	7	526	1.33%
1927	5	541	0.92%
1928	5	530	0.94%
1929	7	530	1.32%
1930	4	531	0.75%
1931	7	509	1.38%
1932	8	527	1.52%
1933	4	491	0.81%
1934	5	521	0.96%
1935	6	513	1.17%
1936	6	510	1.18%
1937	9	526	1.71%
1938	10	530	1.89%
1939	9	579	1.55%
1940	10	541	1.85%
1941	14	582	2.41%
1942	18	539	3.34%
1943	18	557	3.23%
1944	22	569	3.87%
1945	28	579	4.84%
1946	24	682	3.52%
1947	15	582	2.58%
1948	12	573	2.09%
1949	20	573	3.49%
1950	23	577	3.99%
1951	26	616	4.22%
1952	25	632	3.96%
1953	21	586	3.58%
1954	26	576	4.51%
1955	38	655	5.80%
1956	35	621	5.64%
1957	38	615	6.18%
1958	40	638	6.27%
1959	46	632	7.28%
1960	61	637	9.58%
1961	56	698	8.02%
1962	66	760	8.68%
1963	68	752	9.04%
1964	74	754	9.81%
1965	75	751	9.99%
1966	83	774	10.72%
1967	88	786	11.20%
1968	81	715	11.33%
1969	116	932	12.45%
1970	113	919	12.30%
1971	96	883	10.87%
1972	105	888	11.82%
1973	106	892	11.88%
1974	105	914	11.49%
1975	93	907	10.25%
1976	111	886	12.53%
1977	111	984	11.28%
1978	106	960	11.04%
1979	106	961	11.03%
1980	112	950	11.79%
1981	105	944	11.12%
1982	110	992	11.09%
1983	122	1006	12.13%
1984	112	984	11.38%
1985	117	998	11.72%
1986	115	1017	11.31%
1987	129	1048	12.31%
1988	144	1035	13.91%
1989	139	1073	12.95%
1990	153	1115	13.72%
1991	167	1086	15.38%
1992	164	1066	15.38%
1993	186	1180	15.76%
1994	165	1030	16.02%
1995	218	1253	17.40%
1996	235	1253	18.75%
1997	274	1236	22.17%
1998	279	1322	21.10%
1999	298	1299	22.94%
2000	330	1382	23.88%
2001	337	1339	25.17%
2002	349	1319	26.46%