![]() One of the best programs to never win a title (Florida State, Clemson, UNC are the others), the University of Arkansas boasts one of the best environments in collegiate athletics. Nowadays, though, it’s all about Razorbacks baseball. The Red Sox were like, "Uh, yeah you’re a hitter now," and baseball was forever changed. In fact, Babe Ruth’s infamous transition from the mound to the plate happened in Hot Springs spring training 1918 after he allegedly walloped a homer more than 570 feet. Many of the old-timey greats, from both MLB and the Negro Leagues, spent their preseasons getting into shape in Hot Springs. The Cubs first showed up in 1886 to prepare for their upcoming campaign, and soon, that became the norm across the game. Now let’s rank the states according to baseball!īack in the early days of 19th-century baseball, before the Grapefruit League existed and before Arizona was a state, Hot Springs, Arkansas, was the epicenter of spring training. might have fallen somewhere in the high teens or low 20s, while Puerto Rico would have pushed for a spot in the back half of the top 10. They were on versions of this list at one time or another, but in the end, we decided to leave them off because, well, this is a list of states, and they aren’t states (even if they probably should be). One final, final note: As you’ll notice, neither the District of Columbia nor Puerto Rico is on the list. Determining at what age a player moved to a state and where each player is truly "from" would have been an impossible and fruitless exercise. For example, Derek Jeter, who was born in New Jersey but raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is counted as one of New Jersey’s four Hall of Famers, not Michigan’s. ![]() In turn, there are some high-profile players who are officially counted for one state despite really growing up in another. That said, it’s important to know that the raw numbers listed in each graphic are based on birthplace according to baseball-reference. One more note before we begin: When crediting states with producing MLB players, we tried to focus on those who were born and raised in a state. We did take per capita numbers into account from time to time, but it shouldn’t shock you that the states at the top of our list tend to have a ton of people. States with more people have more baseball teams, more baseball players, more baseball stadiums, etc. There’s naturally a bit of a bias toward more populous states. III), as well as summer collegiate leagues such as the Northwoods and Cape Cod Leagues? * Collegiate teams: How many collegiate baseball programs are in a state, including four-year universities and junior colleges (Division I, Div.
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