Colombia

From BR Bullpen

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Colombia is a country in South America which has produced a small but growing number of major leaguers. Baseball came there as early as the 1870s, by one account. According to Raúl Porto Cabrales, the premier historian of Colombian baseball, it definitely reached Cartagena -- the city that has produced the most Colombian big-leaguers - in 1897. The sport took root along the nation’s Caribbean coast in the early 1900s and continued to gain popularity in the first half of the 20th century. The Colombian national team won the 1947 Amateur World Series and has won Medals at other events. Early Colombian players in the majors include Lou Castro in the 1900s, and Orlando Ramirez and Jackie Gutierrez in the 1970s and 1980s respectively, although all of them had only short careers at the highest level.

However, the big boom in Colombian baseball started in the 1990s, with the arrival in the major leagues of Edgar Renteria and Orlando Cabrera and his brother Jolbert Cabrera. This opened up the floodgates of Colombian players in the big leagues, and the country's first participation in a World Baseball Classic, in 2017, confirmed that it was now a significant baseball country.

The Liga Colombiana de Béisbol Profesional is the top league in the nation. It has operated on and off since the late 1940s.

People born here[edit]

People who died here[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

  • Jesse Sanchez: "Baseball continues to blossom in Colombia: 34 prospects on display for scouts this week at showcase", mlb.com, January 22, 2018. [1]
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