In Major League Baseball, foreign-born players must have a P-1 visa in order to play. A conundrum arises when one considers the recruitment of the MLB; the minor leagues provide feeder teams for the MLB, and foreign-born players in these leagues must also obtain visas in order to play. However, these visas are called H-2B, and are slightly different(1).

The P-1 visa is reserved for what the law calls "internationally recognized" artists, entertainers, and athletes, regardless of whether they are Russian violinists or Dominican outfielders. Major League and NHL players automatically qualify for this visa, and the government does not cap the numbers given out each year.

Additionally, there is the H2-B visa. The H2-B visa was designed for seasonal agricultural workers and service industry employees, but also includes minor-leaguers from foreign countries, as they work in America for set sport seasons” (2). These H-2B visas enable teams to send players back and forth to their home countries for external training, and their visa spot could be replaced by another player. This creates a system which is perfect for the recruitment practices of the MLB. The problem with H-2B visas has never been the action of the visa, it has always been the number of visas issued.

After September 11, the government severely diminished the amount of H-2B visas that were being issued. On March 9, 2004, the government cut the H-2B quota by thousands, bringing the number down to 66,000. This quota was reached within the same month (3). March is critical for managers of MLB teams because it arrives just prior to the spring training season when teams make final calls about their extended rosters. Spring training is also important because it is a multiple month long period of preparation for each season. If teams were not able to bring in desired players in 2004, they had to wait until the following year, when they hoped to obtain H-2B visas. Meanwhile, 2004 was a unique year in that the quota cut came at a critical point in the season; for this reason, many teams endured some setbacks. Grant Griesser, the Assistant Director of Player Development for the Reds stated, “We had about a seven day window. Major League Baseball got wind of it and at least alerted us all a week ahead, which… allowed some teams to do some hurry up, let’s get a couple more guys over” (4). Oneri Fleita, the Cubs’ Director of Player Development noted of Raul Valdez, a talented Cuban pitcher, "He should be pitching in AA or AAA. However, because the Cubs had no more visas, Valdez had to toil away in the Dominican Summer League, where he overmatched the rookie-level players." Valdéz had a breakout season that year in the DSL, going 7-2 with a 0.54 ERA, while striking out 142 batters (5).

In 2005, a Senator from Maryland, Barbara Mikulski, relieved Major League Baseball (as well as the NHL, which also uses similar practices as the MLB in recruiting players. In addition, the NHL has a large representative player pool from outside countries) and their struggle with the H-2B quota by splitting the quota into two halves over the course of the year (6). The bill strived to help the Maryland seafood industry and was also beneficial to the MLB, which was then able to apply for available H-2B visas during their critical draft period (7).