German MLB players have been a part of the baseball landscape since the early days of the professional game.
While many of the first players from Germany were immigrants — or the children of immigrants — coming to America looking for opportunities as the still-new country continued to expand, today’s group is more of a mixed bag.
First-generation Americans who immigrated from Germany still find their way to the big leagues, but so to do those born on German soil while one or both of their American parents were stationed in Deutschland during military service.
Here is the complete list of German MLB players over the years, from those born and raised in Europe, to Americans born in Germany.
(Each entry includes the player name, birthplace, and date of birth. Dates culled from Baseball Reference).
- Aaron Altherr – Landstuhl, Germany (January 14, 1991)
- Jeff Baker – Bad Kissingen, West Germany (June 21, 1981)
- Heinz Becker – Berlin, Germany (August 26, 1915)
- Rob Belloir – Heidelberg, West Germany (July 13, 1948)
- Mike Blowers – Wurzburg, West Germany (April 24, 1965)
- Fritz Buelow – Berlin, Germany (February 13, 1876)
- Bobby Davidson – Bad Kurznach, West Germany (January 06, 1963)
- Pep Deininger – Wasseralfingen, Germany (October 10, 1877)
- Brendan Donovan – Wurzberg, Germany (January 16, 1997)
- Ed Eiteljorge – Berlin, Germany (October 14, 1871)
- Fred Gaiser – Stuttgart, Germany (August 31, 1885)
- Ron Gardenhire – Butzbach, West Germany (October 24, 1957)
- Charlie Getzien – Germany (February 14, 1864)
- George Heubel – Germany (1849)
- Glenn Hubbard – Hahn Air Force Base, West Germany (September 25, 1957)
- Edwin Jackson – Neu-Ulm, Germany (September 09, 1983)
- Steve Kent – Frankfurt, Germany (October 03, 1978)
- Max Kepler – Berlin, Germany (February 10, 1993)
- Ed Kippert – Stetten, Germany (January 23, 1879)
- Ben Koehler – Schoerndorn, Germany (January 26, 1877)
- Marty Krug – Koblenz, Germany (September 10, 1888)
- Bill Kuehne – Leipzig, Germany (October 24, 1858)
- Craig Lefferts – Munich, West Germany (September 29, 1957)
- Bruce Maxwell – Wiesbaden, Germany (December 20, 1990)
- Tom McCarthy – Lundstahl, West Germany (June 18, 1961)
- Bill Miller – Bad Schwalbach, Germany (May 23, 1879)
- Fritz Mollwitz – Coburg, Germany (June 16, 1890)
- Will Ohman – Frankfurt, West Germany (August 13, 1977)
- Dave Pavlas – Frankfurt, West Germany (August 12, 1962)
- Reggie Richter – Dusseldorf, Germany (September 14, 1888)
- Skel Roach – Danzig, Germany (October 20, 1871)
- Phoenix Sanders – Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany (June 05, 1995)
- Dutch Schesler – Frankfurt, Germany (June 01, 1900)
- Dutch Schliebner – Berlin, Germany (May 19, 1891)
- Mickey Scott – Weimar, Germany (July 25, 1947)
- Gus Shallix – Paderborn, Germany (March 29, 1858)
- Tobi Stoner – Landstuhl, Germany (December 03, 1984)
- Bob Troy – Bad Wurzach, Germany (August 27, 1888)
- Tony Welzer – Germany (April 05, 1899)
- Stefan Wever – Marburg, West Germany (April 22, 1958)
- Henry Youngman – Horde, Germany (November 21, 1865)
- Bill Zimmerman – Kengen, Germany (January 20, 1887)
In addition to these players there have also been four MLB managers born in Germany:
- Judge Fuchs – Hamburg, Germany (April 17, 1878)
- Ron Gardenhire – Butzbach, West Germany (Oct 24, 1957)
- Joe Miller (Jul 24, 1850)
- Chris Von Der Ahe – Hille, Germany (Oct 7, 1851)
Gardenhire, of course, is well-known to modern baseball fans as a long-time member of the Minnesota Twins, both as a player in the 1980s and manager in the 2000s.
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