The history of baseball in Puerto Rico

The first organized baseball game in Puerto Rico is said to have taken place in January 1898, in the Santurce neighborhood of the capital city of San Juan. It featured the island’s first two teams, established just the year before: the Almendares and Borinquen Baseball Clubs.

Alemendares won 3-0.

So began one of the richest baseball traditions in the world. Puerto Rico has since produced All-Stars, MVPs, Hall of Famers, managers -- and everything in between.

Here's an overview of the biggest moments and the most important figures in Puerto Rican baseball history.

Total Major Leaguers all time: 302 (including the Negro Leagues)

WBSC ranking: 13th

Last World Baseball Classic appearance: 2017

Best WBC finish: 2013 and 2017, 2nd place

Professional League -- Liga Profesional de Béisbol Roberto Clemente

Puerto Rico’s top baseball circuit dates to 1938, when it was established as a semiprofessional league featuring six teams. Two more teams were added later. It became a professional league in 1941, and from then on it was called the Liga de Béisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico(LBPPR).

Today, the circuit is known as the Liga Profesional de Béisbol Roberto Clemente, in honor of the island’s most important baseball legend. It includes six teams -- Criollos de Caguas, Indios de Mayagüez, Cangrejeros de Santurce, Gigantes de Carolina, Leones de Ponce and RA12. The champion of the league represents Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series.

First Puerto Rican Major Leaguer: Hiram Bithorn, Cubs, 1942

The largest ballpark in Puerto Rico, Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, is named after the first native of the island to play in the American or National Leagues.

Bithorn pitched three seasons with the Chicago Cubs and one with the Chicago White Sox. His best season came in 1943, when he had a 2.60 ERA and a 18-12 record for the Cubs while leading the Majors with seven shutouts.

Before Bithorn, at least 10 Puerto Rican-born players saw action in the Negro Leagues, including Francisco “Pancho” Coimbre, a prominent figure in early baseball Puerto Rican history who was born in 1909 in Arroyo. An outfielder, Coimbre played 13 seasons in the LBPPR and four for the New York Cubans, in addition to playing in Mexico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

When his playing career was over, he went on to work as a scout with the Pirates and served as a mentor to a rising star named… Roberto Clemente.

Top Current Major Leaguers

Edwin Díaz

The Mets’ All-Star closer, known these days as much for his dominance on the mound as his epic entrance music, “Narco” by Blasterjaxx and Timmy Trumpet, stands as the top pitcher from Puerto Rico in the game right now.

This offseason, Díaz re-upped with the Mets as a free agent for five years and $102 million, the richest contract in history for a reliever, after notching 32 saves in 35 opportunities for New York in 2022. His 1.31 ERA for the season, all while striking out 118 of the 235 batters he faced, for an absurd 50.2% whiff rate, earned him the Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award.

Díaz, a native of Naguabo, was also honored with the Mariano Rivera American League Reliver of the Year Award as a member of the Mariners in 2018.

Francisco Lindor

The Mets have not one, but two of the top current Major Leaguers from Puerto Rico: Their shortstop, Lindor, who hails from Caguas, is a four-time All-Star, a two-time Gold Glove winner and one of the brightest stars in the game, period. He heads into 2023 with a .277/.342/.474 career slash line in eight seasons and arguably the best smile in baseball.

Carlos Correa

Lindor is hardly the only star shortstop to come out of Puerto Rico. As the first pick of the 2012 Draft by the Astros, Correa began his career with plenty of hype, and the Ponce native has lived up to it. The 2015 Rookie of the Year is a two-time All-Star with a Gold Glove and a World Series ring to his name.

Famous Players

Roberto Clemente

There is no more towering baseball figure -- or figure in general -- in the history of Puerto Rico than the legendary Roberto Clemente, whose unabashed, unapologetic pride in his roots and outspokenness in the face of prejudice continue to make him an inspiration to legions of Puerto Ricans.

A right fielder, Clemente debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955 and played 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh, in which he was a 15-time All-Star, a 12-time Gold Glove Award winner and a two-time World Series Champion. In 1966, he was voted the National League MVP and in 1972, in his final regular season game, he became the first player from Latin America and 11th overall to reach the hallowed 3,000-hit mark. His 94.8 bWAR is tops among Puerto Rican-born players and 37th all-time.

