THE GLOBAL GAME

Baseball today is an international game. Major league players hail from all over the globe, from the United States and Canada to Latin America to the Pacific Rim. Even Europe can count Didi Gregorius and Max Kepler.

But when Baseball America published its first issue in 1981, the game was not as international. The share of playing time accounted for by players from Latin America, where some countries had played baseball for 100 years, was less than 10% of all big league plate appearances and innings.

But things were about to