In 1973, following his death in a plane crash while attempting to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua on New Year's Eve 1972, Clemente posthumously became the first player from Latin America inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Orlando Cepeda

In 1967, a year after Clemente claimed the NL MVP, the award went to another future Puerto Rican Hall of Famer -- Orlando "Peruchín" Cepeda, with whom Clemente shared a friendly but intense rivalry dating to their time as young players in the LBPPR.

Cepeda, primarily a first baseman, made his Major League debut with the Giants in 1958 at the age of 20 and hit .312 with 25 home runs while leading the league with 38 doubles en route to being named NL Rookie of the Year Award in unanimous fashion.

Cepeda’s NL MVP in ’67 also came unanimously after he hit .325 with 25 round trippers and a league-leading 111 RBI for the as a member of the Cardinals. The Ponce native helped St. Louis win the World Series in seven games over the Red Sox that year. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez

One of the greatest catchers in recent memory on both sides of the ball, in 2017 Rodríguez was inducted into the Hall of Fame after a 21-year Major League career with the Rangers, Marlins, Tigers, Yankees, Astros and Nationals in which he won 13 Gold Gloves while clobbering 311 home runs and racking up 2,844 hits -- the most in history by a Major League played at least 50 percent of his games behind the plate.

The Manatí native was named AL MVP in 1999 after hitting .332 with 35 home runs, 113 RBI and 25 stolen bases for Texas. In 2003, his sole season with the Marlins, he helped the Fish defeat the Yankees in the World Series in a stunning upset.

Edgar Martínez

The best DH of his generation, Martínez was born in New York to Puerto Rican parents and raised in Dorado, Puerto Rico.

The two-time AL batting champion finished his 18-year career with the Seattle Mariners with a .312/.418/.515 slash line, 309 home runs and 2,247 hits.

Martínez was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019, in his 10th year on the ballot. In 2004, the Designated Hitter of the Year Award was renamed the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award in his honor.

The Molina Brothers

Rodríguez may not be the only Puerto Rican catcher in the Hall of Fame for very long.

Longtime Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, who retired in 2022, could join him following a 19-year playing career, spent entirely in St. Louis, in which he won two World Series, received nine Gold Gloves, and made nine All-Star Games. (In the meantime, he’s managing Team Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic.)

Molina’s brothers, José and Bengie, were also catchers who had long Major League careers.

Future Puerto Rican Star? Edwin Arroyo

Ranked No. 44 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects list heading into the 2023 season, the switch-hitting Edwin Arroyo was acquired by the Reds from the Mariners last summer in the Luis Castillo trade. The 19-year-old shortstop was selected by Seattle in the second round of the 2021 Draft and impressed in his first taste of full-season ball in 2022, hitting .316 with 13 home runs and 67 RBI in 87 games for Single-A Modesto prior to being traded.

Arroyo’s production declined after the trade, but his ability to stick at short long term is not in question, and if he can find his power stroke again to go along with his elite defense at a premium position, we’ll be talking about him quite a bit.

Major moment in Puerto Rico Baseball History:

In 1995, the San Juan Senators claimed the Caribbean Series title for Puerto Rico with a lineup that featured two future Hall of Famers -- Martínez and Roberto Alomar -- as well as a slew of other big names, including Carlos Baerga, Bernie Williams, Carlos Delgado, and Juan González, who were all playing winter ball after a players’ strike shortened the 1994 Major League season.

Dubbed the “Dream Team,” the Senators were undefeated in that Caribbean Series, going 6-0 and twice defeated a Dominican Republic squad in games started by future Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez and José Rijo. The legacy of that squad is cherished baseball memory in Puerto Rico.

Historic MLB moment:

Puerto Rico has hosted more than 40 regular season Major League games throughout the years, the first of which was an Opening Day encounter in 2001 at San Juan’s Estadio Hiram Bithorn between Delgado's Toronto Blue Jays and Rodríguez's Texas Rangers.

Toronto won by a score of 8-1.